If ever there was a time to look at your processes, it’s now and preparing a recruitment strategy post Covid-19 is no exception.
It’s been a whole year since the first lockdown was announced and what a year it’s been. From shops closing, to home schooling to this furlough scheme that no-one had heard of Pre-Covid, it’s certainly felt as though we are in a real-life version of an apocalyptic thriller.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. With restrictions once again being lifted and the vaccine roll-out being a huge success, we can finally see the woods for the trees.
Now the real work starts. Many of us have had to make tough decisions over the last year. Redundancies and dramatic business changes have meant that any strategies we had in place were thrown out of the window long ago.
We are now entering a new way of working and that may just mean that our recruitment strategy will have to change to adapt to a new world.
So where do you start with preparing a recruitment strategy post Covid-19?
1 – Re-visit and re-evaluate all other strategies
It may be that your past recruitment strategies can still fit well with life after Covid but it’s probable that they will need some changes. Figure out what could still work, what could work but needs adapting and what needs to go.
2 – Consider flexible and/or remote working
We have all adjusted to a very different day to day life. We are more used to working from home with the chaos of a family around us. We’ve started to enjoy having time with the loved one’s we’ve been allowed to see and not everyone will want to go back.
Ask yourself if this is an option for your business. Have you been able to work effectively with your team working from home? Have they been as productive as they would have been in the office? It’s possible that they’ve been more productive so this could be a way forward for your when recruiting your next team member/s.
You could consider the idea of flexible working where the staff member is in the office part time and at home part time.
3 – Assess what’s been happening over the last few months and identify skills gaps
You may find that Covid-19 has opened up more doors for your organisation. Perhaps you’ve extended your service offering or changed the way you work completely. When looking at your recruitment strategy, make sure you look at the business as a whole and decide if there are any skills you should be looking for that you wouldn’t have in the past.
4 – Think mental health
More than ever, mental wellbeing should be a top priority for a recruitment strategy. We have all been through the mill over the last twelve months and it’s impacting us in different way.
Many people will have lost a lot of their confidence or feel extremely nervous at the prospect of starting a new job so make sure you have processes in place to allow for that.
5 – Have CVs had their day?
One of the biggest things that has come out of Covid-19 is the way we have embraced technology. For many people, it’s been a lifeline and even the most technically challenged have found new ways to communicate.
We have seen our personalities unfold online and this may be an opportunity for a little more innovative thinking.
A CV has never really shown us much about the candidate other than their skills and experience so maybe now is a good time to shake things up and recruit differently.
6 – Think about the future now
It may be that you’re not considering recruiting at the moment so putting together a new recruitment strategy will seem pointless. It’s not. If we have learned anything from this pandemic, it’s to expect the unexpected and now is a great time to put those changes in place.
If you leave it until later, you will have forgotten the key lessons. Do it while you still have a little more time on your hands and it’s fresh in your mind. Not that we will forget Covid-19 in a hurry!
You know where we are if you need us.