Unemployment has officially fallen to its lowest level in nearly half a century, while the number of job vacancies outnumber those out of work for the first time on record. Wave’s Emily Buckley explains why reducing time-to-fill is crucial in such a competitive market and offers some tips on how to streamline your recruitment process.
The Office for National Statistics figures for the first quarter of 2022 reveal the tightest jobs market the UK has ever seen. In a market where there are considerably more vacancies than those looking for jobs, an efficient recruitment process that ensures that time-to-fill is as short as possible is vital or else you risk losing talented candidates to competitors.
How has the market shifted?
The ONS has shown that the UK market has hit a record of close to 1.3 million vacancies, whilst at the same time we are experiencing incredibly low levels of unemployment. WaveTrackR data has shown that, bar the traditionally quiet month of December, April experienced its lowest percentage of applications since September. How have we reached a point where jobs outweigh available candidates to such a degree? It is, in part, a reflection of a shrinking workforce since the start of the pandemic and Brexit. There are now less EU workers in the UK, many older workers retired during the pandemic, and there has been a rise in long-time sickness. For several consecutive quarters, economic inactivity has risen and continues to do so – an entire section of the populous that has dropped out of the jobs market altogether. There has also been a rise in people moving from job to job, proving that people are looking to move roles – you just need to catch them before the competition does.
Why reducing time-to-fill is crucial
If you have been desperately trying to source talented candidates over the past few months you’ll probably not be surprised by these statistics but it is a stark reminder that talented candidates won’t be on the market for long and so quick candidate attraction and a reduction in time-to-fill is critical. The longer it takes you to find candidates and the more drawn-out your recruitment process, the higher the chance the competition will hire them first. Candidate experience is everything in this environment. Communication lagging? Delays in shortlisting? A lengthy interview process? All of these holdups could lead to you missing out on talented candidates while a competitor offers them a job or because they get fed up with waiting and move on.
Increase efficiency with recruitment technology
This is where recruitment technology is your friend. Utilise automation tools to speed up the process, from quick and easy job posting to multiple platforms (and knowing which platforms are more likely to be used by the candidates you are targeting), to an easy application process, to efficient candidate management. In a market where speed (without compromising quality) is of the essence, recruitment technology can mean the difference between a quick hire and no hire at all – plus potentially even client loss. Scrutinise your recruitment process to work out where your bottlenecks lie. Which stage or stages are taking the longest time? What part of the process needs to be made more efficient in order to try and reduce time-to-fill? Focus on those areas and work out what piece of recruitment tech would help to increase efficiency.
How to reduce time-to-fill
- It all starts with a great job ad
Get the job ad wrong and you’ll be at a disadvantage from the very start. That means optimised, quality, compelling content but also an ad that is posted in the right place at the right time so that it is found, read and resonates with the right candidate. Data-driven job posting means knowing which job boards are likely to provide the most exposure to talented candidates for each particular job. It means knowing what time is best to schedule your job posting in order to catch candidates when they’re actively looking.
Content is also key – keep to standardised job titles, add location and salary, keep the word length to max 350 words, naturally weave in keywords and limit yourself to 5 bullet points per list. What’s especially important in this market is to understand and address what candidates now want from a job – not free-flow-drinks-Fridays or a pool table in the office but flexible working opportunities, health and wellbeing perks and a supportive culture.
- Build an internal candidate database
Curating your very own candidate database that you can call upon when the right opportunities become available can be invaluable, especially when filling roles at pace is necessary. Recruitment tech that allows you to download CVs, save them and then quickly find relevant ones with a filtered search criteria is incredibly useful. Also ensure you offer the ability for candidates to register their CV on your recruitment website and set up job alerts. Of course, to really make the most of your candidate databases you also need to keep in touch with those candidates – check in on them regularly, remind them that you’re still there and ready to help, and let them know about any possible job matches.
- Manage incoming applications
Attracting talented candidates is one thing but keeping them in the process until the very end is another thing entirely. A candidate management system that allows you to easily track and manage applications so that you don’t let any candidate slip through the cracks will help you to keep in control of the entire process and speed it up. A ranking system, the ability to add notes and updates by each candidate, and filterable views, all in one place, makes it easy to track each candidate throughout the process.
- Communication is key
A candidate management system will also help you to keep on top of communication with your candidates. Letting candidates know where they stand and what to expect next is crucial so that they don’t leave the process out of frustration or because they decided to accept another offer or pursue another job role. A range of different email templates and the ability to bulk email candidates will both save time and ensure that all candidates get a timely response.
- Ensure a streamlined recruitment process
A streamlined process is an efficient process, one that minimises any delays and takes you from job ad creation, to job board posting, to applications and candidate management, to offer and hire efficiently. It is this that will reduce your time-to-fill and give you an advantage when it comes to attracting candidates and keeping them interested. In a candidate-short market the recruitment process can become a minefield, with candidates potentially leaving at any point – even at the offer stage. A streamlined process, aided by the right recruitment tech stack and driven by empathetic and timely communication, will hugely help you to reduce your time-to-fill.
Time-to-fill is an important metric regardless of the state of the market as it serves as a good reflection of the efficiency of your recruitment processes and can pinpoint where improvements could be made. However, in a market where candidates are thin on the ground and jobs remain high, reducing time-to-fill really is business critical. Take too long and the likelihood is that candidates will accept other offers while you are still part-way through your hiring process. Optimise your job ads, utilise data-driven multi-posting technology to get those ads out to the right places quickly and at the time that candidates are actively searching, manage applications coming in, track your candidates, and ensure you keep them up to date with the status of the process and their place in it. Such measures will help you to reduce your time-to-fill and allow you to stay ahead of the competition.
Wave aims to create a world where talent is never missed by providing recruitment solutions through cutting-edge technology, via WaveTrackR (data-powered multi-poster and analytics tool), RecWebs (tailored recruitment websites) and WaveMedia (recruitment media buying).
