Future of hiring in the post-COVID era

Collective experience of the current lockdown situation can be aptly reimagined and summarised in the famous words of Socrates

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

The world of work, is being reshaped by the unprecedented COVID-19 situation. It has compelled organisations to rethink how we build and optimise our talent force. As many parts of the world gradually emerge from the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities have either emerged or accelerated for employers.

Every crisis is an opportunity; organisations are at a threshold where they can carve a path meshing – individual goals, team objectives and the organisation’s mission. The pandemic will have a lasting impact on the future of work in several ways. Hence, it is imperative for organisations to evaluate the impact of the evolving trends and link it to its strategic goals and prioritise their actions.

1. Understand the dichotomy of the current labour market

It is important for career aspirants and employers to stay abreast of the changing nature and labour market developments to relate how it is going to affect recruiting efforts in the post COVID-19 world.

2. Anticipating the short and long view of hiring

The key to hiring is to analyse and anticipate your short and long-term needs, organisations that are struggling today, should remember that this crisis will eventually end and they should have a hiring strategy in place when businesses reopens and normalcy returns. 

3. A good time to ramp-up your recruitment tech stack

Recruitment technology has never been more essential than it is today. There are many solutions that can ease the process of hiring. Here are some of the tools to consider-

• Sourcing tools
• Applicant tracking system
• Pre-employment assessment tools
• Document collection and storage
• Virtual interviewing solutions
• Background verification tools
• Onboarding tool

4. Develop an ideal candidate profile

Ask yourself, what kind of candidates are you looking for to start with? Determine who an ideal candidate is for you before you start seeking applications. Once you fully understand what candidate quality means for the role you’re looking at, you should make it a point to analyse your recruitment channels and see where your best candidates are coming from.

5. Review your existing talent in a new light

Remember to carefully evaluate your existing talent, keep them engaged weigh their skills and competence in view of the revised outlook for your organisation and industry post pandemic recovery. Support them to transition from potential to performers with targeted development plans with the right assignments, which often arise from a crisis.

6. Maintain a strong employer brand

To create a strong employer brand and a sense a belonging for candidates, employers need to go beyond just treating their workers fairly and respectfully. How companies treat their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic will likely define a yardstick for employee loyalty, internal work culture and employee experience post lockdown.

7. Build a pipeline of quality candidates

Build a talent pool, nurture and keep them engaged via relevant communication. Once you’re ramping up hiring again, make sure your talent pool is robust enough, so that is the first place to look for candidates. As businesses recover and look to hire back the talent that’s been lost, there will be a race to hire and bring in the best talent.

There are going to be plenty of job opportunities in the market post COVID-19 era, companies will put the right policies in place to ensure that both employees and employers make the most. Employees will be required to focus on both domain skills and foundational skills. These skills will be considered very important and will determine the growth of an employee and the organisation.

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Manu Saigal

Manu Saigal, Director, General Staffing, Adecco Group, India heads the Contract Staffing & Permanent Hiring Business and is responsible for driving growth and coordinating operations in the region. She comes with over 20 years of rich experience and her background includes P&L management, go-to-market strategy, and sales leadership - growing and managing large scale businesses. Her passions are creating and maintaining client relationships, as well as developing and executing growth strategies and team management. In the last 5 years, Manu has donned multiple roles within The Adecco Group, India; driving the Professional Staffing, Managed Services, Permanent Placement, Pharmaceutical, and Life-Sciences business lines.

Prior to this role, she has served with Wipro and Birlasoft, and was responsible for managing mission-critical IT infrastructure for clients. In her capacity, she has had experience in framing and executing new initiatives and people management to deliver business value, drive productivity and digital improvements for customers. Post this, Manu moved to lead the Staffing and Talent Optimization team for a Business Unit, responsible for resource fulfillment, allocation & management.

Manu holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Mysore University and a MBA degree from Dyalbagh University, Agra.