What candidates want – survey insight

What makes a candidate want to work for any organisation? What’s important to a candidate and attracts them to certain employers? ResourceBank publishes the results of a survey of more than 2,500 active candidates highlighting the top five factors that makes a company attractive to them.

1. Working Environment

A good Working Environment is the number one factor for candidates. While this is a quite subjective factor for each candidate, most mentioned that they wanted to work as part of a happy friendly team where the employer and company managers treated employees well. Having an environment where they feel comfortable, valued and respected is the most important consideration when they are looking for a new job.

“They need to treat employees like they would like to be treated themselves – not as slaves of modern times”

“I want to work in a good team atmosphere with everyone working together to make the job more of a enjoyable experience rather than something you are doing just to live each day to day”

2. Salary/Rate of pay

Salary/Rate of pay was the second most important consideration for jobseekers. With UK average earnings showing slow but steady growth, and inflationary pressures set to rise in 2017, we expect many employees to come under more pressure from their workforce to increase salary levels. A number of candidates in our survey also expressed a dislike for zero hours contracts which have become increasingly popular with employers.

“A decent salary – none of this zero hours stuff. Slave labour went out decades ago – so why is it back?”

3. Training offered

The third most important factor to candidates is the training offered by potential employers. Many candidates made additional comments about the importance of opportunities to develop and grow which is reflected in career progression being the sixth most important factor (so just outside our top 5). Candidates are seeking:

“the chance of extra training and career progression, having the ability to gain qualifications”

4. Job content & level of responsibility

The actual job content and level of responsibility provided in the role has dropped to fourth most important factor from its previous position of third last year. Candidates want roles that are interesting and challenging but also gives them the opportunity to develop and grow.

“The most important factor for me is to enjoy the work I am doing. When I get up in the morning, going to work should be a happy thought, not a bore only for my wages.”

5. Employer brand & company values

The company employer brand / values was ranked the fifth most important factor. This demonstrates that candidates are really interested in the company culture and making sure that the organisation they are joining respects employees and the wider community.

“Feeling like you are a part of a team that is working to improve the lives of others is vital.”

“A business that invests and supports it’s employees to the benefit of everyone.”

6-15. See below

The full ranking of the important factors for candidates from our survey is shown below.

These results are taken from the ResourceBank second annual Retail Candidate Insight Report which has been designed to give Employers a unique insight into candidate needs, wants and behaviours. While the initial focus of the survey was the retail sector, many of the candidates surveyed are also looking for work in other sectors so the survey has relevance for employers throughout the UK economy.

Nearly 2,500 surveys were completed, providing a large data set from which to base the research results.

The research answers the three key questions:

What attracts candidates to jobs?

Which media do candidates use to look for jobs?

What are their opinions on video interviewing and other recruitment tools?

Click to view the full survey report.

For more details on the survey and to discuss how you can use the results to improve your company’s attractiveness to candidates, please contact Richard Pearson