Operating in a candidate-driven market can be tough for businesses, especially if you have limited recruitment resources. Since the 2008 recession, employment numbers have recovered to a healthy level, and 86% of recruiters agree that they’re working in a candidate-driven market.
This is especially relevant for IT businesses in the UK; the tech sector has experienced significant growth in the last few years, growing 2.6 times faster than the rest of the UK economy. With increasing overseas investment in our tech sector, the trend appears only set to continue.
Moving quickly to access top talent is crucial, but you also need the right foundations within your business to stand out from your competitors.
Why does it matter?
A candidate-driven market is great news for job seekers. It means they can be more selective about which jobs they choose to apply for, but it also affects retention rates. In recent years, the demand for IT professionals has increased by 28%. This means that those currently in employment may be tempted to jump ship if there are plenty of jobs with higher salaries or better company cultures.
The news isn’t so great for IT businesses. The competition for talent is fierce because ultimately, there are not enough people with the right technical specialisms to go around. This means that there’s also a skill shortage in the industry. It should eventually level out as there’s a drive to train people in technical skills like coding from a young age, although this takes time.
See candidate-driven markets as an opportunity
Although recruiting within a candidate-driven market is challenging, if you tackle it in the right way, you’ll be able to recruit top talent more-or-less regardless of the market. It’s all about building on the values of your business to make it as attractive as possible to potential candidates. This includes investing time in creating a great company culture and EVP. If you want to find out more about the two, read our article here.
How do you move quickly?
Once you’ve got the business’s foundations sorted, you need to focus on how reactive you are. This includes responding quickly to applications, selecting the candidates, holding the interviews and giving out job offers in a relatively short window of time. Hesitating on the right candidate could cost you if they have other job offers ready and waiting- which they’re more likely to have in a candidate-driven market.
This is just one aspect of ‘moving quickly’, though. If you are able to identify potential candidates who would be a perfect fit for your company early on, you can offer them a position before they even think about applying. For this, you need to know how to access talent. You can do it yourself, although you’ll have more candidate options and be able to do it much more easily with an IT recruitment agency.
If you want to find out more about the benefits of using an agency, read our article: Why should you use an IT recruitment agency?
Conclusion
The current climate of growth in the UK’s tech sector means for the foreseeable future IT businesses will be operating in a candidate-driven market. To continue to access talent that will add value to and stay with your business, you need to ensure you have the right foundations. On top of that, using a specialist IT recruitment agency is one of the most effective solutions to recruiting top talent quickly. If you want to speed up your recruitment process, get in touch.
At GK recruitment, we have over 20 years of IT recruitment experience. If you need help recruiting in a candidate-driven market, we can help you access the talent you need to see your business grow. Contact us on 01257 429 499 or email us at info@gkrecruitment.com.
