UK Recruitment Trends

13 December 2023

Top 5 Recruitment Trends for 2023

2023 has arrived and many businesses are looking for the latest recruitment trends to help them find the perfect candidates. January is the time where we start laying foundations from our business plan and the first task on the agenda is usually recruitment.

With the help of social media and applicant tracking software, the recruitment landscape has evolved at a fast rate. To help you stay ahead of the competition and find the right people for your workplace, we have pulled together the top recruitment trends for 2023.

Social Media

Social media has become one of the most successful ways to promote job vacancies to a wider audience. The great thing about social media is that you can also target to the right candidates. In addition, through targeted adverts, you can promote to specific locations and interests. If paid adverts doesn’t fit in to your budget for the year, you can post organically to your feed or to a group. This can be a community group or a job board. You will find these groups on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Social platforms can also help you learn more about a particular candidate that you might not be able to learn through usual methods. You may find someone who doesn’t necessarily have the exact experience you’re looking for, but they offer more when it comes to skills.

Social media will become increasingly popular over the next couple of years when it comes to recruitment trends and we encourage you all to start using it now if you haven’t already.

Data-driven recruitment

Another trend that’s growing in popularity is data driven recruitment. This is when employers use data and statistics to help you make more informed recruitment decisions. This can help recruiters create a recruitment process and selecting new employees. Analysing previous data and results gives you a higher chance of improving hiring efforts and can reduce costs. Data usually comes from social media, job boards, and other tools used for recruitment.

Applicant Tracking System

One recruitment trend that is growing in popularity this year is applicant tracking system. An applicant tracking system is an online system that allows you to manage your recruitment and hiring tasks digitally. Not only are you able to collate all potential candidates in one place and contact them in bulk, you will also benefit from automation. Systems such as Hireful allows you to auto-reject questions, automate emails, and schedule interviews.

We have collaborated with Hireful for a while now to offer our clients a more efficient and cost-effective way to find the right employees for their team.

Adding Salary to Job Adverts

This isn’t necessarily a system or new digital way of doing things, however adding salary to a job advert is one of the most effective recruitment trends to reach more skilled candidates and attract them to apply for roles. We understand a lot of businesses feel reluctant to share the salary as they fear it might not be very competitive or leaves no room for negotiation. However, candidates are looking for transparency and not showing a salary or range may indicate to them that your business is not trustworthy or honest.

We recently wrote a blog on the importance of adding salary to a job advert and ways you can do this and feel comfortable about it.

Employee retention strategies

As well as finding new recruitment trends to gain new employees, it’s also important to look at strategies to improve employee retention in your business. We understand this can feel more difficult when more of our employees are working remotely. To avoid losing your best people, you should focus on improving your employer branding. Furthermore, make sure you on-board your employees in the best way, and invest in training and development. Showing your employees that you care and you share the same values will create a happier and more motivated workplace.

Read our recent blog on a people strategy that will help you to gain and retain talented staff members.

Contact Us

If you would like to find out more recruitment trends or ways of talent acquisition for your business, contact us. We also offer a recruitment service, you can find out more about this on our website.

Recruitment Trends for 2022

As we step in to 2022, it’s clear that candidates continue to hold most of the power when it comes to recruiting. The unemployment rate has remained low throughout the pandemic due to Government support such as the furlough scheme. This has led to more jobs being available than candidates.

Employees were also exposed to a new way of working throughout the pandemic that allowed them to work from home and on more of a flexible basis. In addition, when businesses were able to welcome their team back to the office, some people were less willing to give up the better work-life balance that home working offered.

The current competitive UK recruitment market has meant that employers have had to look at new incentives such as higher wages and flexible working in order to attract and retain qualified candidates.

As businesses look to bounce back from the pandemic, and with lots of staff and skill shortages, we have put together trends predicted for 2022 that may help you to retain and attract talent into your business.

Remote Working & Hiring:

In order to attract more talent, we encourage you to introduce more flexibility such as hybrid or home working if possible. It’s important to clearly state this when promoting your vacancies on job boards or social media.

Adopting a more remote hiring process can also help you stand out from your competitors. Your time is precious and so is that of your candidates. Getting time off work to attend multiple job interviews isn’t easy, so why not make this an easier process and better experience for your candidates and have a flexible approach to remote hiring? This will also help you to expand your talent pool as you may attract more people from more remote areas.

Glassdoor found that ‘’ 11.1 percent of UK employers hiring locally between January and October 2021 were competing against remote jobs, up more than eightfold from 1.4 percent in the same time period in 2019.’’

Increasing Salaries

Many employers are offering higher salaries in order to compete with other businesses. This has led to companies looking at their location-based pay policies to attract and retain local talent. In addition, the gap of wages in London and Edinburgh compared to more rural areas may start to close.

This may be a challenge for smaller businesses as local candidates may go to bigger companies as they are offering flexible working and a higher salary. Small businesses may struggle to compete with this. To overcome this, it’s important to promote the benefits of working for a smaller business that sets you apart from larger organisations. This may be employee benefit schemes, training, team building opportunities, and your company culture.

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion:

It’s not just hybrid working and higher salaries that candidates are looking for in a company. They also want to be part of a workplace that values the importance of diversity, equality, and Inclusion.

Many people had more time to reflect and become more aware of social issues during the pandemic. In addition, candidates are paying attention to company values to ensure they align with their own. This includes policies focusing on diversity, equality, and inclusion.

Companies with over 250 employees are legally required to complete a gender pay gap report. These businesses can submit information on why they have a gender pay gap and what they’re going to do to tackle this. Employers with less than 250 staff can volunteer to complete this report. Recognising the importance of this, many companies are leading the way by voluntarily completing similar reports on D, E & I to identify any issues and provide goals to tackle this.

Branding

We’ve all heard about branding, whether it’s something you focus a lot of your time and energy on or not. It’s the combination of the image you put out to the world, along with your values and beliefs, your product or service, and the way you interact with people.

These things all combine to create a feeling in people – good or bad – that gives them an impression of what your business is really like.

But when it comes to employer branding, you may be a little less sure. Many businesses simply don’t give their employer branding enough thought. And it’s really important. Especially in today’s job market.

You see, thanks to things like social media and job sites, as well as the rise in remote working post-pandemic, it’s even easier for candidates to find their ideal job roles. Thanks to technology, it isn’t just a local pool of candidates your business is fighting to attract, it can be national, or even global. In addition, focusing on improving your company brand will go a long way to gain and retain quality candidates.

We’ve created a guide that will help you improve your business brand. You can download your FREE guide here. Contact us on 01383 668 178 to talk to one of our HR Advisors. We hope these new recruitment industry trends for 2022 helps you gain and retain talented candidates.

New Trends and Resolutions in HR for 2015

There’s one core essential component to every business, no matter what field you work in or what type of product or service you provide: staff.

Without the right staff no business can be truly successful; whether it’s knowledge, attitude or dedication – or all three! – Any company relies on its staff to drive it forward.

Getting your HR processes and policies right are key to creating a harmonious workplace but that’s often easier said than done. Here’s a look at some of the trends and resolutions for HR in 2015 that you might want to consider.

Community approach

An online presence is important for many candidates now when applying for jobs

If you need to recruit, simply placing an advert in the right place might do the trick but how do you attract the top candidates to your organisation?

Increasingly, taking a community approach and forging a local reputation is being seen as the key to success.

This means shifting away from a reactive approach, to taking a more proactive and dynamic attitude, creating the desire to work for your business even before opportunities arise.

Taking steps to become known in the community, creating “fan clubs” and helping your target audience to feel connected to your business won’t just create more sales, but will automatically forge organic links which will serve you well when it’s time to recruit.

Surveys have suggested that employee’s value honesty as one of the most important traits in any employer, so engaging with the community and operating an open-door approach will fit in well.

Online presence

There’s nothing new about using social media and the internet to attract the brightest candidates, but 2015 is the year when it becomes a real essential.

Blog posts and social media platforms will become the way for firms to establish a presence and stand out from the crowd. Some studies suggest that as many as six out of ten candidates are more likely to apply for a job at a company that has a social media profile.

Whether you already have a profile, or are new to social media, 2015 is the year to get more involved and use this modern type of networking to reach a wider audience.

Clear technology policy

Clear policies on technology use are needed in the modern office

Smartphones have stretched HR policies and made it vital to have a clear set of rules around the permissible use of social media and the workplace.

Some companies don’t permit smartphones to be switched on during working hours, whilst others ask employees to sign a disclaimer prohibiting the discussion of business matters on social media.

However, technology is set to become even less overt with the development of smartphones, and even smart glasses. Wearable technology is set to be THE trend of 2015 which means you need to be certain your HR policies are sufficiently robust to handle it without ambiguity.

Diversity

Diversity has been at the forefront of HR for many years but its set to have an even greater profile during 2015.

As Generation Z – those born from 1995 onwards – start to migrate towards the workplace, there will be four different generations working alongside each other. With different experiences and expectations, it’s a source of potential conflict and something which needs to be managed carefully.

Ensuring there are no barriers whether its age, race or gender should be a priority for every company, along with recognising and appreciating the qualities that each generation can bring to the workplace.

Inclusion and diversity will be the buzzwords for 2015, so make sure that your policies reflect this accordingly.

Conclusion

HR is an area which will never stop evolving and to stay compliant with the latest regulations and employment law it’s important to keep up with the latest news and trends. However, by taking a proactive approach to HR for 2015 you’ll also improve retention rates by keeping existing staff happier and also attracting the hottest new talent ahead of the competition.

Are you ready to elevate your HR strategies?

Connect with our expert team for tailored solutions and insights. Call The HR Booth at 01383 668178 or reach out via email at info@thehrbooth.co.uk or use the contact form.

Let’s transform your human resources approach together!