In a matter of few months everything has completely changed and normalcy seems to be lights years away from this point. The pandemic has brought a huge crisis to the world which is leading us to global recession and everyone is uncertain about the future events. The Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented circumstances for organisations round the world. The economy has taken successful, forcing organisations to freeze hiring and cut the headcount budget during a bid to sustain revenues and margins. It has forced the organization to rethink about how to retain and utilise their existing talent to get the maximum out of the situation. The pandemic has led to a rise in unemployment and nearly 300 million people have lost their jobs in this course of time. In such cases, companies have to adopt several hiring measures to combat this situation and smoothly function in post covid era.
- Turn crisis into opportunity
We are all aware of the cost-cutting and the negative impact of COVID on the job market owing to business continuity strategic plans. The WFH model has been welcomed with open hands by the workers of the IT sector- the new way of labor has encouraged homemakers to hitch back within the workforce, allowing them to balance work and family. I hope to ascertain a rise in women’s contribution to national growth after COVID as a result of WFH. WFH has also shed the geo-location barriers, now village aspirants have equal job opportunities in big metro cities. But this is often one aspect that we will elaborate over another day. - Understand the changes
COVID-19 has impacted almost every one, company, and industry out there—but each has been affected differently. One should know where its industry lies before revamping its hiring strategies as job seekers are shifting their fields in order to be safe. It is important for you as a talent professional or a manager to stay on top of news about the labor market developments to predict how they are going to affect your recruiting efforts within the post-COVID-19 period. - Maintain a strong employer brand
Your employer brand is usually a top priority for your business; however, being present and empathetic is particularly critical, both immediately and after the planet returns to some semblance of normalcy. It is important how companies treat their employees during covid-19 situation will define their culture for the decades to come. Companies use more relevant keywords like “social distancing”, “public health”’, “healthcare workers” etc. to attract more engagements and being socially responsible. - Promote job security and growth
When you start hiring during a post-COVID-19 era, remember to specialise in promoting long-term job security and opportunities for growth. That’s the number one thing job seekers will be looking for in times of economic downturn. If you’re trying to attract new employees during a recession, it’s important to build job security into your employer value proposition (EVP). You can then promote security and growth in your job postings and communications to candidates to ease their concerns about the longer term. - Prioritise your candidate quality
While there’s little question that recruiters will soon see a big uptick in job applications, it’s important to continue prioritizing candidate quality, person-organization and job fit. In times of budget cuts and cost optimizations, you don’t want to spend money on hiring someone just to lose them because they weren’t a fit, and having to do the recruitment process all over again. Besides, the last item you would like is to lose employees because you’ve made ill-suited selections. Putting quality first ensures that you are choosing right candidates for the given roles; you can maintain strong culture and can boost up the engagement level even during recession.
Once you fully understand what candidate quality means for your organization, you ought to make it some extent to research your recruitment channels and see where your best candidates are coming from. Then you’ll focus your efforts on those channels and on finding qualified candidates for your organization.
Difficult times are before us and businesses need to adapt their strategies to survive and thrive in times of recession. Hiring also will be much different than it had been in 2019 when unemployment was low and corporations were fighting for candidates. The key is to understand the changes in the labor market and address them by changing your recruiting strategy. The recovery must take time but one has to be patient, agile and be prepared for the next to come.
