Tag: candidates

Retail Talent Landscape q1 2025

Retail’s Talent Tightrope

Posted on | by Excel Recruitment

As Q1 2025 wraps up, recruitment across Ireland’s retail landscape—especially in fashion, non-food, grocery, and pharmacy—remains active but more complex. While job vacancies continue steadily, both candidate engagement and employer strategies have shifted in response to economic pressures and evolving workforce expectations.

Fashion & Non-Food Retail: Leadership & Agility in Focus

According to Aislinn Lea, Director of Fashion & Non-Food Retail Recruitment, the market has been exceptionally buoyant, with new roles added daily. However, she notes a shift toward more deliberate and thoughtful hiring, where employers are placing greater emphasis on leadership ability, change management experience, and authentic passion for retail.

The exit of several fast fashion and high street brands has forced remaining retailers to redefine their bricks-and-mortar presence, focusing on enhancing customer journeys, creating meaningful in-store engagement, and reinforcing the unique identity of each brand.

Duty Managers remain the hardest roles to fill in non-food retail. “Many employers are now looking to hospitality talent pools, leveraging their strengths in customer service, sales performance, and KPI management,” Aislinn explains. Speed in recruitment remains critical: businesses with streamlined interview and offer processes are securing talent ahead of slower-moving competitors.

Head Office & Buying: A Cautious Candidate Market

Aoife Clarke, Senior Recruitment Consultant for Head Office & Buying, describes a slow-moving market where candidates are showing increased hesitation, often withdrawing late in the process. Active job seekers are focused on securing the most competitive offers, while passive candidates attend interviews without genuine intent to move, unless all requirements are met. When combined with slow timelines, below-market offers, and inflexible expectations, this often results in unsuccessful hires.

At the same time, employer offers often fall short of market expectations, further widening the gap between demand and supply. As Aoife notes, “Recruitment cycles are now longer and more complex, and success hinges on strong relationships, clear communication, and employer flexibility.

Pharmacy: Stabilisation Amid Structural Shortages

Barbara Kelly, Senior Recruitment Consultant for Pharmacy, describes a more stable but constrained environment. Rates for Supervising Pharmacists have levelled out, and there’s been minimal movement due to the high salaries already locked in during recent shortages. Relief and support roles remain scarce, while locum rates are holding steady.

One standout challenge remains the shortage of qualified pharmacy technicians, which has pushed up pay slightly. Encouragingly, Barbara notes an uptick in technician roles being filled by non-EU pharmacists who’ve gained local experience.

Grocery: Investment in Fresh Food Talent & Work-Life Balance

Nikki Murran, Director of Grocery Retail Recruitment, highlights a continued investment in fresh food talent, especially in butchers, bakers, deli staff, and retail chefs. Supermarkets are responding to increased consumer demand for health-conscious, convenient, and online options by shifting manpower to these key departments.

There’s also a noticeable move toward better work-life balance offerings. “Many retailers are now providing improved shift patterns and 39-hour contracts to attract and retain staff,” says Nikki. Trainee managers are in demand, with higher salaries justified by expectations for stronger leadership potential.

While talent shortages and candidate hesitancy remain central themes in Q1, retailers that adapt quickly, offer competitive packages, and streamline hiring processes are best positioned to succeed in an evolving employment landscape.

Do today’s candidates have less “staying power” than those in years gone by?

Do today’s candidates have less “staying power” than those in years gone by?

Posted on | by Excel Recruitment

In today’s rollercoaster world of grocery retail candidates who start but don’t stay can cause huge disruption to any team or store. We are hearing more stories from retailers who have gone through full recruitment drives, inductions, and training delivery only to be told within the first few months that this new hire is already moving on.

Is this a generational thing? Do today’s candidates have less “staying power” than those in years gone by? Have we shifted to a culture where it’s now acceptable to let your feet do the talking to your employer by leaving a job where you are finding the going tough, or just slightly unpleasant?

So why is this happening? And what, if anything, can or should retailers do to reduce these flighty new starters?

Manage expectations

Candidates today certainly have higher expectations than those of previous years. Often what retail staff would have considered as a nice extra, is now a minimum expectation. Many candidates start new roles with skewed expectations of what their actual hours, responsibilities, or place in the businesses will be. Inevitably their expectations are much more favourable than the reality. When faced with this realisation many new starters are choosing to leave their new role and start over, rather than adjust or compromise. In most instances, ensuring full disclosure on all facets of a new job can dramatically reduce candidate “fallouts.” When we took a sample of candidates who had left their jobs in less than 6 months, the number one reason they stated was the role was not what they expected. Laying out your shift patterns, and contracted hours is imperative. However, retailers with better retention are going one step further and giving a detailed breakdown of the role they are offering – including challenges that may arise for a new hire.

First impressions count

Even in instances where retailers have done a thorough job of explaining the role, company and responsibilities, still a cohort of new starters will leave before they have even completed their training. Candidates now expect an enjoyable induction, to feel valued from arrival, and to be made feel like they are part of a team. They also look for a robust training plan which ranges from 6 weeks to 6 months, covering not only their role but company highlights, organisations plan, and wider social and cultural inclusions. This may feel like a big ask for some retailers, but setting aside some time to welcome on board each employee pays dividends. Poor induction or training was the second highest ranked on our list of reasons a new-hire leaves.

Market demands

Today’s recruitment market is still candidate-led – meaning that candidates have ample choice between employers. It is widely understood by today’s candidates, particularly at entry-level and slightly above, that they have the “upper hand.” It’s a phenomenon that arose from an overheated market, coupled with a mindset shift over the last 5 years. Any employer who is not aware of this new employee attitude is unlikely to have much success with their new team additions. When I asked several retailers how they are managing this shift, the most successful all seem to have one thing in common. They are investing more time and resources in their recruiting and onboarding practices.

Mentors

Long gone are the days of training solely by “shadowing”. Today’s new starters tend to spend days clicking through online training and signing sheets of compliance documents. This is often followed by off-site training or training in a different store to get a more “well-rounded” experience. The problem here is that while “shadowing” is no longer seen as best practice in most incidents – what it did do well was appoint a mentor by default. Someone who could help you understand the culture of the store and guide you to find your fit within it. A lot of the candidates who left prematurely made statements like – “I was left,” “forgotten about” or “ignored.” Appointing a mentor or following the old routine of shadowing one team member during the first few critical weeks really limits this and is certainly food for thought!

Feedback

My favourite one-size-fits-all solution. I believe open, honest, direct, and fair feedback can improve any professional relationship and it appears that it has an impact in these scenarios too. Another reason cited by these leavers was a lack of appreciation or feedback. Today’s candidates are unwilling to wait for the 6-month review to get a pat on the back – weekly and monthly check-ins are the way forward in order to hang on to those newbies!

You can check out this feature in the most recent edition of ShelfLife Magazine here. For more information call us on 01 814 8747 or email nikki@excelrecruitment.com

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