For three years running, more than half of UK in-house recruiters have named "scarcity of qualified candidates" their #1 challenge in Eploy's 2026 UK Candidate Attraction Report. And this isn't a post-pandemic distortion – it's the new normal. But is the market really scarce, or is your screening layer rejecting the people you could and should be hiring?
In this 20-minute session, Charlotte Clarke (Eploy) and Greg Dunbar (Hubert) examine why scarcity is now structural, and the practical shift that's helping leading UK employers surface qualified candidates they were missing.
Takeaways
- Three-year trend, decoded. Why scarcity has held above 50% since 2024.
- Market vs screening. The difference, and why it matters.
- Where to look first. How to mine the pipeline you already have before going back to market.
