The UK labour market is currently seeing unemployment rates at a near-historic low of 3.8%, coupled with job vacancies at a record high of almost 1.3 million.

What does this mean for recruiters? That top talent is increasingly hard to come by, with employers facing tough competition to attract and retain a shrinking pool of candidates.

This article will talk you through the current state of the UK labour market, and explain what your talent attraction strategy should look like in 2022 to combat these conditions.

The UK talent market

Between April and June 2022, the level of job vacancies in the UK exceeded the level of unemployment. Businesses are beginning to report worker shortages, with almost half (47%) of employers reporting hard-to-fill vacancies. These are particularly prevalent in industries including education (56%), transport and storage (55%), and the voluntary sector (53%).

All this points to a strong recovery in the UK labour market since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. But there’s another trend, continuing on from the pandemic, which refuses to subside – the ‘quitting epidemic’.

In early 2021, large numbers of workers began leaving their jobs in a movement labelled the ‘Great Resignation’. There were many factors behind this, from safety concerns to changes in personal and professional goals prompted by lockdown self-reflection. Many expected this pattern to end with the pandemic lockdowns, but in fact, many workers are continuing to resign or planning to do so. In a survey of 1,000 UK workers, almost a third said that they’re planning to quit their job soon.

The data clearly shows that in today’s tight labour market, employers need an effective strategy for both attraction and retention of top talent.

How to retain talent

According to the CIPD, employers are handing out ‘some of the highest pay awards in recent history’ as they ‘strive to attract and retain staff’. Particularly in the private sector, pay award expectations have hit a record high.

However, with the cost-of-living crisis and the possibility of a recession looming, strong pay growth can’t last forever. Other benefits may be the key to retaining talent, particularly those that help reduce the cost of housing, travel and childcare. In addition, talent retention strategies should include ‘upskilling’ – investing in an employee’s professional development to prevent them seeking to advance their career elsewhere.

Retaining talent is crucial for any company; companies with high employee turnover rates and a ‘revolving door’ of employees may find that their productivity, efficiency, and company culture are negatively affected. Retaining employees also saves money – it is estimated that the cost of entry-level position turnover is 50% of annual salary. This is a huge source of expenditure that can be avoided by data-driven hiring.

Both monetary and non-monetary benefits, combined with a positive work environment, strong company culture and a focus on upskilling, can assist employers in retaining top talent.

How to attract talent

In a tight talent market, where qualified candidates are in high demand and employers are in fierce competition, an effective talent attraction strategy is crucial.

One of the greatest obstacles to successful talent attraction is a failure to keep up with a changing labour market, and particularly with the digital revolution. Too much concentration on legacy talent pools with poor job distributions to legacy channels means that campaigns have limited reach and diversity. Such campaigns are unlikely to deliver organisations the people they need to grow their business.

The key to attracting talent is to target today’s digital native job seekers where they’re most at home – across the internet and social media. Using channels including your own recruitment site whilst tapping into existing channels such as job boards and social media, you can reach the widest possible pool of talent. That means expanding your reach beyond “active” jobseekers on the lookout for a new job, to “passive” talent”. This is a crucial demographic given that many excellent candidates feel disengaged in their jobs, and around 50% are open to moving jobs at any time. Not to mention the 29% of UK workers who are currently considering moving to a new job in the near future.

An effective distribution network is all about bringing your content to your audience, rather than expecting them to come to you.

inploi’s simple solution to talent attraction  

inploi’s Attract module is specifically designed to help you reach the future of your workforce, wherever they are.

inploi’s distribution network offers immediate exposure to multiple audiences and millions of potential job seekers with just one connection. This encompasses a broad range of top-performing channels, including Google for Jobs, TikTok, Indeed and FindaJob, as well as traditional job boards.

Perfect data markup, direct integrations, and firm partnerships mean your jobs get listed quickly and indexed properly.

inploi’s team is at your disposal, offering up our expertise to design, execute and optimise bespoke campaigns to deliver you the candidates you need. 

In 2021 alone, we’re proud to have partnered with top UK employers including Butlin’s, Haven, and Nobu Hotels. We ran market-leading targeted recruitment campaigns to target top talent and deliver impressive results.

If you’re ready to supercharge your talent attraction process and engage the future of the workforce, get in touch with inploi today or find out more at our website.