I think we can all agree; times are changing with regard to how we attract & retain talent regardless of the industry you work within. Coming off the back of a global pandemic coupled with global economic instability we’re seeing rapid changes being adopted by organisations of all sizes in their approach to talent acquisition, employee packages, and retention of employees.
Over the last 3-4 months we’ve witnessed a significant downturn in hiring which in some cases can be alarming however, a number of organisations are using this time to prioritise their key hires as well as re-structure their existing teams in order to cope with this shift. Below you’ll find some suggestions as to how you could stay ahead of the curve during this period of uncertainty.
“During times of recession and unstable economic climates, it’s important for businesses to take proactive measures to ensure the stability of their finances and maintain their growth position in the market. These measures can include cutting back on discretionary spend such as travel or office-related costs, which can account for large budgetary spend and a quick win. Pausing on headcount growth through pausing on recruitment/hiring activity, replacing only essential backfill roles is also a key proactive measure. This enables business leaders to review their organisational structures and identify how they can be more effective, efficient and resilient with the resource they have. Continuing with business-critical work to assist growth and pausing on work that has less value add to business strategy.” By Malinder Howe – Director of People at Trust Pilot
Effective Communication:
In what seems to be an obvious point; often this tends to be the most challenging stage as hiring manager, recruiters & other stakeholders are “left in the dark” until the 11th hour. Communication across all parties involved in the recruitment cycle will enable a seamless transition during this challenging time. Once everyone is up-to-speed on the changes that’ll be happening then all candidates in the pipeline should be updated on the status of the role they’ve applied for immediately.
Candidate Management:
Having a transparent conversation with the candidates in the process is imperative at this stage; most candidates understand these things happen from time to time and they’ll appreciate the honest approach you take when having this conversation. For the roles that are live, update your candidates accordingly.
CRM Maintenance/Tidy Up:
For most recruiters juggling requirements, speaking to candidates & managing various stakeholders often means that the admin side of the role is neglected. This is a great time to effectively cleanse the database of unwanted data points. Be sure to communicate with all parties of the notifications they’ll receive once you’ve made the relevant amendments.
Talent Mapping / Process Improvements:
Inevitably this period of downtime will come to an end therefore it’s important your organisation is in a position to quickly capitalise on the available talent on the market. Understanding what your competitors are doing well & what they aren’t doing so well will help you overcome some hurdles further down the process.
Equally, this is an opportunity for the internal team to address the various processes that worked extremely well and the ones that didn’t.
Additional Training for Managers, HR Professionals & Recruiters:
It’s not often we are presented with a perfect opportunity to professionally develop our skills whilst juggling the day-to-day challenges of the day job. This is your time to take that online course, learn new skills, go on that training course, or take on a project you’ve always wanted to begin but didn’t have enough time.
Branding & Content Creation.
With Social Media continuously taking a great emphasis on how individuals interact with your brand, it’s important to create a sizeable backlog of content that you can start sharing with your network once things pick back up. Equally, you can use this content to keep your customers, and candidates engaged with your brand whilst you have fewer opportunities to discuss with them.
To conclude, there isn’t a one size fits all model we can employ; it’s all about trial & error but more importantly, it takes some creativity and having a good strategic plan to ensure your business can leverage the opportunities presented to setup for success once recruitment picks back up.
Written by Edwin Njuguna
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With Troi you get all the stakeholder skills, strategic thinking, and personal touches of an in-house recruiter with the network, reach, and urgency of outsourcing. That’s what the collective power of Troi is all about. So what is this embedded model? Well, the Troi model offers a supercharged embedded RPO model that takes the shape of a living, breathing ecosystem offering a ton of value-added solutions, not just hiring. We do everything that your standard RPO does but is embedded within your company rather than staying external.
Our unique embedded subscription-based recruitment service shortens the traditional recruitment hiring process and saves against traditional agency spend.
