Hiring Struggles Among Scottish Firms ‘Unsurprising’ as Businesses Feel Pandemic and Brexit Impact

Euan Cameron, founder of Scottish tech start-up Willo, one of the world’s fastest-growing video interview platforms, believes findings in the latest Fraser of Allander Institute Scottish Business Monitor report that show more than 80% of Scottish businesses are struggling to hire new talent are ‘unsurprising’.

Glasgow-based Willo has seen a surge in Scottish businesses from all sectors turning to video interview technology to help address the hiring crisis, as firms widen the net in search of new talent.

Euan Cameron, founder of video interview platform Willo, said: “The findings of the latest Fraser of Allander Institute Scottish Business Monitor report come as no surprise. “Over the past 18 months the conditions in the recruitment market in Scotland, and everywhere for that matter, have changed immeasurably.

Businesses across all sectors are struggling to find the people they need due to the knock-on effect of the pandemic, and other factors such as Brexit, which have left workforces severely depleted. The pandemic has also changed people’s attitudes to work, and many are looking for new opportunities in fields they hadn’t considered before.

Business leaders are telling us the market is the toughest it’s ever been, and they’re having to find new ways to address it.

We’ve seen a surge in businesses coming to us as they’re having to look in other areas – in terms of location, experience and background – to find the talent they need.

The shift to remote working is making a difference, and more Scottish businesses we work with are now hiring people who live and work overseas – as far away as Australia, South Africa, and Singapore in some cases. You wouldn’t have seen this much outside of industries such as IT, finance, or law previously, but it’s becoming more common now, of course through necessity, but also because attitudes have shifted and the capability is there in the hiring and working process.

In other industries where remote working isn’t possible – hospitality, retail or construction for example – employers are definitely casting the net farther and wider. Again, through necessity.

I think the difficulties in hiring will definitely settle going forward, but it will take an adjustment in the mindset of businesses in how they let employees work, and also in how and where they find them.”