recruiting

There have been a lot of changes overwhelming the professional landscape across most industries since the beginning of the year. The outbreak and its aftermath caused market shifts that led to companies closing their doors, suffering little to no business, and entire industries dropping to record lows of interest.

However, these market shifts were a catalyst for positive change in other industries which found public interest and business opportunities higher than ever during the pandemic scare.

The challenges that the COVID-19 outbreak has generated for recruitment across all sectors don’t seem to be going anywhere though, and a recruitment process that’s designed to tackle these challenges head-on is more important than ever.

We’ve already entered the early stages of what will soon become a war for qualified talent. As industries recover and companies find their balance, the hunt for promising talent displays all the signs of a quick and competitive race.

While the talent market is currently bustling with potential hires, high-caliber candidates will disappear from it first.

Also Read: Vietnam’s JobHopin nabs US$2.45M Series A to make recruitment easier in Southeast Asia

Perhaps it’s still too soon to accurately predict what our new reality will be. Perhaps as the situation improves, employment opportunities would eventually rise to match the global supply of talent.

One thing is certain; employers need a post-pandemic talent strategy that outlines their approach to recruitment in the coming months.

Flexible candidates for flexible roles

Flexibility in this context can refer to a remote workforce model or professionals capable of working unusual shifts and hours. Flexible roles are most commonly those of an advisory, marketing, IT, or sales nature.

A flexible workforce can cut through COVID-19’s impact on business continuity. Moreover, such employees help diversify the company’s model as well as provide employers with the financial flexibility of hourly and project-based rates.

HR Technology

The current situation presents the perfect opportunity for companies to adopt new tools. It’s impeccable timing in which organisations can reassess their processes and recruitment strategies through HR Technology.

Healthy communication and consistent productivity are an important factor in talent acquisition and retention. Oversight in this regard often falls to the HR department, as they need to monitor this aspect of the workplace at all times.

Also Read: How Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can improve a startup’s recruitment marketing

More often than not, the HR department has to set the pace of the team’s communication as well as organise and prepare the workplace and manage everyone’s paperwork.

Human resources processes generate a significant amount of data on a good day. But recruitment generates even more on its own. Adopting HR technology and SaaS products can ease your HR department or recruitment agency’s workload and simplify the data management aspect of their tasks.

Implementing the right SaaS for recruitment, allows these companies to import and integrate such existing data into the platform, simplifying data management, and funnelling information to the appropriate tab or function.

More importantly, these changes allow your HR to shift their focus and their processes towards tackling the finer details of recruitment that software cannot achieve. For example, some companies choose to implement an ATS capable of automating the majority of the process, of parsing resumes, scoring candidates, and recommending the top picks for the top positions. This directly saves the recruitment team time and effort.

Focus on your current workforce

Various industries have been having a difficult time with their recruitment over the past few months. Not only did the outbreak create new hurdles for every industry out there, but access to these talents have also become limited.

Also Read: Vietnam’s JobHopin nabs US$2.45M Series A to make recruitment easier in Southeast Asia

The various regulations and international travel laws have more or less blocked out the global talent market. Companies found themselves losing access to the foreign and immigrating workforce.

Though there are a lot of ways that struggling companies can improve their recruitment, like hiring remote workers, leveraging recruitment tech and communication tools, some industries such as travel and hospitality are better off focusing on their current workforce rather than recruiting new talent.

We aren’t saying that recruitment should be abandoned altogether, but this situation and these circumstances are as difficult for aspiring candidates as they are for your current team. HR professionals can shift their focus to guide the workforce throughout these unusual times, manage their difficulties and professional issues, as well as provide resources and support as needed. Working to improve internal communication is very important in maintaining a motivated workforce during these uncertain times.

Prepare your post-pandemic strategy

This pertains more to the industries most impacted by the pandemic. Business in the hotel and hospitality sector, outdoor dining, and travel to name a few. A large number of candidates in this sphere have opted to make the shift towards more promising or thriving industries.

However, once the pandemic blows over and restrictions are lifted, you can expect suffering sectors to come back with major recruitment changes and fierce competition over top talent.

Preparing your company for a post-COVID 19 recruitment campaign begins now.

Also Read: Go-Jek acquires Indian recruitment platform developer AirCTO

Companies that take this time to act by cultivating relationships and connections with promising talent in their sphere, will have the advantage of accumulating valuable data from potential candidates.

The advantage depends largely on the frequency of this networking exercise, an advantage with great long term value, especially since the expected wave competitive recruitment will be on a large global scale.

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