How To Recruit Job Candidates During COVID-19
Publié le 30 April 2021
As companies and organizations look ahead to economic recovery, they are asking themselves how to recruit job candidates during COVID-19 who now have very different personal and professional priorities.
The deadly COVID-19 pandemic has been wreaking havoc in Canada and around the world for over a year. While the vaccine rollout is currently underway, it is clear that there will still be challenging periods ahead before a return to some new version of normal. For job seekers, professionals and employers, the constant changes to the Canadian economy and job market have proven to be a real challenge.
There is some hope however, as the Canadian unemployment rate fell to 8.2%, which is the lowest rate since the beginning of the pandemic. This does not mean that this rate will not increase again, as further distancing measures will still be necessary to protect the public health as much as possible while the vaccine rollout continues.
There have been multiple waves of layoffs, temporary layoffs, and career or job changes for many workers over the past 14 months. 2020 and 2021 have been difficult years, full of questions and few answers. Nevertheless, with the increasing rate of COVID-19 vaccination employers and company leaders are starting to look ahead to a period of full reopening and the hiring challenges that it may bring.
There are a number of factors that employers should consider when they look to resume hiring and recruit job candidates during COVID-19 who have much different priorities than they did pre-pandemic.
How To Recruit Job Candidates During COVID-19 — Important Factors:
- Safety and security
- Social benefits
- Flexible hours
- Hybrid work arrangements
- The right equipment
- Employee testimonials
Safety and Security
After living through a global pandemic for more than a year, people are understandably very concerned about their own health and well-being and that of their families and those around them. A poll conducted by Statistics Canada found that 54% of people are afraid of catching COVID-19 in their workplace should there be a return to in-person work. The same poll found that a third of professionals worry about possible exposure on public transportation while on their way to and from work. Businesses and companies need to ensure that employees know that they are doing everything they possibly can to create a safe work environment. When looking to recruit job candidates during COVID-19, this includes following and enforcing all current guidelines from health officials, and displaying a willingness to put employee safety ahead of anything else.
When hiring new employees, there is a high degree of likelihood that they will ask about a company’s response to the pandemic. More and more young people entering the job market want to work for organizations who have a strong reputation for positive social impact. Businesses that can demonstrate that they actually do care about the well-being of their employees have an increased chance to attract highly qualified job candidates, and it is simply the right thing to do.
Social Benefits
Remember the last happy hour at the restaurant across the street from the house? It feels like a lifetime ago, but there was a time when work and colleagues were a major source of social interaction. While it is not time to start planning the next office party, companies who have made an effort to prioritize maintaining social connections between employees should promote this to job candidates.
Feelings of isolation and loneliness have increased among professionals after more than a year of remote work. Even though people may be working on their own, it’s still important to create a company culture based on support and collaboration. Strengthening the bonds between colleagues, even when they only work together virtually, will only benefit a workplace. Arrange virtual hangouts, fun activities and even just checking in with various teammates can help to maintain the social benefits of the workplace. Seeing this will help job candidates know that they will not be completely alone when joining an organization that is still working remotely.
Flexible Hours
The pandemic has called a lot of the norms of the traditional office into question, especially having a rigid and set work schedule. A pre-pandemic survey from 2018 found that 80% of people would have already chosen a job with flexible hours over one without, and that almost a third of applicants would prefer flexible hours to a pay increase. After working from home for over a year, many professionals have come to find that a flexible work schedule better suits their needs.
The past year has been hard on everyone in all types of work. Even for people who were able to work from home, this meant that they had to simultaneously manage their professional obligations and responsibilities to their families. Parents often had to take time to help their children troubleshoot tech issues with virtual schooling before updating the company spreadsheet. All of these overlapping responsibilities can have a negative effect on well-being, and can lead to employee burnout. Flexible hours helped people balance their lives as much as possible, and it was still very difficult, so it is unlikely that they will be willing to give up this freedom. When wondering how to recruit job candidates during COVID-19, organizations would be wise to make flexible hours a permanent part of their working process, and use this benefit to appeal to job applicants who value more control over their professional and personal lives.
Hybrid Work Arrangements
After so many months away from the office, many employees question the need to return to the office at all. Remote work offers many benefits to both employees and employers. For instance, employees enjoy great flexibility, while employers have drastically reduced overhead costs if they don’t have to pay for a physical workspace. There is every possibility that qualified employees will not want to return to a schedule of long commutes and cramped workspaces when they have proven that they can do their jobs remotely from the comfort of their home. This desire for increased freedom must be taken into consideration when asking how to recruit job candidates during COVID-19.
A middle-ground is hybrid working arrangements, which are a mixture of in-person and remote work. One increasingly popular option is the use of coworking spaces. These are workspaces that are rented for specific periods of time, even a single day, and can be shared among multiple companies. This would give a company the ability to gather all employees together for important training and meetings, not to mention opportunities for team building experiences, while workers still get the benefits of remote work a majority of the time.
The Right Equipment
If companies choose to offer hybrid working arrangements or fully transition to remote working, they need to ensure that every employee has the right equipment to do their job. At the start of the pandemic, the switch to work-from-home was very abrupt and technical issues were common as people adapted to new ways of working virtually.
Now, companies should now be prepared to invest the time and money to create a system of virtual work that is simple and effective, and provide their employees with the right tools. They can include physical tools such as laptops, wifi extenders or even workstations, and access to work-sharing software and virtual communication tools. Another option is to provide employees with a bonus or stipend to cover these additional costs.
Value Employee Satisfaction
One of the most effective ways to recruit job candidates during COVID-19 is ensure that your existing employees remain happy and satisfied. A company’s reputation can travel quickly, especially within the same industry. It is not uncommon for prospective job candidates to know a lot about the working environment of a company before they sit down for their interview. That is why it is so important to create a supportive company culture where employees are valued and respected, and are rewarded for their hard work.
The pandemic has laid bare a great deal of the challenges faced by professionals in all industries, and they want to be treated as individuals with valued concerns and opinions. Treating existing employees with respect, ensuring their satisfaction and earning their commitment is the right thing to do, and will help spread word to prospective job candidates that an organization is a good place to work and build their career.
For businesses and organizations looking ahead to the post-pandemic recovering period, the question of how to recruit job candidates during COVID-19 is an important one to answer. The key could be adapting to the changing needs of professionals and recognizing that the old ways may not provide them with the support they need and the satisfaction they deserve for fulfilling their job role as society slowly recovers from a terrible health crisis.
