What does the new talent recruitment landscape look like?

When we discuss recruiting new talent in this article, this includes:

• Those entering the workforce for the first time
• Employees undergoing a career or industry change
• Employees looking for something different (such as work-life balance or flexible working options)

For candidates entering the job market, there are new challenges to consider due to:

• Changes to recruitment practices, such as employers using gig economy recruitment apps or AI for selecting viable candidates
• Technological paradigm shifts, which are changing the skills required for certain roles
• Shifting expectations, such as greater work-life balance , remote working or better pension options

In the next few sections, we’ll explore these challenges, why it’s important to understand them as an employer and what you can do to attract new talent in a continually evolving job market.

Formal education vs skills-based recruitment

According to Indeed’s guide to formal education requirement trends, the UK labour market remains tight, with ongoing skill shortages. With industry needs rapidly evolving, skills learned during university courses can quickly become redundant in some professions, making formal qualifications less convincing for some employers. Recruiting candidates using a skills-based approach is one good for businesses to target the next wave of new talent. 

Candidates might be becoming more pragmatic about their academic pursuits, instead focusing on vocational opportunities or acquiring knowledge on an ongoing basis to further their careers. For example, we found that degree requirements are decreasing in some highly paid technology roles. Once working, these employees may also be prioritising learning and development opportunities over other perks and benefits, both for job security and keeping their skills relevant. 

Should employers look past the cover letter when it comes to new talent?

While cover letters are helpful to recruiters in assessing a candidate’s personality and providing a first impression of their skills and experience, some new jobseekers may consider them time-consuming or superfluous, preferring to share their experience via professional networking platforms instead.

Additionally, candidates are increasingly using AI-generated cover letters based on their experience, which employers might easily detect and reject as they do not generally provide an accurate impression of a candidate’s written communication skills. 

Therefore, some employers may consider networking with potential candidates on recruitment platforms rather than requiring a cover letter. Using Indeed’s hiring tools, for example, employers can add screener questions to verify candidate skills, view and sort relevant CVs and find new quality applicants based on their skills.

Talent shortages in certain industries

We discovered that talent shortages are posing a challenge to recruiters in many industries. Indeed’s 2025 UK Jobs & Hiring Trends Report found that the construction industry in particular still grapples with skills shortages, despite the government’s new integrated approach to skills and training. This is because government initiatives to respond to such shortages can take time to bear fruit. To widen the net in the meantime, UK recruiters can focus on skills-first recruiting, which US businesses are already beginning to invest in. 

How new technology paradigm shifts are affecting recruitment and skills-based recruitment

As we also found in our 2025 UK Jobs & Hiring Report, Generative AI is beginning to create new jobs, despite not being widely adopted in the UK yet. These jobs are entirely new, which means that they can require completely different skill sets such as experience with prompt engineering. 

Industries like architecture, arts and entertainment, industrial engineering and IT are unexpectedly fast to adopt this new technology. As a result, employers in these sectors may benefit from recruiting candidates with generative AI-related skills and qualifications.

Top tips for attracting the next wave of new talent: recruitment strategies

With the above considerations in mind, let’s consider some effective strategies employers can use to attract the next wave of new talent.

Offer job security

Some employees may prioritise job security over other perks, seeking roles where they can grow and pursue promotion within the company. Despite this, they may not be looking for the traditional model of job security.

For today’s employees, job security often includes flexible or hybrid work. While stability is important, flexibility can be the deciding factor in their long-term commitment. Therefore, consider offering job security with the option of flexibility, if it is feasible and makes sense to do so for the job and industry.

Provide autonomy

New talent may shine when given the opportunity to provide flexible, creative responses to tasks and challenges. In our guide to distributed leadership, we found that creating small, autonomous and high-performing teams could help to meet deadlines and facilitate the exchange of new ideas more quickly. 

This approach can be comparable to Agile teams, who cooperate in discussions on how to meet goals and achieve these during sprints and may appeal to new talent as it gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their own unique skill sets and approaches to tasks.

Microlearning and career development prospects

Whether candidates are entering the job market for the first time or are re-entering it, skills acquired during a degree may no longer be sufficient long term. With industries rapidly integrating new technology such as artificial intelligence, skills previously required may be becoming redundant. Highlighting career development opportunities in job descriptions or advertisements can help attract candidates focused on refining skills relevant to the future of their chosen career.

Relocation opportunities

We found that European economies (and the UK) still have a lot to gain by focusing on work-related immigration. Hiring global talent can be an effective way to fill talent shortages in industries such as healthcare, construction and more. By providing relocation opportunities, businesses can make themselves more competitive in the context of an increasingly globalised workforce. 

With Indeed’s screening tools, employers can use screener questions to find out whether candidates are willing to relocate. You can also screen for any specific requirements or visas, by directing candidates to the file upload option. 

Attracting the next wave of talent can be made simpler once you know what candidates are looking for. By offering job security and candidate relocation opportunities, for example, you can cast a wider net and reach fresh talent. Finally, strengthen your recruitment strategy by learning about the bigger picture, such as talent shortages in certain industries and whether to explore skills-based recruitment options.