The COVID-19 pandemic hit economies hard in 2020. Complete lockdown in various countries adversely impacted sectors like retail, hospitality, aviation, real estate and automobile. The road to recovery has been difficult and long for those that barely managed to survive. However, job cuts and furloughs have led to a sudden increase in the available workforce, setting the stage for a thriving recruitment market in 2021 and beyond.
Recruiting as we know it is more than just hiring people; it’s helping employees find a career trajectory that supports skills development, stimulates intellectual curiosity, and promotes a holistic understanding of the principles of diversity, inclusion and empathy. Here are some tips to recruit smarter in 2021.
- Hire for attitude
Resumes don’t always reveal personality traits. It takes just one bad hire to destroy a company’s work culture and reputation. It’s better to hire for attitude over skills because skills can be taught while attitude is more inherent to an individual.
- Focus on retention
The world of recruiting is often a race against the clock to fill open positions in a fast-moving environment. As a result, HRs and hiring managers look for candidates who can start immediately. A smart talent acquisition strategy, on the other hand, should follow a retention-centric approach. Focusing on retention means being transparent about the organization’s culture and expectations from the outset.
A retention-centric approach should also factor in a candidate’s self-organization and time management skills, especially in today’s location independent work setting.
- ‘Sell’ the candidate
Recruiters work really hard to qualify each candidate and send them for an interview. The world of a recruiter can come crashing down when the client comes back and says their candidate isn’t a good fit.
What goes wrong in the process? The answer is simple: not being able to ‘sell’ the candidate
To successfully sell a candidate to a client, it’s important to identify the right skills and experience that the client is looking for. A recruiter must understand the client’s pain points, expectations and overall business objectives to clearly map their journey and present the right candidate. Instead of communicating every single skill that the candidate possesses to the client, highlight the ones that are necessary for the role in question.
- Location Independent sourcing
Having an effective hiring strategy means discarding outdated interview processes and ditching the traditional recruitment mindset. Gone are the days when companies used the ‘post and pay’ method to attract new talent. In this day and age, job-seeking candidates are available 24x7 and location independent sourcing is the way forward for the talent acquisition industry. Location Independent sourcing means getting creative to find the talent where they hang out. For instance, not all tech talent hangs out on LinkedIn. Some may not be using LinkedIn at all. Recruiters need to use all social media channels to attract the best talent for niche roles and functional areas.
- Tap into untapped talent pools
There are huge pools of diverse talent out there that are ready to join the workforce and make meaningful contributions to revive the post-COVID economy. Individuals with autism, neurodiversities and disabilities, service-disabled veterans, women pursuing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) careers and members of the LGBTQ+ community can bring innovation, creativity and inspiration to strengthen D&I and promote workforce sustainability.
