It’s arguably a job seeker’s market right now: with the global pandemic and resulting talent shortage allowing candidates to call all the shots, many hiring companies are bending over backwards to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding pool of potential employees. From offering reduced hours to including options to work from home, flexibility is recruitment’s new buzz word and it’s here to stay. But as companies and candidates go head-to-head in the new hiring landscape, candidates too should bear in mind the benefits of a flexible approach. Let’s delve a little deeper into both sides of the recruitment process...

From the recruiter’s perspective:

• Cast a wider net: as any switched on company knows all too well, including those highly-sought-after flexible work benefits in a job offer gives them a greater pick of the best available candidates. Whether these are part-time schedules, job-sharing options, working from home or a combination of all, it’s important to highlight and promote your flexible benefits from the outset – and mention them at every step along the way, from initial job postings, through interviewing and as part of the salary and benefits negotiations.

• Keep up with the competition: in February 2022, 84% of UK workers who worked from home during the pandemic said they planned to conduct a mix of home and office working in future, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics in May of this year – so including flexible benefits in the job offer is vital to making it an attractive proposition to those who now expect them

• Boost profits: happier employees are likely to be more productive – directly impacting your bottom line. If they can achieve a better work-life balance through a hybrid approach to office and home working, it makes sense to accommodate their wishes. This is backed up by the stats – a recent report from Finder revealed that 65% of employees said they’d be more productive in a home office than normal office, and perhaps more surprisingly, an equivalent two thirds of employers reported increased productivity from remote workers compared to in-office workers.

Flexibility is still key from the candidate’s perspective:

• First impressions are key: being too rigid and demanding about the terms and conditions is never a helpful approach and will only create a bad impression – employers are looking for people who can collaborate after all, so following a plan that combines your needs with those of the hiring company is key, and save negotiations for the offer stage.

• Illusion of perfection: there’s no such thing as the perfect job, so compromise in some areas will always be a key part of the job hunting process. From commuting and salary to content and colleagues, it’s a case of prioritising what’s important to you about the job, and being flexible about the components that are lower down the list.

• Changing lanes: a great many skills and experiences developed over the course of a career are transferrable between different sectors, and our interests tend to change with time too, so keeping an open mind to working in different fields and industries is vital to career satisfaction and progression.

At Grace May we help recruiters and candidates connect, managing the expectations on both sides of the journey from the early recruitment through to final employment. Looking for a new role? Need to take on new staff? Get in touch to find out how we can help.