Before you replace that vacancy: What does your business need next?

When somebody leaves a business, the immediate priority is usually straightforward: find a replacement. There is work that still needs to be done, responsibilities that need to be covered and a team that may already be feeling the impact of losing an experienced colleague.

It is understandable, then, that one of the first steps is often to retrieve the existing job description, make a few updates and begin recruiting.

However, there can be real value in spending some time reviewing what the business needs from the role today before taking it back to market. The person leaving may have been in the position for several years, during which the team, technology, customer requirements and wider organisation may have changed considerably. They may also have developed responsibilities that were never included in the original job description, while other members of the team may now be ready to take on more.

This matters particularly across Supply Chain, Logistics, Procurement and other operational functions, where the capabilities businesses require continue to develop alongside automation, digitalisation and changing commercial priorities.

The latest evidence supports that wider picture. Skills England's 2026 Annual Skills Report found that more than a quarter of vacancies are difficult to fill because of skills shortages, while demand for occupations considered important to the UK's priority growth sectors is expected to increase significantly over the next decade. Its analysis also points towards competition for many of the same digital, engineering and technical capabilities across multiple industries.

For employers, a vacancy therefore provides a useful point at which to ask a slightly different question: if we were creating this position for our business today, what would we need from the person doing it?

 

Start with the role as it exists today

Job descriptions have a habit of surviving longer than the jobs they describe.

A Supply Chain Manager recruited five years ago, for example, may now be working within a very different operation. The business could have introduced new systems, changed its supplier network, expanded into new markets, automated parts of its operation or increased the amount of data available to the function. A Procurement Manager may now have considerably greater responsibility for risk, sustainability or stakeholder management. A Logistics leader may be overseeing a more technologically complex operation than the person originally inherited.

That does not mean the previous employee was somehow wrong for the position. Quite the opposite. Good people frequently develop alongside their roles, taking on additional responsibilities and building knowledge that becomes valuable to the wider organisation.

When that person moves on, understanding how the position developed during their tenure can provide a much better starting point for recruitment than simply returning to the specification used when they joined.

This is why the briefing stage of a recruitment process is so important. Understanding what someone previously did is useful, but understanding what the business needs the next person to achieve gives the search much greater direction.

 

Look at the team before writing the specification

A vacancy should also be considered in the context of the people who remain.

There may be somebody within the existing team who has developed significantly since the previous recruitment process. Responsibilities may already have shifted naturally between colleagues, or an employee may be ready to take the next step in their career.

Internal progression can be extremely valuable for both employers and employees, and external recruitment can still form part of that picture. Promoting someone internally may create a different vacancy elsewhere in the team, for example, while understanding the external candidate market can help employers benchmark the skills and experience available before making a decision.

This is particularly relevant when businesses are thinking about longer-term capability. CIPD research found that 56% of organisations surveyed had increased their focus on developing talent internally, reflecting the role that existing employees can play in meeting future skills requirements.

The aim should be to understand the strongest route forward for the team, rather than assuming from the outset that the answer must look exactly like the person who previously held the position.

 

Separate the skills you need from the experience you are used to

One of the most important parts of reviewing a vacancy is deciding which requirements are genuinely essential.

It is easy for a recruitment brief to become increasingly specific. Experience in the same industry, the same type of operation, the same systems, a particular qualification and a certain number of years at a particular level can all find their way onto the requirements list.
Sometimes those criteria are completely justified. Certain environments demand specialist technical, regulatory or sector knowledge that cannot reasonably be compromised.

In other situations, concentrating too heavily on someone's previous job title or sector can exclude people who have already demonstrated the capabilities required to succeed.

There are signs of a broader move towards this kind of skills-focused recruitment. Research published in May 2026 found that 66% of UK organisations surveyed had adopted some form of skills-based hiring, while 58% of candidates said they were more likely to apply for roles defined around skills rather than traditional qualifications or career history.

For employers recruiting into specialist functions, this does not mean experience suddenly becomes irrelevant. It means being clear about why particular experience is being requested.

If stakeholder management, commercial judgement, systems implementation, supplier negotiation or leading operational change are the capabilities that will determine whether somebody succeeds, identifying those explicitly can help create a more meaningful candidate brief.

It can also create opportunities for strong candidates whose experience is transferable from another sector or operating environment.

 

Think about what the role will require in two or three years

Recruitment decisions inevitably solve an immediate problem, but the strongest appointments also need to make sense for where the organisation is heading.

This is becoming increasingly important as skills requirements evolve.

Skills England's latest assessment found that skills shortages remain above pre-pandemic levels, with manufacturing among the areas experiencing particular challenges. Across the priority occupations assessed by Skills England, employment is projected to increase by around 1.8 million by 2035, equivalent to approximately 24% growth from 2025. The organisation also argues that education pipelines alone are unlikely to meet all future requirements, making the development and reskilling of the existing workforce increasingly important.

Advanced manufacturing illustrates the scale of the challenge. Skills England estimates that priority occupations in the sector could require around 148,000 workers between 2025 and 2035 when projected growth and replacement demand are considered together. Many of the occupations involved are also required by other priority sectors, increasing competition for the same capabilities.

For employers, this makes future capability worth discussing at the beginning of a recruitment process.

If a business expects greater automation over the next few years, for example, will the next operational leader need stronger systems or transformation experience? If Procurement is taking a more strategic role within the organisation, will stakeholder management and commercial capability become more important? If the business expects to grow, does the person joining today have the potential to lead a larger team or more complex function tomorrow?

Nobody can predict exactly how a role will develop. A sensible view of the organisation's direction can, however, help avoid recruiting solely around yesterday's requirements.

 

Be realistic about the market

Reviewing a vacancy can produce a very ambitious wish list.

The challenge is then understanding whether the combination of skills, experience, location and salary being requested exists in sufficient numbers within the candidate market.

The UK recruitment market in 2026 makes this particularly important. The latest CIPD Labour Market Outlook reports that only 62% of employers plan to recruit during the next three months, with many concentrating on maintaining existing workforce levels. Meanwhile, August's KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs showed improving recruitment conditions and continued growth in candidate availability, alongside stronger starting salary growth.

Greater candidate availability does not automatically mean every specialist skill is readily available. Skills England continues to identify persistent shortages in parts of the economy, while its analysis suggests that several priority sectors will increasingly compete for overlapping technical capabilities.
This is where external market insight becomes useful.

Before committing to a specification, employers can look at how the proposed salary compares with the market, how many people are likely to possess the required experience, whether location is limiting the available pool and which requirements could reasonably be broadened.

That information can help businesses distinguish between the ideal profile and the capabilities genuinely required to perform the job successfully.

 

Give candidates a clear picture of what comes next

Reviewing a role also has an important benefit for candidates.

Strong candidates want to understand what they are joining. Beyond the responsibilities listed on a job description, they may want to know what success looks like, where the function is heading, what challenges they will inherit, how the team is structured and what opportunities they will have to develop.

A well-defined brief makes those conversations easier.

It also means candidates are being assessed against the reality of the opportunity rather than a historic version of the position. Someone with highly relevant transferable experience can understand why their background fits. Someone looking for progression can see where the role could take them. Existing employees can have clearer conversations about their own development and potential opportunities within the team.

Clarity at the beginning of the process benefits everyone involved.

 

Recruit the person your business needs next

When an employee leaves, replacing their knowledge, relationships and contribution can be challenging, particularly when they have been with the organisation for a long time. Giving proper consideration to the vacancy is one way employers can recognise how the role has developed while preparing the team for its next stage.

That might ultimately lead to recruiting someone with a very similar background. It might reveal an opportunit for an existing employee to progress. It could show that the role needs different skills, or that the external search should consider candidates from a wider range of sectors.

At CAST, we believe these conversations are an important part of specialist recruitment. Our role is to help employers understand the candidate market, challenge a brief constructively where appropriate and identify people whose experience and capabilities align with what the organisation is trying to achieve.
For candidates, that same approach means looking beyond a list of keywords on a CV to understand the experience, transferable skills and ambitions they can bring to an opportunity.

If a vacancy has created an opportunity to review what your team needs next, we can help you understand the market, benchmark the role and build a recruitment strategy around the skills your business needs.

0333 121 3345
hello@castuk.com