As the skills shortage continues to bite, standing out from the crowded recruitment market for companies is as important as ever if recent studies are to be believed.

Whilst the Office for National Statistics released figures that showed that the employment rate across the country was rising, the North West saw one of the highest numbers of people returning to work, with 74.6% employed – A 0.4% increase from September to November 2022, suggesting more people were returning to the jobs market.

Many industries are still reporting that they are experiencing real shortages of talent.

Accountancy, law, engineering, and IT are among the sectors that are suffering with getting the right staff and there were many reasons for this.

Changing work patterns that were brought on by COVID-19 have undoubtedly changed how and when people work with a recent LinkedIn study suggesting that more than a third of workers would rather quit their job than work from the office full-time, with flexibility key to whether they would search for a new job or not.

More than half of the people asked in the survey said they would.

So, in an ever-competitive jobs market and a region that is suffering from a very real skills shortage, how does a company stand out to prospective employees?

First impressions are everything to a company or recruiter, and this is increasingly the same for candidates.

A recent survey by StandOutCV, a poorly written job advert will reduce the number of applications by 52%, so online communication is key if any company is hoping to attract the right amount of talent.

And it is the same for job adverts which are unnecessarily long, with 60% of candidates interviewed in the same survey saying they would abandon a job application if it was too long.

Being flexible with working hours and locations, however, is one of the most important ways a company or recruiter can attract workers with the trend for home working or a hybrid model the most attractive for prospective candidates.

The Chartered Institute of Professional Development's (CIPD) study suggested that despite some companies' unwillingness to adopt those models, up to 30% of employers that responded said that 'flexible working' was one of their most effective methods of recruiting.

Claire McCartney, senior resourcing, and inclusion adviser for the CIPD said at the time of the report in December: "Greater availability of flexible working is usually a low-cost option for employers looking to improve their benefits package.

"Employers shouldn't simply focus on pay but look to advertise roles as flexible and offer options for hybrid and remote working, where possible, to strengthen their attraction and retention offering."

It seems, the stakes for businesses in the world of recruiting the best talent, it's as high as it ever has been and the room for error in the process has never been so slim.

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