Ten years ago I was looking for a business that would offer me a senior role on a four-day basis. I naively thought that my job-hunting experience would be comparable to when I was previously looking for a full-time role.
How wrong I was. I spent six months looking for a new job, with recruiters telling me over and over again that what I wanted didn’t exist. That if I wanted to work less than full-time, then low-paid, low-skilled jobs were my only alternative.
At first, like the thousands in my position, I assumed that the problem was with me and that there was no place for people who needed flexibility in the modern world of work. Now I have learned that it is in the recruitment market where the fundamental problem lies.
Even though more than half of UK employees work flexibly in some way, only one in 10 jobs is advertised with flexible or part-time working options.
And what’s more, more than 1.5 million people in the UK are trapped below their skill level in low-paid, part-time work simply because they have had to trade time for pay. And many others have abandoned work altogether, as jobs are seldom advertised with flexible working options.
Why is this? Because there is a fundamental problem with how jobs are designed and how modern businesses recruit and retain talent. This growing mismatch between what candidates want and need and how businesses recruit is leaving skilled people trapped in roles they are overqualified for and navigating a jobs market where they don’t know the rules.
Many candidates compare their experience of discussing flexible working during the hiring process to a game of poker where they are not sure of the rules and unsure of when to show their hand. Raise the issue of needing a four-day week too early and you risk being perceived as not ambitious and committed enough. Leave it too late and you risk upsetting the hiring manager and jeopardising a job offer.
And with an overwhelming majority of candidates wanting a more transparent recruitment process, major disruption is now needed.
That is why today we have launched Hire Me My Way – a national campaign designed to make the process of how people are hired in the UK more transparent, to the workplace exclusion that’s experienced by part-time and flexible workers, and to give a voice to the millions who can’t work full-time.
We’re asking employers to listen to people’s needs and open up to flexibility right from day one of a new hire. By 2020, we aim to have inspired the opening of 1m jobs – be that for newly created roles or promotion opportunities – to flexible working.
Until now, employers have done themselves a disservice by not clearing up the confusion that candidates face when looking for a quality, skilled role with some form of flexibility on hours or location.
Nine out of 10 hiring managers say they would consider flexible working for the best person. Yet if they don’t mention this in the job ad, how do candidates know to apply?
Until flexible hiring is the norm not the exception, what candidates need is practical know-how of raising their need for flexibility when interviewing and tackling the nervousness about when to mention the F-word. Because, like me, chances are they have had a bad experience.
Getting this right is vital, not only for the future of UK business, but for the many who need to work flexibly without compromising their careers. It’s important so that both women and men can continue progressing their careers, older workers and those with disabilities can remain in the workplace, and employers can continue attracting people who otherwise would not apply for roles.
The opposite of flexible is not full-time working, it’s rigid working – and that’s not for good for anyone.
The Hire Me My Way campaign website offers candidates visibility on who the UK’s best flexible employers are. The website also offers free individual career advice for job seekers whether they are looking for a flexible job, or seeking internal promotion while working part-time or flexibly. To access the guide visit www.hirememyway.org.uk and join the conversation on www.facebook.com/HireMeMyWay and www.twitter.com/HireMeMyWay #FlexibleHiring #HireMeMyWay.
