Speaking to a recruiter recently, he was moaning how much of a candidate market we are in.

One candidate, he said, demanded £17k more than he was being offered!  He didn’t get that role, but was obviously confident of his salary demands.

Low unemployment, high demand for a range of key skills, contrasting views about office and remote – and recruiters are pulling their hair out just to get 5 people on a shortlist.

It’s not even recruiters that are frustrated.  One business owner of a Beauty Salon in an affluent market town is considering closing her doors, not because of client demand (there’s plenty), she just can’t find talent.

But what’s different in the world of early careers recruitment?

There are plenty of applications on the whole.  One recruiter recently said that she doesn’t want to walk in next January to thousands more applications; just improve the quality, please.

And can we have more people from diverse backgrounds?

Of course, recruitment has always been about quality; but how do you grow quality applications in a candidate market?

• Be the best in your category – find your value proposition (and not just fluffy make a difference statement) and go further than the competition to put it in front of the right people.
• Unleash the power of social – forget just posting in your channel; find the best ways to engage with new communities of talent – whether through influencers, content, blatant stunts, or simply great advocacy.
• Make your recruiters the face of your business – recruiters on LI are powerful champions of your business and culture.  In a recent focus group, students talked about specific people and how important they were – even though they had never met them.
• Actions rather than words – when it comes to diversity and inclusion.  You might not be particularly diverse right now, but show your commitment in what you are doing to change that.

It’s hard work.  You need resilience.  And it won’t be easy.  But like all the best things, it will be worth it.

Good luck – and if you need any help, please shout in our direction.