Inside the UK Hiring Taskforce: Why Parliament is putting recruitment in the spotlight

When 19-year-old Lewis applied for a warehouse job in Manchester, the process seemed straightforward: a quick online application form, an on-site interview, and a promise of full-time work. Three weeks in, he quit. The job was nothing like he imagined it to be.

Lewis isn’t alone. Across the country, entry-level candidates are stepping into roles that don’t match expectations; a disconnect that’s affecting retention, performance, and trust in the hiring process.

That’s why Parliament is partnering with forward-thinking leaders in business, HR, and technology to get ahead of the problem and shape a more effective approach to hiring.

On Friday 16th May, the UK Hiring Taskforce will be officially launched at the Houses of Parliament, supported by Viscount Camrose, Lee Barron MP, Lord Holmes, and Joe Robertson MP. The initiative will bring together experts and employers to chart a path towards faster, fairer, and more transparent recruitment across the UK.

The spotlight on recruitment

Recruitment isn’t just an HR issue, it’s a growth issue.

Too often, recruitment is treated as a back-office HR function rather than a central lever of business performance. However, in a labour market facing productivity challenges, skills gaps, and high attrition, the way we hire has never mattered more. A poor hiring process doesn’t just waste time; it slows down teams, drives up costs, and holds back growth. At a national level, inefficient hiring limits workforce participation and economic potential. If we want to improve productivity and prosperity in the UK, recruitment needs to be seen for what it really is: a strategic driver of growth. Getting the right people into the right roles quickly (and keeping them there) is a challenge worth solving.

Slow, ineffective hiring

The UK takes an average of 40 days to fill a vacancy. That’s slower than Germany (33 days), the US (36) and Japan (25). But the real concern isn’t just the time it takes, it’s how many of those hires work out.

A study of 1000 entry-level workers found that 55% cited the same reason for quitting a role: “the job wasn’t what I expected.”

“Hiring in the UK is too slow and often based on the wrong signals,” says ThriveMap’s CEO, Chris Platts.

“As a former recruiter, I saw talented candidates overlooked because of poor CVs, and too many new hires leaving because no one told them what the job was really like. At ThriveMap, we solve both problems with Realistic Job Assessments that set clear expectations and test real ability. If we want faster, fairer hiring, that’s where we need to start.”

The real economic cost of poor hiring

A Microsoft UK report estimates that AI adoption could boost UK GDP by £550 billion by 2035 — but only if people are in the right roles, doing the right work. If hiring stays broken, all that potential remains locked.

“We have to stop hiring people into roles they don’t understand, then acting surprised when they leave,” Platts says. “Realistic Job Assessments are the missing piece in the recruitment puzzle, and without them, businesses are wasting time, money and potential.”

A national moment to do things differently

The UK Hiring Taskforce aims to tackle these issues head-on. Led by policymakers and business leaders, this new initiative is designed to establish practical solutions to improve hiring outcomes, especially at the entry level, where change is most urgent.

As the country looks to rebuild productivity and unlock the potential of its workforce, there’s no time to waste. Honest hiring isn’t just fairer, it’s faster, smarter and more sustainable.

Why ThriveMap is leading the conversation

ThriveMap was invited to speak at the launch of the UK Hiring Taskforce because we’re tackling one of hiring’s most persistent problems: expectation mismatch. Our work in Realistic Job Assessments is helping employers create faster, fairer, and more accurate hiring processes, particularly for high-volume, entry-level roles where traditional methods fall short. Organisations come to us because they’re tired of relying on CVs that don’t predict performance, and interviews that don’t reflect the reality of the job. By designing assessments that show candidates what the role is actually like and measuring their ability to do it, we’re helping businesses reduce attrition, improve candidate fit, and make hiring a competitive advantage. We’re proud to bring that experience to Parliament and to contribute to shaping a better national approach to hiring.