19 May Strategies for Hiring After COVID-19
The global pandemic has forced us all to reconsider many things, from how we shop for groceries to honoring life’s major milestones. And while the effects of these changes will be felt for years to come, there will be a “post COVID-19”.
What it will actually look like is the subject of much debate, but one thing is certain, it will be DIFFERENT – for our personal and professional lives. How we conduct business will change, how we manage people will change and how we recruit and hire new talent will change. It’s this last one that got us thinking about how we can help. Here are a few strategies we have seen successfully implemented.
Dig deep to identify your recruiting needs.
You have an opportunity here to make some potentially tough, but necessary decisions. Ask yourself:
• Will the structure and composition of your team be successful in your new work environment?
• Does your current structure serve your future needs?
• This crisis has motivated many to reevaluate their lives, their careers, their relationships. How are your leaders faring? Are they feeling challenged, motivated and invigorated? Or are they distracted and disconnected?
• How did your leadership team perform during the crisis? What new strengths or weaknesses did you observe? How does this impact their current station in the organization?
Depending on how you answer, you could find yourself with a host of redeployment opportunities or
recruiting needs that go beyond just your current list of vacant roles. Don’t do yourself (and your
organization) a huge disservice by just scratching the surface in this area.
Build your recruiting pipeline, it’s more important than ever.
Recruiting in successful businesses is often more than “something we do when we have to”, it’s a constant way of life. With so many moving parts (depending on how you answered the above questions), building a talented, multi-faceted candidate pipeline will be key here. This is the perfect time to invest in your recruiting strategies and processes. Look to ways to differentiate or even reposition yourself in the market. Give candidates the chance to familiarize themselves with your mission and your brand. What do you stand for? What tenets do you hold dear? Let them know!
As your pipeline gains momentum, use your new (or at least improved) video conferencing skills to really get to know more candidates. In the early stages of your process this is an inexpensive and
relatively risk-free way to make a potentially deeper connection to a candidate. Then when you’re able to make the swift, but smooth, transition to focused hiring conversations or in person nterviews, you’ll have a more extensive and educated candidate base.
Make room for contract or project-based employees.
If hiring and onboarding permanent, full-time employees still feels like a distant dream, or there’s a heightened uncertainty, consider bringing on contract or short-term employees in the meantime. This way you will get to know their work and see what makes them tick, if you want them for the long term, or just avoided a potential hiring mistake. For the candidate, they’ll have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of your goals and expectations and even more importantly, perhaps you’ve taken fabulous talent off the market and put them to work for YOU.
Hire candidates through flexibility.
Look for ways to reinvent your work environment and therefore your workforce. Candidates want flexibility, not only in the work itself, but also in their choices of work schedules and work location. This flexibility encourages a more diversified work force including stay at home parents and those who might have been eliminated due to geographical barriers. Look to candidates who can work in flexible roles from home. It can save money and provide opportunities to hire game changers that would otherwise not be available.
As you consider any of these strategies, look to build a truly agile (in every sense) mentality to recruiting and hiring. This will prove to be the stimulus behind your success when this is all said and done. The landscape has changed and so must our strategies – for just about everything.
The CFO Suite is a boutique consultative staffing and executive search firm specialized in management and executive level accounting and finance talent. We boost the capabilities and capacity of your accounting and finance department, offering a unique ability to provide an integrated and comprehensive suite of services.
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