The digital skills gap in the UK is a real concern for employers across the nation. This reigns even more true when digital marketing is a candidate-led market. That said, how can these two things be happening in tandem? Firstly, what is the skill gap? The skills gap in the UK refers to the difference between the skills needed to do a particular job and those that are available. Meanwhile, a candidate-led market is when the number of vacancies outweighs the number of job seekers. Therefore, companies are constantly battling to obtain the attention of the best candidates.
So, just how do you go about combatting these dreaded skills gaps?
Write a strong job advertisement
When it comes to combatting the UK skills gap, it all starts with the job advertisement. You need to remember that quality candidates are currently in control, and they know this. As a result, they won’t be applying for anything and everything, meaning your job advertisement must capture their attention. Your job advertisement needs to set your offering apart from the multitude of others out there. Not only do you need to be clear and concise about what the role entails, but you need to offer some perks that make your opportunity more appealing than the others.
Make use of recruitment companies
Recruitment is a long and arduous task and is among the most hated management duties. As a result, many employers source the help of a recruitment company to reduce the headache. A recruitment company will advertise your position, sift through applications and CVs, interview candidates, or complete any other recruitment tasks. As an employer, you can control the level of involvement that your chosen recruitment company has; they may fulfil every single one of your recruitment tasks, or they might just take on a couple to ease your responsibilities.
Introduce an employee referral scheme
Chances are, your existing employees are the kind of people you’re looking for (why else would you have hired them?) Your employees will likely have worked at other organisations where they’ll have met like-minded professionals. Consequently, your company may well benefit from an employee referral scheme. This is because your employees can fulfil the task of sourcing quality candidates, which is one of the hardest jobs when it comes to recruitment. Once you’ve surpassed this hurdle, the rest of the recruitment process should fall into place.
Check out the competition
Your competition is your competition for a reason; you should never be too proud to take a look at what they’re doing and potentially use it in your own way. After all, if what they’re doing is working, who’s to say that you can’t use them as inspiration? In a skills gap and candidate-led market, you’re essentially fighting against every other rival company for the attention of the best candidates. To know how to beat them, you must first understand what it is they’re doing.
Recruit employees effectively
Last but not least, you need to ensure your recruitment methods are effective. That means sourcing the right people and driving the process forward in an efficient manner. The best candidates won’t be on the recruitment market for very long, so you need to snap them up before someone else does. What’s more, the way in which you recruit them will pave the way for their coming expectations. It’s important to paint a good picture of the business to maintain candidates’ interest.
One of the most effective means of recruiting employees is by using the services of BMS Performance. Upload a vacancy today!
