London’s looming talent shortages require a new way of hiring

Despite the recent waves of mass layoffs, talent shortages are once again on the horizon. And this time, London’s businesses are bearing the brunt.

Over 77% of London’s firms are hiring, but 65% are struggling to fill openings. This is according to a survey of over 1000 business leaders and HR managers in London. And the results are concerning.

Widespread talent shortages

It’s not just specialist roles proving to be a recruitment nightmare, but entry-level roles too. In fact, the vacancies span all types of jobs and skill sets. It’s clear that the capital has a fundamental talent and skills issue. So what can hiring managers do about it?

Let’s get to the heart of the problem. The survey indicated five big blockers to filling vacancies:

• A low number of suitable applicants (57%)
• Competition from other firms (40%)
• A lack of flexibility on offer (37%)
• Anti-social working hours (31%)
• A general lack of interest in the role (31%)

It’s a lot to unpack, but there seem to be two main concerns: local candidates lack the skills and experience needed, but they also have higher expectations of what they want out of a job.

Upskilling isn’t the solution

Business groups and the UK government are turning to upskilling as a way to combat the shortages. And that’s a great start, but the issue runs deeper than that.

As more people leave the capital in search of better prices, more space, and greater flexibility, the city will naturally become less abundant in top talent. Instead, talent will be distributed more equally across the UK—and the globe. So localized upskilling can only go so far.

The good news is that there’s one solution that can help businesses combat all those blockers: international hiring.

Now, we’re not saying: “Don’t bother with local talent. Outsource everything abroad instead.” That’s not the solution. But hiring strategically in new geographies to complement your domestic hiring is.

By expanding your talent pool globally, you automatically reach many more highly qualified candidates. You can offer them heaps of flexibility too. On top of that, international hiring allows you to find talent across time zones to fill vacancies that require different schedules—without anyone having to work anti-social hours. It’s a win-win.

Let’s take engineering as an example—a notoriously tough industry for recruiters. According to Workable, the global average time from job opening to offer is 62 days within Engineering. Yet, it only took Omnipresent an average of 27 days to fill each of our engineering vacancies in 2022 (59 hires made in total!).

The results speak for themselves when companies hire globally.