The biggest recruitment barrier that employers faced during the last 12 months was the poor quality of candidates, a new survey reveals.
According to the XpertHR recruitment trends survey, 95% of employers that faced problems in their recruitment processes over the last year cited the low quality of candidates applying for posts as a barrier to recruitment.
Employers also reported a lack of applicants, candidates withdrawing their acceptance of job offers and people failing to appear for interviews as key problems.
Yet, while three-fifths (61%) of employers that faced recruitment challenges last year listed a lack of applicants as a barrier to hiring, two organisations in five (42%) also said that receiving too many applications for jobs had caused them problems.
Overall, 41% of organisations had experienced barriers to recruitment once the post had been advertised.
Rachel Suff, author of the XpertHR report, commented: “Just because unemployment is at its highest point for many years does not mean that employers can always recruit appropriately skilled individuals.
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“The increase in unemployment often means an increase in the number of applications for vacancies, which can make it difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff.”
In addition, the survey found that the cost of filling vacancies fell for many employers over the last year, with 41% of the 94 organisations that took part in the survey reporting that their cost to hire had decreased, compared with 23% that said their spend had increased.
