Industrial Recruitment feels tougher than ever, but why?

If you speak to any Industrial Recruiter at the moment, they will tell you how tough the market is. A recent Channel 4 documentary “British Workers Wanted” highlighted several issues that might be contributing to the current challenges.

“British Workers Wanted” touched upon several contributing factors to the struggle that is industrial recruitment at the moment, from a perceived lack of interest from today’s youth to Brexit and the National Living Wage. 

We have seen first-hand a decline in the amount of active job seekers in the market and this is making it increasingly difficult to fill bookings on a daily basis.

Where are all the candidates?

New industrial roles continue to come in daily, everything from warehouse workers to machine operators, but this influx of new roles is not being matched with the amount of new people looking for work. 

With unemployment rates at a record low in the UK and Brexit looming, we have seen a decline in both British and EU workers looking for work.

The value of a hard day’s work
As noted in the Channel 4 documentary, the majority of today’s young job seekers, have no interest in working within industrial environments for today’s minimum wage.

According to The Manufacturer, the UK is currently the world's ninth largest industrial nation. A large part of the UK’s economy is driven by manufacturing and engineering, so it is important that we promote these career paths to today’s youth to ensure that this remains the case for generations to come.

Time for a shake up
With more uncertain times ahead whilst we negotiate a Brexit deal and leave the EU, the effect on recruitment and the UK jobs market must be put at centre stage.

If you watched the Channel 4 documentary and have any thoughts or comments, please tweet us @Smart1_recruit