Written by Mairead Simons

The aftermath of the worldwide pandemic has affected so many aspects of life, and as many companies are finding now, it has had a huge impact on a lot of candidates’ CVs. Whether furloughed, made redundant or left unable to work because of covid itself or being vulnerable and therefore required to isolate, there are huge numbers of candidates left with lengthy gaps in their employment. Travelling, new parenthood or university can also be the reasons behind long-term gaps.

To address the skills shortages and number of vacancies across the UK, we as a country are going to have to do something to encourage the long-term unemployed back into the workplace.

As employers, it is firstly important that the long-term unemployed are not instantly written off as so many companies do. There are often very valid reasons as to why somebody has not worked for a period of time and it would be a shame to miss out on a great candidate due to pre-judgments we may jump to when looking at a CV with gaps of a year or more.

Easing candidates back into work can be a challenge however there are a few things we can do to make sure these candidates are ready for their first venture back into the workplace:

• Check-in at regular intervals throughout the hiring and employment processes. Make sure your new employee is enjoying the role and isn’t overwhelmed at any point.
• If working from home, make sure you are in constant communication. A new employee, especially one who has not been in the workplace for a long period of time, should not feel forgotten about and left to their own devices. Make sure there are procedures in place to let them know how they can contact you if needs be.
• Sell the opportunity on offer. If your company has great benefits and progression opportunities, make sure this is known to your prospective candidate. This will make the opportunity seem more enticing and hopefully appeal to the candidates who are looking to stick something out for the long-run.

For all your recruitment needs, please reach out to hello@pertemps.co.uk