Accessing Hard to Reach Candidates

Scanning the recent employment news, there was an interesting ONS Labour Market Overview last week. Unemployment has gone down again to 3.6% and economic inactivity – those not working in the population of people who could work – has gone up. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation, of which Ten2Two are members, said in their response statement:

“The exceptional growth in demand for new workers we’ve seen through the year is at an end. But hiring activity is still at a very high level and shortages are still a key problem for firms. Pressure to raise pay for existing staff, as shown in today’s data, and caution about the economic outlook, are likely to be contributing factors in hirers becoming a little more cautious.”

“Despite increased levels of employer caution, vacancies are still at historically high levels. It is still a good time to be looking for work. Unemployment remains at record lows, while employment is still below February 2020 levels. That means economic inactivity – those out of work and not looking for it – is a growing challenge, with the ONS figures showing it has hit a new high.”

Economy counts

One of the primary ‘economic inactive’ groups are the 1.72m people ‘looking after family or home’. 22% of this group are looking for a job whilst the remaining 78% are not. Anecdotally, we are hearing from candidates that the cost-of-living crisis and the long-term economic outlook summarised in Jeremy Hunt’s statement last week is shifting more people into the ‘looking for work’ as they seek to contribute to their family finances.

The ’contribute & care’ group will return to work perhaps sooner than they planned. Many are skilled, capable and experienced professionals and offer a solution to employers struggling to find candidates.
The takeout from this is two-fold:

• This group is seeking flexibility, part-time (school hours particularly), and a salary that will enable them to offset any childcare or commuting costs. Be as flexible as you can when considering working patterns for new employees.
• Ten2Two has special access to this community. We exclusively support people looking for part-time and flexible jobs, particularly women returning to the workplace so talk to us about how we could access this community for you.

Give Jane a call on 01442 503727 or drop us your details here.  We are experts and can help you recruit, accessing these hard to reach candidates.