Recruiting over the last 18 months has been a little different than usual. With the skills crisis, Brexit, the pandemic, and the volume of available jobs, it’s been a challenging year for many hiring managers. But what are the key findings from 2021? What have we learnt and what can we take with us to 2022?

Here’s our top takeaways from 2021 for engineering and technical recruitment –

Mind the skills gap when it comes to recruiting

Whilst we may be getting used to living in a pandemic, the turbulent environment is still causing a skills shortage. And it’s not just in engineering and manufacturing either. The skills gap is evident across many sectors in the UK. Here’s some skills related stats from this year –

• 63% of companies have struggled to find candidates with the required skillset
• 30% have spent more on recruitment in last 12 months due to lack of skills availability
• 79% have spent money on up-skilling and training due to the skills crisis
• 41% of companies are planning to increase recruitment levels in the next 6 months to help bring new skills to their teams
• It now takes on average 44 days to recruit (LinkedIn)

(source: Open University Business Barometer)

Could remote working help to fill the skills gap?

Whilst remote or hybrid working isn’t possible for some engineering and technical positions, it does help when it comes to recruiting. It’s believed that as many as 86% of companies have transitioned to hybrid working. This can mean that companies are able to look further afield than their local area for positions like Account Managers or Sales positions. And with the recent changes to employment law where workers are now able to request flexible working from day one, we could see a dramatic change to the skills spread in the next 2-5 years. Here’s two key stats from 2021 –

• 86% of candidate currently working remotely want to continue to do so
• Candidates are willing to accept a 12% pay cut for flexible or hybrid working

Offering training and development helps when recruiting

CV Library recently reported that over 76% of candidate will be looking for a new job in 2022 and over half (57.6%) are looking to re-skill or up-skill. Therefore, by offering training and development opportunities you can not only attract new recruit more easily, it can also help you to retain your workforce.

According to the Open University Business Barometer, 60% of manufacturing and automotive companies state work-based learning as being vital to their future. And it’s a much larger 74% for engineering and construction.

Struggling to recruit? We can help!

We have built a reputation as one of the UK’s leading independent recruitment businesses. But don’t just take our word for it! Take a look at our testimonials instead. We are helping companies to attract the very best talent, even during the skills crisis. We’d love to do the same for you. If you have a vacancy that you’d like our help with, get in touch with our fantastic team today and find out why so many companies choose PSi Talent as their recruitment partner.