Why is recruiting so hard?

[henrysugar12]

Been trying to recruit for a position since the middle of December. Had lots of applicants but none are suitable for the job! As it's a niche position, I understand that it's not going to be simple finding someone, but I would have thought that there would be some better applicants!

Most of the CVs list various chronic health issues, that they are on maternity leave for more than 6 months (ad said immediate start), or lots of other things that are not making them look like the best option! Some of the CVs show that they have moved jobs 3 or 4 times in a year and some have absolutely no relevant experience.

What on earth is going on? A couple that we have contacted about interviews have been so non-committal and we've not managed to get them to come in for an interview. Are these people just applying to continue claiming jobseekers or something? It's so frustrating

Also the expectation that this seemingly dead end job is something you want someone to commit to for several years rather than realising its the kind of place people will use as a stop gap/stepping stone as you aren't offering enough.

I'll apply. I'm even willing to relocate! It sounds like I have to right experience too...

Not UK, but our job market is very similar.

I've just started to look to return to the workplace part time. Some industries are screaming for staff. Most jobs I see I could do in a cakewalk but I don't apply.

• poor salary, (or one I saw yesterday (that I could get easily as it's my skills niche) wanted applicants to tell them expected salary in application so cheapest gets the job I suppose!)
• No opportunities
• too high an expectation of quals and experience
• horrible or inflexible hours, no hybrid or some want weekend work.
• rigidity on referees. I haven't worked in a few years so my brilliant ones have retired. Yet desperate employers let good potential employees go because of it.

Anyway It turns out I'm to be offered a job at my DH's firm. Really poorly paid & no promotional or hybrid option, but they'll work with whatever hours I want & free parking. I'll only do it for a couple of years & then move on.

You say they're not motivated.
I am very driven and motivated but never waste my time on applications or interviews when the salary isn't stated.

Why would I when I don't have to?

Within the last 20 years?

Your advert needs:
Salary
Hours, negotiable part time etc
Parking/good public transport links
Any other benefits(free lattes, enhanced pension, mobile, bonus scheme, discount vouchers, well-being schemes, cycle to work, paid breaks, uniform provided etc)
Training available
Career progression offered
STATED CLEARLY AT THE TOP OF THE AD. IN BULLET POINTS.

Many jobseekers read multiple ads a day on their phone. They’ll scroll past without this information. What’s in it for them needs to be your mantra here.

Put ‘Duties/Responsibilities’ in brief, after. You can send a more detailed description when you invite them for interview.
Call or email applicants immediately or you’ve lost them to other vacancies.
Even the ones you’re doubtful about on paper. It’s a numbers game.

Don’t wait for a shortlist, get them in to interview ASAP.
Your interview is a sales pitch, not just a ‘why should we hire you’ conversation.
Are you asking current employees to refer anyone suitable? Have you shared it on LinkedIn/local Facebook groups/your company website?

Things have changed. Hope this is useful.

Was thinking the same.

Small businesses still sometimes run like this. The kind of place that doesn't hire the new person until after the old one leaves is very prone to running like this because the owner doesn't think ahead.

Universities sometimes have this as well. When a software title like Mathematica costs thousands of pounds for one licence, that licence is installed on one PC and the research associate has to go in to use it because the campus firewall prevents a remote connection to the PC.

I wouldn't apply for any job where the salary wasn't listed

Sounds to me like these candidates are dodging a bullet here.

Your company and the abilities and common sense of both you and your manager sound absolutely ridiculous.

Why isn’t it obvious to you that people need to know a salary before they apply? Any serious candidate will want to know that and it also looks unprofessional if you don’t include it. For this reason alone, I don’t get why you have bothered to start this thread.

Also the comment about working mums - again, do you not think of something called ‘childcare costs’ to make it worth them taking the job? Not only does the salary need to be stated, but it needs to be high enough.

To me, ‘on-site job’ and ‘flexible hours’ don’t marry up, so i’d be suspicious of this. In my personal experience it’s the complete opposite, so give more detail about this in your advert.

How great candidates have been upfront with you about their chronic health issues. I have a chronic inherited illness which doesn’t stop me from doing my job but which occasionally when in a flare up I may need to have reasonable adjustments for (eg a short period of home working). I’ve also only had one period of sickness in 5 years due to the condition and that was only due to a medication change which needed to settle down. And in that 5 year period I’ve only ever had 2 other sickness absences which weren’t related to my condition. I rarely if ever speak about my condition at work and only my manager and one other colleague know about it. It doesn’t define me and I know Im a valuable, well regarded employee.

I'm a recruiter 👋🏻

It's a candidate driven market now - especially Q1 when everyone reevaluates their lives and careers.

Post covid - hybrid working is here is stay and majority of employers are offering that. If they are looking at 3 positions and the other 2 offer hybrid working then that immediately puts your position last in their mind.

If you're also offering PT and flexible hours, and training, people will be falling over themselves to apply. Yes you'll get a lot of irrelevant people but one or two decent people will pop in.

You need to be transparent about salary and wider benefits.

And where are you advertising?

And also look at your interview process and manage expectations accordingly.

I would be happy to take a look at the ad and reshuffle it for you to make it more attractive. Just PM me. That's your first chance to get people through the door so it needs to be written well.

Then it will need to pay more. At least partial remote working is the standard offering for this type of role now. If your organisation can't offer that, and aren't more attractive than competitors in some other way, they'll essentially have to compensate.

It isn't sounding very appealing, OP.

No salary advertised screams to most applicants that the pay will be as low as they can get away with, as it clearly isn't worth advertising. That would put a lot of applicants off from the start.

Most office jobs include an element of hybrid working now too, so that's another negative.

Have you been explicit about other T&C? E.g. Holiday entitlement, pension contributions and other benefits? If you're looking for the "mums with children" type applicant, typically they'll be looking for roles with generous holiday allowances to help cover school holidays etc. Statutory minimum will be quite off-putting.

I think you answered the question when you said you don't know the pay. I never apply for a job that doesn't disclose the salary. I don't want to waste my time!

As for the health things on CV those probably are applications from people box ticking for the DWP, probably the best you can expect given not being open about salary.

Also these days, no WFH at all for office work is off putting.

An advert describing hours as part time is infuriating!
Part time could be anything from a single 4 hour shift on a Sunday or a 36 hour 3 day week!
I could quite easily live off the 2nd with overtime/unsociable hour rates but not the 1st.
Please be more specific.
There's also people who have other commitments but not knowing when you are expected to work makes it not worthwhile applying and taking time out for an interview.
(Especially when like me you work full time and are looking for a new job, there's not much free time for interviews!)

Definitely need to look at the advert and the places you’re advertising. I work for the civil service and I’ve told them to advertise places like mumsnet, parent forums etc. Whenever I do sifting for jobs advertised externally it’s quite difficult filtering out the people who have spoiled to keep the job centre happy. Or those who haven’t bothered reading the guidance and doing a bit of research to see how we want the application done. It’s a waste of everyone’s time

I’ve been an office manager (budget holder, line manager, lots of responsibility) for 5 years and applied for a PT deputy office manager role in a different industry (less money) because I’m a mum and childcare yaddah yaddah. I was told that because I didn’t have the experience in the industry they couldn’t offer it to me but would I be interested in the “senior” admin position. It’s £11.50 per hour. Come April minimum wage is £11.44. I can get £12 working in Sainsburys. If you’re attracting people without experience it’s probably because of the pay. I knew I’d have to take a pay hit but offering 6p more than minimum wage for a “senior” role is farcical and insulting.

Where are you based? I could be interested. 😉

Also it’s worth saying what the hours are. I’ve applied for one that’s PT but has to be done over 5 days and I didn’t find out until interview. Waste of everyone’s time.

Yep, lots of small firms, one man bands, etc., are prettily shoddily run. I'm an accountant, and we have at least a handful of clients every year who can't provide their book-keeping, spreadsheets, or invoices, because "their laptop died" or they "lost their phone", or "forgot the password" or other such incompetent nonsense! You have to live it to believe it.

That's despite us constantly reminding them to do backups, set up online storage, etc., constantly.

And yes, still have a few dinosaur clients using a desktop PC that looks like it's from the 80s running standalone systems like invoicing, stock control, etc., "because it works" and they're too tight to upgrade or too lazy to transfer data from an old system to a new one!

And yes, some still use hand written analysis books too!

For any new clients, we insist on them using proper cloud-based accounting software or we won't take them on as clients, but older clients who've been with us for 20/30 years just won't budge. Some even "explain" it's because they don't want to pay £30 per month for the subscription!

Some of these employ staff and probably break every employment law and H&L law, but they, and their staff, are in a "comfortable rut" so just rub along OK for whatever reason.

I'd never work in a small/private firm again, and made sure I got that message over to our son when he was job hunting at University for his first graduate job! There's just something awful about working day in, day out, with the person who is paying your wages. At least with bigger firms, there's a degree of separation between who owns the firm (whose money your wage comes from) and the people running it who are your direct bosses (employed managers etc) which provides a modicum of professionalism.

@Honeychickpea - actually @haXXor post reminded me of a not that small MANUFACTURING company I came across professionally, whose entire stock system was on one excel spreadsheet, saved on one desktop computer that was about 15 years old at the time. This was 10 years ago but I bet it hasn’t changed so I take back what I said originally 😂

What everyone else has said - state the salary. If it's negotiable, state a salary range, but don't leave it out as people will assume it's min wage. If it is min wage and that's fair for the role, fine, but expect applicants to be either inexperienced or people looking for a stop-gap.

Or you are expecting too much, not looking at transferable skills and aren't willing to retrain people (in this case the OP says they will provide training, but is there a reason you actually need experience in an office, when you might have good office tech skills from volunteering or even just helping your kids with schoolwork).

I learnt my Word skills volunteering on my student newspaper at university, but didn't have office skills when I went for my first office job. Someone has to give you a break.

But if you've said immediate start and people are on mat leave, that is a bit silly. Mind you, maybe they think the recruitment process will take so long (they often do) that mat leave will be over!

The answer is super easy though. Labour is just like any other good and service: it has a price. And if you are not meeting that price you don't get labour.

Labour is odd with the price because it's not only about salary. It is about the terms & conditions (so flexibility, holiday, progression possibilities, bonus etc etc) And the quicker idiot bosses realise that, the better.

Can't remember which pp it was: I got a job at 59 (am now older) partly based on the experience i bring, it was acknowledged the whole time they were in discussion with me, that the experience i bring is naturally related to my age. (i was actually head-hunted for this). There are good 'uns out there.

The answer is super easy though. Labour is just like any other good and service: it has a price. And if you are not meeting that price you don't get labour.

Labour is odd with the price because it's not only about salary. It is about the terms & conditions (so flexibility, holiday, progression possibilities, bonus etc etc) And the quicker idiot bosses realise that, the better.

Yep, this. The role isn't particularly attractive, and probably won't be even if it's advertised in a way that doesn't make the company sound dodgy. The applicants that have come forward are the ones that the price justifies. Price obviously being about terms and conditions as well as the money.