Untapped talent: a long-term game leaders can no longer afford to ignore

At first glance, a low unemployment rate might suggest a thriving job market, with more people actively participating in the economy. However, this headline figure can mask deeper challenges facing both workers and employers.

In recent years, the number of people not working or actively seeking employment has risen significantly. Many individuals are unable to work due to long-term health conditions or caring responsibilities, contributing to a growing segment of the population that is economically inactive. This trend has been compounded by ongoing skills shortages across key sectors, creating a persistent challenge for employers trying to attract and retain talent.

To stay competitive, organisations must go beyond traditional hiring strategies. While small adjustments to attraction and retention tactics can help, long-term success lies in engaging with untapped or unexpected talent pools. This includes individuals returning to work after illness, those with non-linear career paths, or people seeking flexible arrangements due to caregiving responsibilities.

Employers who embrace inclusive hiring practices and rethink what talent looks like will be better positioned to navigate the evolving labour market and stand out as employers of choice.

What is untapped talent?

Untapped, unexpected, or hidden talent describes a proportion of the workforce who might struggle to access work, or who might face a number of barriers during application. This could include, but isn’t limited to, ex-service leavers, caregivers, individuals over 60, neurodivergent professionals, or those with a criminal record.

Not only might this section of the workforce face barriers during a job application, it’s also likely that employers simply won’t come across them during ‘traditional’ searches for staff.

The term unexpected or hidden talent might suggest these people are actively choosing not to partake in the labour market – this is far from the case. In fact, leaders should be doing all they can to actively seek them out and ensure they aren’t left behind, subsequently supporting their long-term talent pipeline.

Why should leaders care about untapped talent?

Not only is supporting those who might struggle to access work the right thing to do, it’s crucially important for business. A report by Harvard Business School and Accenture found that businesses who purposefully hire hidden workers are likely see a direct return on investment. Organisations who did hire outside of their usual talent pool were 36% less likely to face skills shortages compared to organisations who don’t seek out untapped talent.

The report also highlighted that untapped talent, once given the opportunity, will often outperform their peers across six criteria - attitude and work ethic, productivity, quality of work, engagement, attendance, and innovation. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as taking ex-service leaders as an example, many have a wealth of transferable and in-demand skills that can benefit workplaces of all shapes and sizes such as organisation, reliability, timekeeping and a solution focused work ethic.

When it comes to purposefully hiring those who could classify as untapped talent, there’s certainly room for improvement. In data from our Hays UK Salary & Recruiting Trends survey (2023), whilst over a third of employers said they are actively hiring apprentices and graduates, less than a fifth are actively hiring those over the age of 50 (19%), only 13% are actively hiring ex-service leavers and even less so are purposely hiring neurodivergent talent (9%).

Not only does hiring from outside your usual talent pool make good business sense, but it’s more importantly allowing those who might need certain tweaks to the application process, or access to part-time work a chance to thrive in a skills short labour market.

What steps can organisations take to access untapped talent?

Like the title of this blog suggests, accessing and purposefully hiring untapped talent is a long-term game. It isn’t a quick fix to skills shortages and must be part of your wider DE&I strategy.

Instead, working with your hiring teams and senior leaders it’s important to assess what skills you are lacking amongst your workforce as a starter. Then next look to what area of the workforce you could make adjustments for to purposefully hire, and this may involve working with partner organisations who will be able to advise on adjustments to policies as well as tweaks to your hiring process.

There’s no harm in looking for support to do this, and in fact I’d encourage it. At Hays we work with End Youth Homelessness, an organisation proactively helping disadvantaged young people secure jobs.

In order for this happen, leaders need to understand the skills and talents available from all segments of the workforce – and acknowledge that diversity is a key point of competitive leverage for organisations to drive forward access for untapped talent.