With skills shortages rapidly impacting the ‘bounce back’ for a number of UK businesses, the candidate experience is more critical than it has ever been, according to online talent sourcing specialist, Talent.com.

Industries including hospitality, retail and construction have all reported a struggle to attract enough workers to fill demand as both the impact of Covid and Brexit have created ever smaller talent pools. While this shortage of skills is a long-term issue that needs immediate action to prevent a negative impact on the UK’s economic growth, Talent.com has argued that some employers could be losing out due to small mistakes that are having an impact on the candidate experience.

Noura Dadzie – VP Sales UK & International Markets at Talent.com commented: “There’s no doubt that there’s a skills issue in a number of sectors in the UK and the commitment from the Government to invest in retraining the workforce to fill these gaps is a promising sign for the future. However, there’s an immediate competition for staff that is creating a real challenge for employers. While we’re seeing promising employment signs – with data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing a continued increase in vacancies and the employment numbers – there aren’t enough active candidates to fill these roles.

“What we are also seeing, though, is some businesses losing potentially perfect candidates because the individual isn’t completely happy with the experience with the brand – often through no direct fault of the business itself.

As we identified in our recent eBook, simply mistakes such as a lack of clear information regarding salary, an overly complex recruitment process and lack of communication at each phase of the candidate journey could be costing employers good applicants. Those organisations that are unable to fix these issues quickly will soon find that no matter how many new applicants they are able to engage, their end success will be limited.”