Over the last few weeks, at least 35,000 people found themselves out of work as numerous industries made redundancies in direct response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Those in the hospitality, travel and retail sectors were particularly badly affected, however in comparison, recruitment in healthcare, warehouses, logistics and food delivery businesses has increased with these sectors desperately seeking new workers to meet an increased demand.
While we know that many industries have put on hold or even cancelled their recruitment plans, here our Talent Acquisition Manager, Marion Chassua looks at how the global pandemic is impacting recruitment and how might it change the way employers hire in the future.
Recruiting: In the “Twilight Zone”
According to official figures, employment in Britain hit a record high in January just before the outbreak of the virus. However, the current situation means job seekers are becoming hesitant and some companies have concerns around how not having face-to-face interviews might impact the recruiting process.
There are though some ways employers can mitigate any impact of no face to face contact during this time:
- Utilising online communication tools in the recruitment process
- Consider your organisation’s value proposition and advocate your employee benefits, motivations for candidates are often far more than just money
- Video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams are increasingly being used both to communicate with clients and to interview and ‘virtually meet’ with candidates
- Redesign your existing questions to work effectively as a video-based assessment.
A number of companies are still actively hiring. They are prioritising the roles that must be filled and have embraced a new way of recruiting their staff.
Based on this, could this be the way recruitment is done in the future? Technology now allows companies to engage with a potential hire without the need to meet in person, ultimately this can save both time and money throughout the process.
Employers: Maintain the Embers
Now might be a good idea to ensure your teams are as fully staffed as possible while you can as any unexpected leave might put a strain on your resources. Therefore, a freeze on recruitment might not necessarily be the best course of action at this time.
If you are still hiring, be transparent with candidates, from interviews to on-boarding. Be open about what might have changed because of the virus. Look at your post-application communications and potentially your careers pages online too. If it has content which describes your hiring process, make sure it now contains the most up to date information about the current process.
On the recruiter’s side, it could be a good idea to provide hiring staff with an FAQ answering any potential candidate concerns about working conditions, support for paid family leave, remote work set up, etc.
Finally, while digital-only recruitment methods could help reduce time to hire, make sure the method you are using is inclusive, fair and relevant to the role.
If you are looking to make changes to your recruitment strategy, refocus your talent attraction plan or just need assistance with employee handbooks and contracts then as a full-service HR consultancy we are on hand to help and advice. At a time when budgets are tight, our talent services are also offered on a non-commission basis, meaning you pay only for the level of service required.
If you’d like to know more, please get in touch, contact us at talent@hrrevolution.co.uk, call 0203 538 5311, visit www.hrrevolution.co.uk or https://talentrevolution.co.uk/
