The last 12 months has undoubtedly seen a significant number of recruitment challenges with many organisations struggling to find the right talent.

Our latest annual UK recruitment survey contacted nearly 1,500 senior hiring managers across multiple sectors and has identified several key trends.

• 85% of respondents had a recruitment need over the last 12 months, and of those, 71% had vacancies that remain unfilled.

• Job boards and social media channels are the most used recruitment advertising methods by some distance at 70% and 63% of respondents using these methods.

• Surprisingly, only 58% of respondents advertise roles on their own website, although unsurprisingly, only 6% have used print media, which has seen a significant decline over recent years.

• The use of these recruitment methods appear to be supported by how successful respondents felt each one was, with job boards seen as the most successful at 55%, followed by social media at 30%.

• Reflecting how hard the recruitment market is currently, 63% of respondents felt it was harder to recruit in the last 12 months than in the previous 12 months.

• Furthermore, 60% of respondents felt the lack of suitable candidates has had a financial impact on their organisation

• However, all is not lost as 66% of respondents felt optimistic about finding the right quality talent over the forthcoming 12 months, indicating an expected shift in being able to find the right people.

• The survey identified the sectors finding it hardest to recruit included education, retail, hospitality, engineering and agriculture, closely followed by financial services, manufacturing and the not-for-profit sectors.

For a full copy of the report, please click here.