While fears over the cost of living crisis dominate headlines at the moment, we're still seeing record-breaking vacancy numbers across the UK, hitting 1.3 million in the last quarter.

Many sectors are still struggling to find the staff they need to keep services running – and the longer-term outlook is expected to be one of a growing skills gap.

As a consequence, employers need to find, attract and develop people who might – at least on paper – not necessarily be fully matched to the jobs on offer.

Employers need to urgently review selection criteria where talent is increasingly scarce and think about potential rather than experience. Many are turning to ‘hire-to-reskill' programmes, recognising that some technical skills can be learned if candidates have ‘adjacent' experience and skills. This opens up new and diverse candidate pools.

The challenge, therefore, is finding ways to get your message to this audience – because they won't be looking for you.

In our experience, blended attraction channels, as opposed to single job listings, can spark a decision to try something new.

We are seeing good results with doing different things – an advertisement during a podcast, a video while browsing Instagram and a banner while reading a news article can introduce and nudge people towards something different.

Today's digital advertising platforms offer a vast array of options for reaching niche audience groups, enabling you to put your employer brand in front of just the right people. Think different, be different, do different.

Tristam Noakes is strategy director at Penna

Tristam.noakes@penna.com

This article is sponsored content for The MJ