What’s driving hiring?

Sourcing workers is still an issue for plenty of industries. Businesses can help ease these problems by keeping up with the latest recruitment trends.

Ari Recruitment chief executive Aimee Baker joined HR Leader to discuss what is driving hiring in 2023.

“It’s definitely a jobseeker’s market. I’ve never seen that many offers turned down ever before in the history of my career in recruiting,” she said.

“Although, I can see the trend is slowly shifting. I have a lot of clients and businesses that I know, especially when I was in the construction space that have gone into administration or liquidation, and then seeing the flow-on effects in that space.”

Ms Baker continued: “So, when people talk about uncertainty now, and will we be in a recession? Will there be financial crisis? When there’s talks about that, you do see people who are in roles being less likely to move, and people who are out of work as a result of it being a bit more willing to accept almost the first offer that that’s coming their way.”

While the job market may be beginning to turn around, it is still very competitive for an employer. Standing out from your competition and finding out what you have to give can help businesses to reduce the impact of economic troubles.

“You have to first ask yourself as an employer, what can I provide that’s going to be different? Historically speaking, you go into an interview to sell yourself to a business hoping that they’re going to hire you. This shift needs to be a bit of a sell on why should you come work for us?”

Ms Baker said: “We do reference checks on candidates; I think we should do reference checks on employers. I think you should be able to be like, ‘provide me two references of people who work there, I’d love to hear their thoughts on you as a boss.’”

One issue that businesses may face is leaders not realising that the talent market has turned around. For a leader who is used to people coming to them for work, getting into the mindset that it’s a candidate’s market can be challenging.

“If you’re a director, partner, or business leader, you’ve worked your way up. I don’t want to, this isn’t a blanket statement, but there can be some egotistical issues throughout that you’re used to getting what you want,” Ms Baker explained.

“You get to decide who’s in the room, you get to decide who gets the job, and to sometimes with that, you don’t always want to sell people on why they should want to come and work for you and your business. But I definitely think that’s the space we’re in right now.”

Recruitment begins with leadership, and just as important is what you can offer your candidate’s. Ms Baker said that with inflation and cost-of-living issues affecting just about everyone, salaries need to reflect this.

“For a lot of people, the cost of living going up, money is definitely something people are keen on. So I’ve watched salaries go through the roof for important roles or in industries that are needing more staff. So, where they’ve got the space for it, and they’ve got the work coming in, and they want the right people, money is definitely been thrown,” she commented.