Hiring is risky. It can be time consuming, frustrating and costly. Get it right and your business thrives with talent all pulling in the right direction. Get it wrong and team unity suffers, work quality drops, and leaders spend more time managing performance than building value.
The best businesses know this and invest effort upfront to stay competitive. With 25 years’ experience helping businesses and recruitment consultancies of all sizes find quality people, we’ve collected insights and top tips on what the smartest employers do – and how you can get ahead.
Be crystal clear on what you are looking for
The labour market is challenging. Rising employment costs – including increased employer NICs and minimum wage changes – add pressure to get hiring right first time. And upcoming changes to the Employment Rights Bill may increase the consequences of hiring missteps.
Clarity is therefore essential. Define the role, responsibilities, and business impact before advertising the job. Ask yourself key questions: what problem does this role solve? What will they be accountable for? Do you need a leader or a doer? What skills ensure they are effective quickly?
Setting clear 90-day objectives helps assess readiness. If success in the first three months isn’t obvious, you may not be ready to hire and need to return to the drawing board.
Attracting the right person starts with the job advert
Sourcing the right person starts long before the first interview – it begins with the job advert. It’s your first chance to make a strong impression, and you need to make it stand out.
Our Candidate Behaviour Barometer 2025 shows salary is a key motivator, but transparency and clarity go beyond pound signs. Sixty-six percent of candidates look for a clear, concise job title to ensure the advert surfaces in searches. A punchy opening that explains what the role entails and why the company is appealing is vital, as candidates often scan quickly to assess fit. Salary transparency also drives results: adverts with pay information attract up to 60% more applications
Keep wording simple, direct, and human-led for a competitive advantage. AI can help refine job descriptions but be specific in your AI prompt so you get something that works for your business and your specific needs, not a generic job description.
Top-performing employers also think beyond the advert. Reputation, responding to reviews (positive and negative), showcasing culture, and publicising authentic employee stories, help to validate a positive environment, which can influence a candidate’s decision to apply.
Streamline the candidate experience
Even the strongest adverts fail if the application journey is frustrating. Two-thirds of candidates (especially the good ones) abandon overly long or complicated applications, yet many employers still favour lengthy, multi-step application forms.
With around half of candidates applying via mobile, streamlining the process is critical. Avoid platform or browser switching, reducing repetitive data entry, and provide clear guidance on timelines and next steps.
Speed and simplicity are necessities, not luxuries, improving both application quality and candidate perception.
Efficient communication and timely feedback will also foster a positive experience, reinforcing your reputation even for candidates that do not progress.
Leveraging AI to hire – but retain human contact
It’s unavoidable that AI is reshaping hiring. The best businesses use it to improve efficiency while maintaining human oversight. Nearly half of candidates worry AI might reject their application before a human sees it, and only 12% believe humans check applications when AI Is used. Trust matters.
Use AI for administrative tasks, such as screening, keyword matching, early assessment and interview scheduling. Retain human judgement for cultural fit, evaluating skills, and final decisions.
Candidates are also using AI to draft CVs and cover letters, creating a ‘machine versus machine’ dynamic. Balancing AI efficiency with meaningful human interaction reduces friction, speeds up the process, and ensures candidates feel valued along the way.
Make informed decisions – don’t wait for market certainty
Strategic hiring does not mean reckless expansion. It means making data-led decisions about where talent delivers the greatest impact. Vacancies may be volatile, but high-quality candidates remain, so delaying recruitment risks skills gaps, burnout and slower recovery when growth returns.
Businesses that move with clarity and intent are best positioned when confidence returns. For green shoots of optimism to materialise, organisations must adapt, recalibrate, and most importantly, act with confidence.
