Highlights
- Employers and recruiters are indeed finding it harder as the number of job vacancies grow to record levels.
- The number of workers from the EU in UK has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years.
- Higher salaries and relocation packages might become crucial to attract and secure top talent.
Although, it is less than two weeks until the planned date of Brexit and the government spent most of last week having a round of “meaningful votes”. Sadly, it seems that the UK is no nearer to knowing whether it will leave the EU as planned on March 29 or if Britain’s withdrawal from the EU will be delayed for months or even years.
This is not the outcome anyone hoped for, and with the deadline, in particular, looming nearer nobody wanted another week in which nothing changed or got agreed.
So, what now for recruitment?
With nothing new really being decided and the only certainty being uncertainty, the only option for recruiters is to carry on with the strategic plan they adopted after the Brexit vote.
Although employers and recruiters will need to accept that UK jobs will remain hard to fill as even with fears over the outcome of Brexit, job vacancies in the UK are at record levels and unemployment has hit a record low, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
So, does this mean that the impact of Brexit has been limited so far?
The latest figures do emphasise that employers and recruiters are indeed finding it harder as the number of job vacancies grow to record levels.
However, the latest statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions highlight that recruiters and businesses have adjusted their talent strategies to enable them to compensate for a reduction in available skills from the EU post-Brexit, particularly in the areas of IT and healthcare.
The figures show that recruiters and businesses are spreading their nets further and further afield away from the EU as although the number of workers from the EU has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years. The fall has been more than compensated for by an increase in migrant labour from the rest of the world, primarily Asia and the Americas.
India alone saw a 43 percent increase in the number of registrations, to more than 45,000, making it the third largest source of new migrants.
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How can employers and recruiters continue to prepare for Brexit?
British recruiters will have to accept that although in many ways the UK has lost its appeal and therefore, its ability to attract EU nationals doesn’t stop them from being able to attract from the rest of world.
Recruiters who innovate and plan ahead are the ones who can stay ahead of the competition.
Employers need to take immediate action to help retain the top European talent by ensuring their EU workers are aware they might be eligible for British citizenship or settled status. Applying for visas and residency rights is likely to be a complex and lengthy process, so offering to take care of the admin, will help retain staff going forward.
Additionally, higher salaries and relocation packages might become crucial to attract and secure top talent.
Recruiters should also be committed to constantly reviewing their hiring process to ensure that they not only optimise the candidate experience to reduce dropouts through increased engagement, but also improve time to hire metrics so that they can rapidly place candidates.
Ultimately, any recruiter or business will need to be willing to make any change necessary to manage the effects of Brexit.
One thing, however, is for sure, as Britain continues to move through uncharted waters over the coming months and years, the questions and uncertainty look set to continue for everyone.
