Future-Proof your Recruiting Business During COVID-19

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak spread across the UK, a number of businesses felt the severe effects on their workforce. Now restrictions come to an end, some will still operate with reduced on-site staffing numbers to support social distancing and other safeguarding measures.

Physical premises may now be open, but with the virus still circulating, inevitable measures will result in further job losses and increased operational spending for the foreseeable future. It is up to employers to ensure vital safety measures are in place to protect the health and safety workforce and reassure them enough to return to work now the lockdown measures lift.

The employment sector has been one of the most hard-hit during the crisis with a high percentage of the workforce furloughed. Although certain sectors, such as health and social care, logistics and the food supply chain, have increased demand for roles, a general overview demonstrates that overall demand for both permanent and temporary staff has fallen dramatically. As an industry, it’s been pretty quiet out there and many recruiters have been exploring ways to ensure that they have a business to come back to.

With industry expectations predicting a surge in the jobs market, every recruiter needs to be ready to be busy. You can help to future-proof your business by ensuring you can handle the new challenges you’ll face.

What you can do right now?

The COVID-19 crisis has taught us the value of connections and these are lessons learned that can help us create a new normal for our own businesses. The unique and personal approach is changing the face of business marketing and recruiters have had an increased opportunity to connect with candidates and clients on a personal level during the lockdown. Business relationships have been made and broken during recent times and success or failure won’t necessarily be down to the work you do professionally anymore, it could be down to support.

Stay connected

Although lockdown has lifted, the virus is still ‘at large’ and it is vital that current connections are maintained, and visibility strengthened in readiness for new ones. Make the most of social media and optimise all your profiles and platforms.

You could offer additional support for your current candidates and reassurance of your continuing presence on their recruitment journey. Stress levels may be higher if the journey has recently stalled for them and regular tips or advice could prove useful for both you and your candidates to get the ball rolling again – think about:

• CV optimisation
• Interview techniques
• What to wear for interviews
• Job application tips
• Video conferencing advice
• Role assessments
• And more.

Consider holding a webinar or create a series of short videos for maintaining regular email contact. Video can be more engaging, delivering a personal approach that helps to cement a connection.

Adapt and react to the current situation

Specialist recruiters in the most heavily affected sectors have been diversifying for the short-term. Delve into your current candidate lists to identify the skills and determine eligibility for new roles in the sectors experiencing highest demand. As recruitment consultants you could become busy in responding sectors, interim or temporary markets and support your business continuity as a result.

We’ve written more about staying connected and continuing to recruit during the crisis. Get our five top tips for how to keep recruiting during COVID-19 in our previous blog post here.

How recruiters can plan for the job market surge?

There has never been a more critical time for recruiters to plan for the inevitable onslaught of posts and candidates now the world begins to come out of lockdown and finds a new kind of working normal.

Recruiters are working hard with existing clients, reassessing roles and confirming previously available posts. They’re doing what they do best and getting back into the swing of the recruitment process. With restrictions still in place in many industries and practices like social distancing more important, new ways of working are being explored. Familiarise yourself with your clients’ protective measures so that you can ensure your candidates are fully informed.

Create a workable action plan

If you want to hit the ground running now you’re returning to recruiting, make sure there is a clear plan of action in place. This could include:

• Physical working practices and distancing
• How you’re protecting staff and visitors to your physical premises
• Arranging video interviews
• Automating routine processes
• Enhancing communications

You can communicate this plan to both clients and candidates to reassure them that your office is a safe place for them to visit. Update social media and local search (GMB) to reflect your plan.

Assess and streamline your recruitment processes

Now could be a good time to assess your current (pre-coronavirus) recruitment processes and strategies and look to streamline and simplify them so that your agents or HR teams don’t get buried under a sea of work.

Many recruiters are looking to technology to help them through the already admin-heavy side of the business. Automating typically time-consuming routine tasks using recruitment software can significantly increase productivity and efficiency:

• C.V. profiling
• Applicant tracking
• Automated CRM
• Enhanced search
• Configurable database
• Compliance

Recruitment software can pave the way for a new normal in the recruitment sector, supporting social distancing and centralising data and information for secure, compliant access for any authorised user.

How Vacancy Lab can help you return safely to work?

Vacancy Lab recruitment software is a powerful, yet user-friendly platform designed to centralise and simplify recruitment processes via automation and integration. Secure, reliable and easy to configure, Vacancy Lab is a ready-to-go solution with a robust, GDPR-compliant database.

Vacancy Lab is always at the end of the phone. There is no change to our customer service. We’re accelerating our lead times for implementation to avoid unnecessary business downtime and support you and your workforce in your social distancing efforts. If you’re thinking of future-proofing your business, give us a call and let us talk you through the options.