A guide to managing recruitment during times of uncertainty

2020 brought many challenges to the workplace, and although it feels like we are nearing the end the uncertainty is likely to continue so it is vital that businesses continue to learn, adapt and overcome.

In such a confusing and difficult time candidates and employees want to feel comfortable and have trust in their employers.

We have seen various responses to the uncertainty throughout the year, from recruitment freezes to fully transitioned hiring and onboarding processes. In this guide we will investigate hiring trends, best practices and ultimately share how you can ensure your business thrives despite the challenges we all face.

Build a strong employer brand online

A positive employer reputation will help you attract and retain top quality talent. Candidates are easier to reach if they have heard of company, know one of your employees or are easily able to learn more about you through a quick search online.

Use your website, including a solid careers page, and social medias to build an employer brand that stands out.

Ensure you clearly convey:

• Company values – What everyone in the business genuinely strives for.
• Way of working – You will attract candidates that are a suitable fit by openly describing how your business gets things done.
• Employee testimonials – A great way to truly show prospective candidates the benefits of joining.
• Benefits – Not just the free healthcare and pension contributions, what do you offer that nowhere else does?

Embrace remote hiring and onboarding

The first step towards creating a successful virtual interview process, is getting the right tech. Especially now, there are a lot of options to choose from – you can read our thoughts on the best ones out there in this blog post.

Once you have the tech sorted, start to think about how you can tailor your standard interview process to better suit a virtual format. Simply reading through the same list of question for each interview will not motivate top candidates to join your organisation and won’t allow you to get the best out of them.

Interviews should never be about putting candidates on the spot and having them struggle to answer vague, excessive questions that ultimately don’t prove their ability to do the job they’re applying for. Even more so with remote interviews, giving your candidates as much information as possible prior to the meeting will allow them to shine and show you exactly what they are capable of.

“Organisations with a standardised onboarding process experience 62% greater new hire productivity, along with 50% greater new hire retention. Those that invest time and effort in their new employees reap the benefits.”

Don’t wait until your new hires start date to begin their onboarding journey with you, a simple introductory email or even a personalised video message from future teammates will have new employees feelings welcomed and ready to work hard.

Ensure that you are fully prepared for all new hires, there’s nothing worse than turning up on your first day with no idea where to go and what to do – even worse if you’re sat at home alone. Get all the necessary equipment sent out to new employees with plenty of time, in case there are any tech issues to deal with. Remember that IT support teams are busier than ever!

Make it personal

If your team is working remotely then this is especially important but it is just the same for employees who are coming to a workplace. Create a personalised welcome pack for new hires that includes useful information about the company, their new role and who to contact for support. This can either be in hard copy which some people might prefer, or online if you have the capability.

Here’s a simple checklist if you’re creating a welcome pack from scratch:

• An employee handbook
• HR forms, like:
  • Employment contract
  • Benefits
  • Emergency contacts
  • Confidentiality agreements
  • Company policies acknowledgement
  • Agendas for new hire’s first day and first week at work
• Office or Site map
• An employee directory, including each employee’s:
  • Phone number
  • Email
  • Username on company messaging app
• A guide to the local area, including nearby team favourite:
  • Cafes / Restaurants
  • Gyms
  • Pubs / Bars
• A personalised welcome letter from the hiring manager or CEO
• Brand merchandise, for example:
  • A mug
  • A water bottle
  • A T-shirt or hoodie
• A relevant welcome gift, like:
  • Headphones
  • Gift cards
  • Access to an online course

Within their first week a new hire is likely to feel nervous and eager to impress – help them get off to a good start by clearly outlining expectations, arrange relevant meetings and enable some quick wins to get the ball rolling.

Having worked continuously throughout the lockdown, Peopleforce have supported many employers and candidates through remote recruitment journeys. You can read more about our remote hiring/onboarding tips here.

Avoid being inundated with applications

A steep increase in unemployment due to the Coronavirus pandemic has seen job postings receiving thousands of applications, many of which are unsuitable.

A clear, detailed job advert is the first step to ensuring you connect with the right candidates and aren’t overwhelmed with unsuitable applicants. Start your post with a short but thorough summary of the position and who you’re looking for, followed by an outline of your business. Many active candidates won’t spend long reading through an ad before deciding to apply, so highlight essential experience as early as possible to deter inappropriate candidates. All to often this is left until the very end!

To encourage applications from top candidates be sure to include a summary of the benefits your company offer, whether it’s flexible working, monthly company drinks or generous holiday allowance – think about what makes your business different to others to attract the right people for you.

You will likely post you advert on your company website, and maybe on Linked In or Indeed – They are great platforms that reach a wide variety of candidates, but if you’re looking for a unicorn you will see more success from posting on more specialised job boards or groups.

Here are some sector specific job boards to get you started:

• Marketing
• HR
• Sales
• Tech
• Manufacturing
• Administration

It is also worth looking into local job boards or Facebook groups to develop a community talent pool and promote your business brand.

Leverage specialist agencies to save you time and gain access to exclusive talent pools

Having created the perfect job advert and posted it in all the right places, you are likely to receive a large number of applications, and depending on how may hires you’re looking to make, you might find that analysing and qualifying the large number of candidates takes up too much of your time. A trusted recruitment partner will manage the entire process from job posting to sifting through applications and selecting top candidates, all while promoting your business as an employer of choice among their candidate networks.

During times of uncertainty you want to be sure that you’re choosing the best candidates to join your team, expert recruitment agencies will provide you with market insights and spend time sourcing candidates who tick every box to ensure you don’t have to compromise.

Hire on a temporary basis to avoid risk

 During times of uncertainty it might seem like the best option is to freeze recruitment and wait it out. Of course, this avoids extra cost and eliminates some risk but as we have seen this year, the length of time uncertainty will last is unknown. To allow your business to continue to grow and meet requirements with very little risk, consider bringing in temporary workers.

Peopleforce work with a variety of business to provide temporary recruitment solutions for a range of positions.

Just some of the benefits of using agency temps are:

• Adjust more easily and quickly to workload fluctuations – Temporary agencies can quickly provide your business with qualified staff. Cover unexpected employee absences, sudden departures, or unexpected temporary demands.
• Evaluate workers whilst they’re on the job – Taking on a candidate on a temporary basis gives you ‘try before you buy’ period to see how they get on.
• Save time and money – The cost of hiring temp workers is often cheaper than the cost of hiring permanent employees with benefits and saves you huge amounts of time.

Case Study: The Impact of COVID-19 on a UK manufacturing business.

Organisation: Rayner Intraocular Lenses

Rayner Intraocular Lenses is the only manufacturer of IOLs in the UK, with its state-of-the-art manufacturing plant and Global Headquarters on the South Coast of England.

Agency: Peopleforce Recruitment

Peopleforce look after the entire recruitment process for manufacturing staff, including sourcing, assessment and workforce management. As Rayner are a fast-growing business, they often need high quality production technicians on short notice. Due to the nature of the role, it was time consuming and expensive for the HR team at Rayner to manage, so we worked with them to create a bespoke process to ensure we could recruit their ideal temps and manage a temporary workforce of up to 50.

March 2020 – A national lockdown is put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 and despite being a global medical device company, Rayner, like most businesses was affected. Due to a sudden decline in sales there was less demand in manufacturing. Rather than letting go permanent employees, Rayner were able to pause our temporary workers contracts at a moments notice.

October 2020 – The world is slowly starting to reach a new normal, and sales at Rayner increase but there is still a huge level of uncertainty. Rayner are ready to increase manufacturing slightly, so Peopleforce bring in more temporary workers.

The flexibility allowed Rayner to easily decrease and increase their temporary workforce, resulting in no redundancies due to COVID-19.

Focus on hiring internally where possible

A study from the University of Pennsylvania found that it takes around 2 years for external employees hired to perform at the level of employees promoted from within.

Other benefits of internal hiring are:

• Reduced time to hire – There’s no need to include a culture fit interview stage, and no long notice periods to contend with.
• Easier onboarding process – Of course your employee will need support to adjust into their new role, but the process will be significantly more extensive for an external hire.
• Strengthen employee engagement – Even those who don’t apply or aren’t successful will acknowledge and appreciate the ability to grow within the business.
• Cost savings – Research shows external hiring costs around 1.7 times more than internal hiring.

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone but businesses that continue to invest in growth and recruitment during times of uncertainty are those which will emerge stronger in the coming months and years. We hope that this guide has shown how you can adapt your mindset and business processes to get the best from recruitment during times of uncertainty.

If you would like to find out how Peopleforce Recruitment can help your organisation with any one of the areas that has been discussed, please contact Sara Knott at sara@peopleforcerecruitment.com.