Comment
By Jess Scarborough
Scotland’s labour market has seen another increase in hiring activity, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland's latest jobs report, continuing the trend from the end of 2021.
Permanent vacancies in Scotland are rising faster than the UK average and the supply of candidates has been in decline for eleven months. Meanwhile, the lasting impact of Covid on the available workforce is still to be understood. Remote working means that where once competition for candidates was restricted by locality, the fight is now global.
In such an environment, Scottish employers are under pressure to increase advertised salaries to tempt sought-after workers and avoid the detrimental impact of long-standing vacancies on their businesses. This hiring race has resulted in fourteen consecutive months of the average salary increasing for permanent Scottish workers. During this time the hourly rates for temporary staff have also consistently increased.
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While this is undoubtebly pleasing for job seekers, such increases are not sustainable. An alternative is for candidates to choose an organisation because of that business’s reputation, services and business style – what we know as their "employer brand".
Shaping the way candidates perceive an organisation through a clear articulation of why targeted applicants should work for one company over their competitor produces exponential improvements in hiring results. It can convince the best people to join and it allows an organisation to reduce the need to compete on salary alone.
But what are the ingredients of these winning employer brands?
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An employer brand should reflect the true culture and values of an organisation. Employee review sites like Glassdoor and Indeed mean that people can instantly see through inaccurate claims around a business. Worse still, organisations that hire on false pretences suffer from higher attrition when employee experience doesn’t live up to expectations.
With this in mind, communications must be authentic, but not rooted in the mundane. They should reflect the organisation's vision of the future and highlight elements of the employee experience that are truly unique. Only by differentiating can organisations hope to be perceived as employers of choice, and consequently drive down new joiner remuneration.
Finally, although we talk about candidates as if they are one homogenous group, the motivations and career priorities of employees will differ from one individual to the next. Understanding why current employees turn up to work every day can help identify how to appeal to different candidates, and in turn give you a head start in the race to secure the best staff.
Jess Scarborough, employer brand & communications strategist with TMP UK, is a guest writer on behalf of s1jobs.
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