Another year has passed – and before we head into 2025 on the Recruiter blog, let’s first of all take stock and take a look back at what 2024 had for us.
Obviously, 2024 was the year when we got a Labour government. And history was made with the first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer.
But lots of other issues and topics were also addressed on the blog.
January 2024 – Avoid Those Cliches
Are you guilty of writing job ads and finding yourself loading those ads with cliches? Cliched phrases like:
- Team player
- Dynamic work environment
- Excellent communication skills
And there are many more besides.
If you are looking at those phrases and wondering what’s wrong with using them – after all, doesn’t everyone else use them in their job ads. This is part of the problem.
Cliches in your job ads will see that job ad disappear in a sea of other job ads that read the same as yours.
If they see your ad, your potential young candidate will bore quickly of what they are reading and you risk alienating them.
Read our article about the top cliches to avoid in job ads and what type of phrases to use instead.
February 2024 – Is It Wise To Leverage The Gig Economy?
In February, we looked at the pros and cons for employers when leveraging the gig economy for their student recruitment.
You will no doubt be aware that there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to recruitment strategies. But for some of you, the gig economy can prove to be a useful tool.
In the article, we looked at what the gig economy is and also the types of jobs that lend themselves well to the gig economy in recruitment.
Benefits to employers are:
- Cost savings
- Flexibility
- Access to specialised skills
- Faster recruitment process
- Global talent pool
- Reduced overheads
- Innovation & creativity
- Improvement in productivity
- Access to talent that you can recruit in the future
And then, of course, there are also the cons. In the article, we looked at:
- Less control
- Over reliance on external talent
- Potential for disengagement
- Communication challenges
- Brand reputation risks
- Training and onboarding challenges
- Team building difficulties
For more detail so that you can decide whether or not leveraging the gig economy could be good for your recruitment, take a look at our full article about the gig economy.
March 2024 – Don’t Lose Candidates Before You Recruit Them
In March 2024, we looked at how to keep your candidates engaged during the recruitment process.
Did you know that if your application process is long and drawn out, you risk losing young candidates before you have even had the chance to decide whether they are the person for the job?
Your potential new recruit might decide you are not the employer for them and they will look elsewhere; opting for a company that has kept them engaged throughout the application process.
Check out our article via the link above so that you can make sure you can keep those potential new recruits engaged and keen to work for your company. There are lots of useful tips; from things like personal communication to active listening and giving feedback.
April 2024
April 2024 was a busy month on the blog.
- JobsAware Partnership – With reports of job scams quadrupling since 2022, this article explained how we at e4s are at the forefront of combating fraudulent activity in the employment sector.
JobsAware is a government-backed certification that is about protecting the safety of workers and work seekers. E4S has committed to being part of the scheme’s pilot along with other leading jobs boards.You can read more here about the JobsAware partnership.
- Getting The Most From Your Job Ad – Get our top tips for writing your job ad – including how to upgrade your role to a featured listing on the e4s site.
- Essential Hiring Metrics For Every Company – Are you aware of the hiring metrics you should be monitoring when you are going through your recruitment process? Making this process as efficient as possible is key – both for time efficiency and for company finances. It can also be beneficial for your company branding.
Take a look at our article for more detailed information about the essential hiring metrics for your company so that you can streamline the process and ensure more satisfaction for both yourself as the employer and for your candidates.
May 2024 – Struggling To Get An Acceptance From Young Candidates?
What could be more frustrating than having a recruitment drive, finding who you think is the perfect young person for the job, only for them to reject your job offer at the final moment?
If this is happening to you – and happening often – there are reasons why.
In this May article, we looked at the possible reasons why so that employers can, where possible, adapt so that young candidates want to accept the offer of a job.
Here is the list of reasons why young people might be rejecting your job offers.
June 2024 – Building & Maintaining Good Rapport In The Workplace
New recruits – especially young new recruits – can sometimes struggle to settle into their new and unfamiliar workplace.
It is important that they feel a sense of belonging and of being a valued member of the team as soon as possible. And it is important that it stays that way so that they can grow and develop in their role, benefitting your company in the process.
In this June article, we looked at different measures you can take to foster good rapport in your workplace. From encouraging open dialogue to leading by example, there are lots of easy steps you can take to get the process of building good rapport moving in the right direction.
Good rapport in the workplace is a great way to boost your staff retention.
July 2024 – Do You Stand Out From The Crowd With Your Employer Branding?
With so many companies working on their company branding to attract Gen Z applicants, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd and cut through the noise.
Of course, every company wants to be the company to work for and will brand themselves in such a way as to be that company. So how do you stand out from all of that so that Gen Z applies for your roles, too?
In this July article, we looked at the steps you can take and strategies you can implement so that you are seen by those you are looking to attract.
This is all about cutting through jargon and buzzwords and embracing personalisation and individuality – something that only your company can be.
August 2024 – Addressing The Return-To-Work Mandate
Something that looks set to continue in 2025 – and perhaps gather pace – is the return-to-work mandate.
Whilst the pandemic forced many workers to work remotely, some employers are now requiring staff to return to the office.
In this article, we looked at the pros and cons of the return to the office.
Pros of returning to the office include improved collaboration and a boost in productivity for certain roles.
The cons of returning to the office include potential employee dissatisfaction and an increase in staff turnover.
If you are an employer where a return to the office is on the cards, take a look at our article for more of the pros and cons and details around these.
September 2024 – Have You Embraced New Age Mentoring?
Perhaps not as ‘new age’ as it sounds, new age mentoring is a strategy that can boost your staff retention and your future recruitment.
Especially when employing young people, mentoring them can be a great way to ensure they are feeling involved and guided in the best way.
But what does new age mentoring look like? It moves away from the one size fits all approach and embraces individuality.
There are different types of new age mentoring and they can be adopted easily within your company.
Read our new age mentoring article to find out more about:
- Reverse mentoring
- Peer mentoring
- Group or team mentoring
- Cross-functional or cross-departmental mentoring
- Flash mentoring
- E-mentoring (virtual or online mentoring)
- Hybrid mentoring
- Sponsor-based mentoring
- Speed mentoring
- Micor-mentoring
- Developmental mentoring
- Situational mentoring
- Affinity-based mentoring
- Cross-cultural mentoring
Whilst this is a long list of mentors and strategies, employers can utilise many, or just one of these, to help improve their mentoring of young recruits.
October 2024 – The Autumn Budget Statement
In October of 2024, history was made when the first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced the Autumn Budget.
In our article, we looked at how this Budget Statement would affect employers. As with most Budgets, there was good news for some employers and not so good news for others. Some relief for SMEs and also the Retail, Hospitality & Leisure sectors.
If you need a recap, here’s how the Autumn Statement affected employers.
November 2024 – The Christmas Recruitment Challenge
In a time when there is increasing demand for seasonal staff, many companies – particularly SMEs – were concerned about their ability to recruit enough seasonal workers to meet increased demand over the Christmas period.
Whilst many businesses were optimistic about the increase in trade for the festive season, they were also concerned about having the staff to deal with that increase.
If you are an employer at a company that sees an influx of customers at particular times of year and you need to recruit seasonal or temporary staff for those times, our article offered some tips for strategic solutions for recruitment.
Take a look so that you can get ahead of the game for your future recruitment of seasonal staff.
November 2024 – Does Your Company Website Contain Evergreen Content?
As well as promoting the services you are offering, your company website or blog should also contain a recruitment section where young candidates and other potential recruits can form an idea of what it must be like to work for your company.
One of the ways to make sure your company website appears in online search engines is to have some quality evergreen content on there. Content that provides long-term value for jobseekers and for you as an employer.
In this article about the importance and benefits of having evergreen coıntent on your website, we give you ideas about what that evergreen content could be with regards to recruitment.
We also look at why that evergreen content is so important and offer some ideas and tips about how to choose your evergreen topics.
Once you have identified your topics, we look at steps you can take to make sure those topics are addressed in a clear and engaging way using both text and video. And then we look at how you can monitor the performance of that content.
If you are looking for ways to get more evergreen content onto the recruitment section of your website or blog, take a look at that article.
Happy New Year!
Not all that is left for us to do is to wish a happy new year to recruiters & employers and we look forward to providing more articles in 2025…
