6 Ways to Attract Top Performers

recruitmint • January 21, 2021

Gone are the days where employees joined a company and worked up the ranks until retirement day. UK employees want more out of their careers and will willingly change jobs if they feel they aren’t being challenged, valued or supported enough by their employer. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Studio Graphene stated that 3 out of 10 full-time UK employees wanted and planned to change careers in 2019. 

With potentially 30% or more of the workforce actively seeking new opportunities, companies need to know how to attract top-tier talent and provide the work-life balance and professional development employees across the UK seek. 

Read our blog to learn six simple ways to attract top talent and put our advice to the test. Contact Recruit Mint for help maximising your recruitment pool and allow us to help you secure the top performers your organisation needs to perform at its best. 

How Do You Recruit the Best People?

The Recruit Mint team compiled six strategic ways to help you attract top talent. Learn how to draw jobseekers to your organisation below!.

Referrals

Want to hire top talent quickly while saving both time and money? Establish an employee referral program. According to CareerBuilder, 82% of employers say that referrals provide the best return-on-investment (ROI) when looking to recruit top talent. Referrals are typically hired 55% faster than standard jobseekers (HR technologist), and are 45% more likely to stay with a company after two years vs. standard jobseekers who are 20% likely to remain (FirstBird). 

Social Media (Social Recruiting)

Social media is your chance to showcase your company’s people, culture and brand to potential employees. According to Betterteam, 59% of employees say that a company’s social media accounts influenced their decision to apply. Jobseekers are constantly scouring social media profiles to get a better feel for a business and its culture to see if they’d be happy working in that environment. 

Knowing this, it’s important for employers to populate their social media accounts with employee testimonials, interviews and office videos to help jobseekers understand who they are and what they stand for quickly. Engaging content is more likely to be shared, so get creative and show prospective employees why they should come work for you!

Networking 

One of the best ways to attract top talent is by attending networking events in your area. You’ll come face-to-face with the latest talent on the market and be able to converse with young professionals who are ready to prove themselves in the workplace. You’ll build relationships with your industry peers and build a strong portfolio of potential candidates who were personally vetted by you. The Sales Innovation Expo even stated that 85% of jobs are filled through networking, so don’t let these opportunities pass you by. Register for a networking event near you today.

Go Remote

Don’t want your recruitment efforts to be restricted by location? Consider hiring remote employees! By doing so, you’ll increase your recruitment pool and potentially attract top-tier talent from around the globe. Hiring remote workers helps your business reduce costs (equipment and office space) and helps employees increase their work-life balance, savings and overall productivity – a win, win!

Job Boards 

Every job board is different so be sure to post your job advert on the platform that makes the most sense for you. Some platforms, such as jobs.ac.uk, specialise in providing job opportunities for those working in specific industries, so be sure to research top job boards before uploading your company’s vacancy online. 

Not sure which job sites are the best? See CareerExperts’ 2019 ranking below:

Hire Recruit Mint!

Here at Recruit Mint, we’ve already done the hard work for you. We’ve vetted and procured an excellent pool of top-tier candidates, who are perfectly suited to help improve your business goals and objectives. We have over 30 years of experience pairing exceptional people with exceptional companies, and our aftercare simply can’t be beat. 

We’re extremely confident in our placements and believe that our 17-step recruitment process is the reason for our continued success. We value your partnership and offer a unique Gold Leaf Service to prove it. We promise that if your new employee leaves within 6 months of his or her placement, you’ll receive a 110% rebate from us for your trouble. Submit a job with us today and let us find you the candidates you need to take your team to the next level. We know just where to find them! 

The Silent Dealbreaker: Why Candidates Reject Job Offers at the Last Minute

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
Picture this: after weeks of interviews, countless email exchanges, and meticulous CV screening, you've finally found the perfect candidate. The offer letter is sent, champagne is on ice—then silence. A few days later, the dreaded email arrives: "Thank you for the opportunity, but I've decided to pursue another option." Last-minute candidate rejections aren't just frustrating—they're expensive, time-consuming, and increasingly common in today's competitive job market. According to recent research by Robert Half UK, 42% of UK professionals have accepted a job offer but continued to interview for other roles. More alarmingly, 28% admitted to accepting an offer only to back out before starting. But why is this happening, and what can recruitment professionals and hiring managers do to prevent these eleventh-hour disappointments?

How Data-Driven Decision Making Can Transform Workforce Productivity

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
In today's competitive business landscape, intuition and experience remain valuable, but they're no longer sufficient on their own. UK businesses facing rising operational costs, increasing competition, and a challenging economic environment can no longer afford to make critical workforce decisions based on gut feeling alone. The difference between thriving and merely surviving increasingly depends on how effectively organisations leverage data to optimise their most valuable resource: their people. According to research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , UK productivity growth has stagnated since the 2008 financial crisis, lagging behind other G7 nations. With the April 2025 minimum wage increases looming, businesses face growing pressure to extract maximum value from their workforce investments. The good news? The rise of workforce analytics provides unprecedented opportunities to identify inefficiencies, optimise performance, and cultivate environments where employees thrive. As Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Arts (RSA), noted in the UK Government's Good Work Review : "In a world of increasing workplace complexity, the organisations that thrive will be those that measure what matters and act on the insights." This blog explores how data-driven decision making can transform workforce productivity, examining practical approaches that UK businesses are implementing today with remarkable results.

The Battle for Skilled Workers: How Manufacturing Can Compete with Other Industries for Talent

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
Manufacturing in the UK faces a talent crisis of unprecedented proportions. While the sector contributes over £191 billion to the British economy according to Make UK, it's increasingly losing its most valuable resource—skilled workers—to competing industries. This talent exodus comes at a critical moment when technological advancement demands more specialised skills than ever before. The Manufacturing Skills Gap Survey reveals a stark reality: 83% of UK manufacturers struggle to recruit appropriate talent, while 64% report losing skilled employees to other sectors—particularly technology, logistics, and renewable energy. This isn't merely a staffing challenge but an existential threat to the industry's future competitiveness and innovation capacity. "Manufacturing has an image problem that masks its reality," notes Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK. "While other sectors have successfully repositioned themselves as modern, dynamic career destinations, manufacturing continues to battle outdated perceptions that undermine its appeal to today's workforce." The good news? Forward-thinking manufacturers are finding ways to reverse this trend, implementing innovative strategies that not only stem the tide of departing talent but successfully attract skilled workers from other industries. This blog explores how manufacturing can transform its approach to talent acquisition and retention, repositioning itself as an employer of choice in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

From Passive to Proactive: How to Build a Talent Pipeline That Eliminates Recruitment Panic

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
The scenario is all too familiar: a key team member hands in their notice, triggering an immediate scramble to fill the position. Job descriptions are hastily updated, recruitment agencies engaged, and hiring managers pulled into urgent meetings—all while business continuity hangs in the balance and costs mount. This reactive approach to recruitment isn't merely stressful; it's strategically flawed. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), UK organisations take an average of 28 days to fill a vacancy, with specialist roles often exceeding 12 weeks. During this time, productivity suffers, remaining team members face increased pressure, and opportunities are missed. The alternative? Building a proactive talent pipeline—a continuously nurtured pool of engaged, pre-qualified candidates ready to step into roles as they become available. This approach doesn't just reduce time-to-hire; it fundamentally transforms recruitment from an emergency response to a strategic advantage.

The Impact of Same-Day Delivery on Warehouse recruiting: Are You Prepared?

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
The race to deliver ever faster is transforming the logistics landscape. What began as Amazon's competitive edge has evolved into an industry-wide expectation, with same-day delivery rapidly becoming the new standard rather than a premium service. For warehouse and logistics leaders, this shift creates unprecedented operational challenges—none more pressing than how to recruit, train, and retain the workforce necessary to meet these accelerated timelines. According to the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) , the demand for warehouse space has increased by 32% since 2020, driven largely by e-commerce growth and the same-day delivery paradigm. Yet while physical capacity expands, the human capital challenge grows even more acute. A recent LogisticsUK survey found that 82% of warehouse operators cite staffing as their most significant constraint in meeting same-day delivery demands. This isn't merely a challenge of hiring more people—it's about recruiting differently for roles that have fundamentally changed. As Peter Ward, former CEO of UKWA, notes: "Same-day delivery hasn't just accelerated timelines; it's transformed the very nature of warehouse work, creating new roles requiring different skills and aptitudes than traditional warehouse positions."

How to Recruit for Shift-Based Roles Without Destroying Work-Life Balance

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
In today's competitive labour market, attracting quality candidates for shift-based roles presents a unique challenge for HR professionals. The CIPD Working Lives Report found that 68% of UK shift workers report negative impacts on their personal lives, yet many businesses rely entirely on shift patterns to maintain operations. The critical question becomes: how can organisations recruit effectively for these positions while preserving the well-being and work-life balance that today's workforce demands? Far from being an impossible task, creating attractive shift-based roles requires strategic thinking and innovative approaches to work design. Companies that get this right gain a significant competitive advantage in recruitment, retention, and productivity – all while supporting employee wellbeing.

Why You’re Not Getting Interviews – And How to Fix It

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
You've spent hours perfecting your CV, searching for the right opportunities, and submitting applications – yet your inbox remains frustratingly empty. If you're wondering why you're not landing interviews despite your qualifications and experience, you're not alone. Recent research from Totaljobs shows that the average job opening in the UK attracts 49 applications, with only 15% of applicants typically securing an interview. The good news? With a few strategic adjustments to your approach, you can dramatically improve your chances of making it to the interview stage. Let's examine the most common reasons applications fall flat – and the practical steps you can take to stand out from the crowd.

The Future of Engineering Leadership: What the Next Generation of Leaders Will Look Like

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
In an era of unprecedented technological change, shifting workforce dynamics, and evolving industry pressures, engineering leadership stands at a critical crossroads. The traditional command-and-control approach that once dominated the sector is increasingly being replaced by more adaptive, inclusive, and technology-enabled leadership models. This transformation isn't merely a trend—it's an essential evolution for companies seeking to remain competitive in an increasingly complex global marketplace.

The Hidden Productivity Killers: How Poor Shift Planning, Meeting Overload, and Workplace Distractions Are Draining Your Profits

By Karl Montgomery • March 10, 2025
In the relentless pursuit of efficiency, UK businesses often overlook the subtle yet powerful forces quietly eroding their productivity. While organisations invest millions in cutting-edge technologies and process improvements, the most damaging productivity killers often operate in plain sight—unrecognised, unmeasured, and unaddressed. According to research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , the UK continues to lag behind other G7 nations in productivity growth, with output per hour worked remaining stubbornly below pre-2008 financial crisis trends. What's particularly concerning is that this productivity gap persists despite significant investments in technology and equipment. So, what's truly holding UK businesses back? Our analysis of current research reveals three pervasive yet frequently overlooked productivity drains: ineffective shift planning, excessive meeting cultures, and persistent workplace distractions. Together, these hidden productivity killers could be costing your business up to £8,500 per employee annually, according to calculations based on CIPD Workplace Productivity Survey data. Let's examine each of these productivity vampires and, more importantly, how to drive a stake through their hearts.

Shift Patterns vs. Productivity: The Science Behind Workforce Scheduling

By Karl Montgomery • March 10, 2025
In UK manufacturing and production facilities, the constant hum of machinery doesn't always match the natural rhythms of the people operating them. As production demands continue to evolve in 2025, the way we structure work hours has profound implications not just for output metrics, but for the humans behind those metrics. According to the UK Office for National Statistics, approximately 3.5 million workers in the UK regularly work shifts, with manufacturing and production industries representing a significant proportion of this figure. Yet despite this prevalence, many operations managers and production directors still rely on outdated scheduling approaches that prioritise machine uptime over human performance. The consequences? Higher turnover rates (manufacturing experiences 15% higher turnover than the UK average according to Make UK's 2023 Labour Turnover Report), increased workplace accidents (37% higher in night shifts according to HSE data), and productivity plateaus that frustrate even the most experienced production managers.  Let's explore what the evidence actually tells us about shift patterns, their impact on your workforce, and how to design schedules that serve both business objectives and employee wellbeing.
Show More