This years’ scorching summer led to a boost in the UK economy, encouraging businesses across the nation to keep driving forward with their hiring efforts. In fact, the latest job market data from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job site, revealed that job vacancies were up by 11.9% in Q3 2018.
What’s more, the report, which compared data from Q3 2018 with that of the same period in 2017, found that salaries were also on the rise last quarter, increasing by 4.3%.
It’s clear that this hike in business confidence is starting to take effect, with candidate registrations in some of the UK’s key industries rising steadily over the past three months. As such, the top industries to find candidates right now include:
- Retail – 118,800 more candidates registered in Q3
- Education – 22,700 more candidates registered in Q3
- Accounting/finance – 22,600 more candidates registered in Q3
- Sales – 22,000 more candidates registered in Q3
- Construction – 21,900 more candidates registered in Q3
- Engineering – 20,200 more candidates registered in Q3
- Catering – 20,100 more candidates registered in Q3
- IT – 16,800 more candidates registered in Q3
- Hospitality – 16,500 more candidates registered in Q3
- Marketing – 10,800 more candidates registered in Q3
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, comments:
“Despite unemployment being at its lowest rate since 1975, employer confidence is stronger than ever. But, while more candidates are showing interest in a new job, application rates aren’t keeping pace.
“If we hope to bridge the ongoing skills gap and start strengthening the UK workforce once more, organisations need to focus on targeting passive candidates and pulling out all the stops in order to attract the right people to their roles.”
Below, CV-Library offers some of its top tips to employers to help them attract both active and passive job hunters into their business:
- Consider referral schemes: Encourage existing employees to recommend their friends or family members. This will help you to tap into a trusted passive talent pool.
- Work on your content strategy: Provide useful content that will not only impress your customers, but also help to market yourself as an industry leader to passive candidates.
- Network: Positioning yourself as an industry leader, getting your brand in front of the right people and networking with like-minded professionals can be extremely beneficial.
- Boost your employer brand: Make sure you’re active on social media, have a strong careers page on your website and manage your reputation on employee review sites.
- Offer the most competitive packages: Most people stay in their job because it benefits their life in some way, so offering the best possible packages can attract candidates out of the safety of their current position.
For more information on the UK job market, check out the full report here.
