UK

20

15

The Hiring Process Report

of hiring managers agree that fast and efficient candidate attraction aided by modern technologies will be of most benefit to the hiring process

over the next 3-5 years.

Technology and knowledge of how to engage candidates will make the hiring process easier

THE TOP THREE recruitment priorities for hiring managers over the next 2–3 years will be:

Communication skills

and self-motivation are considered

to be the most important soft skills

for hires in 2015, closely followed

by engagement

Candidate experience(47%)

Focus on effectivetalentrecruitment tools (42%)

of hiring managers think that growing knowledge of how to engage candidates will also be of great benefit to the recruitment processover the next few years.

Efficiency of hiring process(43%)

74%

Social media and up-to-date

careers websites

are currently the most popular

ways to boost employer brand

43%

38%

The Hiring Process

of hiring managerscurrently utilisesocial media

believe an up-to-date careers website is important

52%

71% 57%

identify

skill shortages

as a major

obstacle in the

hiring process

cite talent

shortage

as a problem

The Hiring Process Report UK 2015 / Kelly Services

3

Background: The Hiring Manager Survey

The Hiring Manager Survey 2015 is an

innovative, new research study from Kelly

Services which looks at the future of

recruiting from a hiring manager’s perspective.

It focuses on three key areas of recruitment:

talent acquisition, workplace and generations,

and the hiring process itself.

The opinions of over 2,000 managers in charge

of hiring were collected from ten different

countries within EMEA (Europe, the Middle East

and Africa) and APAC (Asia Pacific). The findings

indicate common global trends which are likely

to be significant for recruiters over the next 3-5

years. And more specifically, they enable us

to find out more about hiring trends in the UK.

The Hiring Process ReportThe Hiring Process Report identifies factors that

are currently influencing the hiring process and

reveals how hiring managers are responding

to change and preparing for the future.

This report aims to raise awareness of key concerns and identify aspects of the process which businesses

should pay particular attention to over the next

few years

The full report - which involves a complete

analysis of regional trends, based on the

responses of hiring managers from EMEA and

APAC - can be downloaded right here.

Alternatively, you can read on to discover

more about the specific key issues affecting

the hiring process in Britain.

The Hiring Process Report UK 2015 / Kelly Services

4

A Summary of Findings in the UK

W hen asked if recruitment is more

difficult today than it has been over

the past five years - or whether

it has become easier - hiring managers in the UK

were divided in their response. When looking

to the future, however, their outlook is slightly

more optimistic than those in most other

countries with the largest proportion of UK

hiring managers (39%) expecting recruitment

to become easier in future.

It is the use of modern technology that is

expected to have the most positive impact

over the next 3-5 years enabling faster and

more efficient candidate attraction. 74% of

hiring managers in the UK identify this as a

key benefit and the majority surveyed globally

tend to agree. A growing knowledge of how to

engage candidates is also expected to assist the

recruitment process over the next few years,

as listed by 52% in the UK.

In contrast, there are certain factors that are likely

to make the hiring process more difficult. In the

UK, skill shortages have been identified as being

most detrimental with 71% foreseeing this

to be a problem over the next 3-5 years. Other

key concerns for UK teams include limited hiring

budgets and a general shortage of candidates

in the market.

Candidate experience has been identified in

the UK as being the biggest priority over the

next 2-3 years. This is in line with the majority

of other countries surveyed, and supports the

idea that monitoring and enhancing candidate

experience can attract, secure and retain top

talent. Effective talent recruitment tools and

hiring process efficiency are also key priorities

in the UK, but there is less of a focus on internal

mobility, adopting new technology and employer

branding, than there is in other countries.

The time it takes to fill a vacancy is the most widely used KPI for evaluating the hiring process in the UK

– and indeed around the world. But unlike most other countries, who list quality of hire as their next most used KPI, hiring managers in the UK place far more emphasis

on the number of applications per vacancy.

The Hiring Process Report UK 2015 / Kelly Services

5

The most popular way for UK hiring managers

to measure quality of hire is by the length

of time a hire stays with the company, as

well as outperformance. The percentage of hires

who are offered a fixed contract is also important

in the UK as opposed to high scores during annual

evaluation, which is popular in some countries,

but less so in Britain.

A candidate with relevant experience is most

favourable, with 40% of UK hiring managers

describing their perfect hire in this way. The

right qualifications is also indicative of a perfect

candidate, as is someone who stays with the

company for at least 3 years. Similar to most

other countries, price-for-hire is no longer such

an important factor; in the UK only 10% list this in

their description of a perfect hire. But in contrast

to other countries, high performance scores are

also seen as a less important indicator.

Talent availability in the local market is the biggest

challenge faced by UK hiring managers on their

search for perfection (listed by 53%). Budget and

time restrictions are also obstacles, as they are for

the majority of hiring managers around the world.

Like most other countries, the UK considers communication skills to be the most important soft skill for hires in 2015, followed by self-motivation. Interestingly though,

the third most important soft skill in the UK is the capacity to be a hard worker. 40% of UK hiring managers would look for someone who is hard working,

which is more than in any of the other countries surveyed.

In the UK (and in most other countries) social

media is currently the most popular way to boost

employer brand, followed by up-to-date careers

websites.

Hiring managers in the UK prefer to communicate

their employer brand via online means such as a

website, followed by social media campaigns. The

third most popular communications technique is an

email campaign, although for most other countries,

content creation is more widely used.

Finally, it is clear from the survey results that the

business of hiring is becoming a job for marketers.

And we are now seeing HR and marketing teams

sharing equal responsibility for employer branding

- not only in the UK, but around the world.

A Summary of Findings in the UK

ABOUT KELLY SERVICES®

Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYA, KELYB) is a global leader in providing

workforce solutions. Kelly® offers a comprehensive array of outsourcing and

consulting services as well as world-class staffing on a temporary, temporary-

to-hire, and direct-hire basis. Serving clients around the world, Kelly provides

employment to more than 555,000 employees annually. Revenue in 2014

was $5.6 billion.

Visit kellyservices.com for more information.

Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

ABOUT THE KELLY HIRING MANAGER SURVEY

The Kelly Hiring Manager Survey is an innovative new approach to uncovering

the truth about talent acquisition, the hiring process and workforce and generations.

Over 2,000 hiring managers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

and Asia Pacific (APAC) responded to the survey between December 2014

and February 2015. The survey was conducted by Kelly Services. Data cleaned

and structured by Intelligence Group.