Quarter one has seen the market slide a little more towards being “candidate driven”, the manufacturing sector in general seems to be doing reasonably well in South Wales, with many clients reporting an upturn in orders and having positive forecasts for 2015.
What do we mean when we say more “candidate driven”?
It means that we are seeing a tipping in the balance of supply and demand, there are more jobs than there are candidates for certain skilled positions for example design engineers, maintenance technicians, project engineers etc. This means that the good candidates will often have multiple options on the table if they are actively looking, meaning that competition increases and salaries / benefits are driven upwards. In this market we will see more counter offers (candidates current company offering more salary / benefits for the candidate to stay with them after another job offer has been received). We will also see more interview cancellations and more offer rejections, again this is due to the amount of competition for the candidates skills, candidates will become ‘off the market’ quite quickly as they are snapped up by other companies.
How can you implement an effective recruitment strategy in this market?
- Review your companies’ salary and benefits package (we offer FREE benchmarking).
- Produce a list of non-financial benefits, for example flexi time, friendly culture etc.
- Sell your company at interview, think why your company is a nice place to work?
- Move fast, the market is competitive don’t delay too much!
- Review your recruitment adverts or the adverts of your suppliers, are they eye catching and do they stand out? Do they sell the opportunity?
- Look at alternative options, can’t get an experienced engineer in budget, then perhaps look at graduate options or can you develop an internal candidate?
How Sigma recruit in a more candidate driven market?
- We use a wide variety of tools to capture as many candidates as possible, 5 or more national job boards, plus a strong internal candidate database, and large reach via our social media marketing campaigns.
- Qualifying the candidates, we focus on two key questions when screening candidates. Can they do the job? (Assessed against client criteria) and will they do the job? (Are the salary, location, benefits right for them, why do they want to move jobs, how does it all compare to their current package, are they playing for a counter offer?). We find that addressing the will they do the job question is just as key as can they do the job in today’s market, failure to address this question leads to a lot more interview cancellations and rejected offers!
- Flexibility – we work outside standard manufacturing hours, to make sure we can speak to candidates when it’s convenient for them.
If you would like any FREE advice on your current recruitment strategy, then please call me on 02920 100790 or email rhys@www.sigmarecruitment.co.uk
