On the other hand, media reports that highly technical jobs ideal for graduates with specific skills are unfilled. Of late, the situation seems to be worsening, with the following two stories over the last week highlighting the problem. News that one in three north Wales hospital jobs are vacant came shortly after surprising revelations that one in six jobs in London are actually going unfilled. How can we reconcile these two facts? And, more importantly, what can be done about it?

I suspect that the answer to the first question is deceptively simple. The reason there are so many applicants for each job yet a high number remain unfilled is that employers believe the applicants are not suitably skilled to perform the duties required of them. Taking the NHS as an example, it’s easy to see why this might be so, with the medical profession demanding an incredibly niche set of skills, qualifications and experience that is both short in supply and high in demand. If you need to hire a brain surgeon, there aren’t too many candidates with transferable skills who you can turn to! But in other sectors and certainly the wider commercial world, industry-specific experience is (or should be) less of a barrier when hiring.

And it’s here where the solution to the problem may lie for businesses struggling to fill roles despite an overwhelming number of applicants. When filling a position, there’s a danger for hiring managers and decision-makers to become focussed on experience rather than raw, transferable skills. In the current climate, it’s potentially self-defeating to limit your options, and every avenue should be explored in the search for talent. Additionally, advertising a position via traditional channels in this way only to conclude the process without making a hire is inefficient and costly.

It’s therefore worthwhile considering candidates with strong basic skills, but limited industry experience. This approach is best applied at graduate level, when talent has yet to embark on a specific career path. For example, a graduate in mathematics will have a strong analytical background, a skill ideal for an IT company, but will possibly not even be considering IT businesses when searching for graduate roles. If they are approached by a company with a strong employer brand and an enticing proposition, it’s possible to attract and mould them into an employee who will add significant value to the company. Indeed, the NHS with its highly niche requirements is taking this a step farther, trying to encourage school children to consider medicine as a career in an attempt to swell the number of graduate doctors, nurses and administrative staff available to its Trusts.

Clearly, there is no single remedy and the education sector, government and training schemes all have a part to play in making sure the UK has enough talent as it emerges from the recession. However, the right talent for a business is often out there, but ignored or overlooked because of a lack of industry experience. It may well be time for HR to shake off the notion of the ‘ideal’ candidate and any reluctance to train talent, which might help ease sourcing difficulties and buoy the jobseeker’s market in one fell swoop.