Skip to content
In today’s competitive hiring landscape, attracting and retaining early careers talent requires more than traditional recruitment methods. Labour market analytics equip organisations with insights to enhance Attraction strategies, pinpoint ideal candidates, and streamline recruitment.
We explore how leveraging labour market data can transform early careers Attraction campaigns and drive measurable success.
Understanding Labour Market Analytics
Labour market analytics refers to the use of real-time data to analyse employment trends, talent availability, and recruitment effectiveness. Integrating this data into Attraction strategies enables businesses to align recruitment marketing and hiring with workforce needs. It’s important to establish what we’re looking for, where we are, and where we want to be at the end of the campaign. Key insights from labour market analytics include:
- Identifying growing industries and high-demand skill sets.
- Understanding regional hiring patterns and salary expectations.
- Assessing competitor hiring strategies to benchmark effectively.
- Tracking job seeker preferences, including remote work trends, benefits expectations, and career development priorities.
This data is available at both national and local levels – national data provides a broad employment overview, while local insights highlight specific hiring needs. These insights come from sources such as recruiters, job boards, news outlets, and candidate profiles (with consent). Employers can also leverage tools to assess hiring trends before launching campaigns, ensuring strategies are backed by real-time market intelligence.
By combining multiple data sources, businesses can gain a stable outlook on employment conditions, despite fluctuations in individual reports. Labour market insights support strategic workforce planning, allowing companies to forecast hiring needs, address skill shortages, and develop targeted Attraction campaigns. This data-driven approach ensures organisations reach the right talent in the right locations at the right time.
Moving Beyond Traditional Attraction Strategies
Early careers recruitment has long relied on broad outreach, generic messaging, and reactive hiring. However, rising competition and economic uncertainty have made these tactics less effective. Challenges such as talent shortages, skill mismatches, and diversity gaps all require recruiters to rethink their approach.
Despite external factors like economic shifts and policies, employers can refine controllable elements to enhance hiring. For example:
- Sourcing practices – Using data-driven outreach to attract relevant candidates.
- Job advert marketing – Optimising job postings for higher engagement.
- Application process – Streamlining steps to reduce candidate drop-off.
- Recruiting practices – Tailoring efforts to specific skills and demographics.
- Employer brand – Strengthening positioning to attract top early careers talent.
The Role of Market Data in Attraction Strategies
Current market data is also pivotal in assessing what works now, in the past and to make predictions that support future campaigns and retain candidate interest in between hiring periods.
Data alone isn’t enough—you need to interpret it strategically to build compelling Attraction campaigns. Read between the lines. For example, with early careers campaigns, if you want to position Attraction strategies effectively you need to break it down and hit each of your campaign objectives. This might include:
Identifying Talent Pools & Trends
- Understanding where talent exists – Physical location, Universities they’re studying at, what job platforms they’re using
- Tracking candidate preferences – Salary expectations, benefits, work-life balance priorities.
- Competitor analysis – Benchmarking hiring trends to refine Attraction campaigns. Who is hiring the talent you want?
Crafting Competitive & Attractive Offers
- Salary benchmarking ensures compensation aligns with market expectations, preventing under- or over-paying.
- Insights into benefits (e.g., flexible work, mental health support, training programmes) helping refine Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
Optimising Branding & Messaging
- Helps define what resonates with Gen Z and early careers candidates, tailoring employer branding and messaging accordingly.
- Identifies best-performing recruitment channels (e.g., LinkedIn, Instagram, campus events, or job boards).
Enhancing DE&I Initiatives
- Targeting underrepresented groups effectively.
- Tracking diversity hiring progress to meet business objectives.
Measuring & Improving Campaign Effectiveness
- Analysing application and conversion rates.
- Identifying drop-off points in the hiring process.
- Understanding why candidates accept or reject offers.
Market data bridges the gap between Attraction strategies and execution, ensuring an optimised recruitment experience.
The ROI of Labour Market Analytics
Recruitment is an investment, and like any business function, recruitment efforts must deliver measurable returns. Labour market analytics drive efficiency and optimise hiring strategies, leading to:
- Improved candidate quality – Ensuring role alignment and long-term retention.
- Competitive benchmarking – Understanding salary expectations and employer branding effectiveness.
- Resource optimisation – Prioritising high-impact hiring strategies over ineffective methods.
By incorporating these insights, businesses can reduce hiring costs, shorten time-to-hire, and improve overall recruitment outcomes.
How Labour Market Analytics Enhances Recruitment
By leveraging labour market analytics tools, organisations can:
- Identify and target talent pools – Pinpoint where top talent is located, especially for hard-to-fill roles.
- Understand the competitive landscape – Gain insights into market trends, salaries, and employer demand.
- Improve DE&I – Data can highlight gaps and help businesses attract underrepresented talent.
- Predict career paths – Understand how candidates move within industries to refine Attraction strategies.
How to Use Labour Market Data for Internal Conversations
Labour market analytics can support hiring managers to make informed decisions, securing leadership buy-in, and justifying budget allocations for recruitment initiatives.
Employers can use structured labour market data to benchmark salaries, assess hiring trends, and evaluate talent availability. For example, companies can use labour market reports to demonstrate how their compensation structures compare to industry standards, helping to align hiring strategies with market expectations. Similarly, insights into talent supply and demand can inform discussions on skills shortages, diversity hiring initiatives, and early talent programme development.
By integrating these insights into internal conversations, employers can foster a more strategic and forward-thinking recruitment approach. This enhances credibility when engaging with leadership and ensures recruitment efforts remain competitive and aligned with broader business objectives. It removes a reliance on anecdotal feedback.
Case Study: Successful Implementation of Data-Driven Recruitment
The best way to understand the benefits of data-led decisions in early careers Attraction is to see it working in real time.
During our partnership with Octopus Energy Services, Amberjack utilised labour market analytics to optimise recruitment for 3,000 new hires.. By understanding regional supply and demand, salary expectations, and competitor activity, Amberjack helped Octopus target the right locations and identify the most relevant job titles. These insights formed an integral part of Octopus’ 3-year recruitment strategy, ensuring alignment with both current and future labour market trends.
Amberjack’s work with Octopus Energy Services highlights the effectiveness of leveraging labour market analytics. By analysing regional variations in the labour market, we were able to identify the strongest job titles to advertise, address gender diversity issues by location, and adapt recruitment strategies based on regional supply and demand for skilled workers. The focus on gender diversity, particularly through targeted social media campaigns and apprenticeships, resulted in a notable increase in female applications.
Conclusion
Embracing data-driven recruitment strategies empowers organisations to make informed, efficient, and fair hiring decisions. By integrating advanced analytics and AI into their recruitment processes, businesses can enhance candidate quality, reduce time-to-hire, and maintain a competitive edge in the dynamic talent landscape.
Data-driven recruitment is no longer optional—it’s essential for staying competitive in early careers Attraction. By leveraging labour market analytics, organisations can improve hiring efficiency, make your mark as a top employer, and attract top talent. Get in touch to revolutionise your reach!
