Hiring Challenges in Focus Series: Candidate Availability

Yes, we’re experiencing a candidate availability issue too.

And KPMG agrees that there is currently a “greater hesitancy to look for or switch roles alongside a generally low level of unemployment which has led to a further steep drop in the supply of workers.”*

The reduction of candidates has occurred because of several different stressors. Issues include a cost-of-living crisis, war in Ukraine and media-fuelled rumours of recession – which never actually materialised, but the damage nonetheless was done.

Professionals now prefer to stay put, or worse, ‘quietly quit’ than take what they perceive as a risk by looking for a new role.

Furthermore, hiring professionals feel the impact of a working culture revolution produced by the pandemic. We’re seeing a push and pull between candidates expecting more flexibility and some organisations hesitating to provide it.

Plus, many financially comfortable, executive-level professionals chose not to return to work after the pandemic. The impact of this demographic not returning to work is felt keenly in senior-level recruitment.

What’s our approach?

The Management Recruitment Group (MRG) has taken an inventive and relentless approach to achieve its hiring goals – it is time to search beyond traditional methods and traditional candidates.

Recruiters must be inventive in their search by looking to new sources such as: 

• Associated markets;

• Supply chains;

• UK nationals globally located;

• Non-cognate sources.

The attitude to the search process must now be relentless, meaning to pursue each campaign with enthusiasm, energy and pride.

To be relentless is central to the MRG culture, primarily because we work with clients on a retained basis. We work rigorously for our clients as they put exclusive trust in us. In the words of Ben Duffill, MRG’s UK Managing Director, “when working on a retained basis, the recruiter forms a marriage with the client, whereby they have shown trust in us, so we must deliver on our goals”.

MRG is relentlessly expanding, looking outside traditional geographies to source candidates. In March 2023, the new MRG office in Warsaw, Poland, was opened. We now maintain a presence on four continents and plan to expand further this year. MRG are on the ground globally, allowing us to support our clients and candidates on a larger scale.

This relentless approach to hiring is why 80% of MRG clients returned for further recruitment requirements in 2022. 

https://home.kpmg/uk/en/home/media/press-releases/2022/11/kpmg-and-rec-uk-report-on-jobs.html