The global pandemic has impacted us in many ways, especially when it comes to employment. Millions of U.S. citizens are out of jobs, and companies have had to make difficult decisions about their workforce. As a result, fewer organizations are hiring than usual right now.
If you’ve had to put a pause on your recruitment efforts recently, it’s important to consider what you should be doing at this time to boost your future hiring strategy.
If you’re currently working in a staffing agency, you might find it useful to start building up your talent pools; or speaking to existing and potential clients about their hiring needs.
Alternatively, if you work in a corporate organization, you should spend this time building your employer brand and assessing which skills you really need in your business.
Whatever it may be, it’s important to maximize this potentially quieter period. Read on for our tips on what you should be doing when you aren’t hiring.
It’s always a good idea to reassess your current process and strategy to see if it’s still fit for purpose. So, look at every stage and think of how you can make improvements.
This starts with your job descriptions and adverts. Use this time to consider whether they’re hitting the mark. Are they too long? Too short? Are you selling the company enough?
Alongside this, think about the tools you’re investing in. Are they cost-effective? Are they delivering the best results? Do they help you reach your hiring goals?
Then there are the other stages of the hiring process. How long do you spend shortlisting and screening candidates, how many steps there are to your interviews, and how long do you take to offer someone the job?
The best hiring professionals are the ones who are always striving the achieve the strongest results; and who are willing to make changes to do so.
There are more people looking for work than ever before. Rewind to 12 months ago, and most companies were on the hunt for passive candidates, people who weren’t actively thinking about changing jobs.
Now, hiring professionals have their pick of the bunch. But how can you make the most of this if you aren’t hiring right now?
Well, it’s a good idea to start building your talent pool and resume database, so you can access top candidates when you’re ready to start recruiting.
Start engaging with these individuals; find out what roles they’re interested in. Sell yourself and the company. You’ll want to warm them up and get them interested in your future positions.
Another great task for when you aren’t hiring is to think about your future goals. Ask yourself: what’s been so great about the hires you’ve made in the last couple of years? And what hasn’t worked out so well?
In setting future goals, and ensuring they align with your hiring strategy, you’ll help to improve your performance against key recruitment metrics.
For example, given the current state of the economy, you want to reduce your cost to hire. Or, you may want to improve your quality of hire or time to hire.
Whatever it may be, it’s always good to have goals to work towards. Communicate these with the wider team and business to ensure everyone is on the same page.
But it’s not just about your hiring efforts during this time. No, you also need to think about your own personal development. Use this quieter period to complete online training courses, to read up on the latest trends in the market and build on your skillset.
In life, it’s important to keep learning and growing. The employment landscape is constantly changing, and you need to be able to adapt.
These learnings can help you become a better hiring professional, ultimately improving your own career prospects while helping the company to hire the right people.
It’s a very strange time, especially for hiring professionals. Some have been busy recruiting people for key roles during the pandemic, while others have been left in the lurch.
These are just a number of tasks you can do when you aren’t being hired. So, make sure you use this time wisely and to your advantage, as it could help massively in the long run.