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Shifts in talent acquisition due to the pandemic

Team Prosple

An article on the talent acquisition scenario during the Covid-era.

The pandemic has had a significant impact on how businesses operate. Despite the disruption, businesses are still recruiting and hiring talented individuals for critical positions.

Current developments have altered the norms of recruitment and hiring, forcing companies to adapt and adopt new methods in order to compete and win in the future battle for talent. Many of these changes have been driven by pandemic factors outside their control. The present situation is that despite the pandemic, businesses are still recruiting.

One of the most striking facts of the pandemic is how organisations were affected in multiple ways. Airlines and lodging companies, for example, saw the fundamental basis of their business models implode. Others, such as internet retailers and information technology platforms, saw massive, rapid growth that was far beyond their expectations.

Some businesses have been compelled to reorganise and reduce expenses, while others have expanded. This disparity has resulted in some major shifts in talent acquisition strategies.

Employers that have had to lay off or furlough workers may still need to recruit for current and new critical jobs. However, these companies are being very careful in their recruiting choices due to their concerns about the future. As a consequence, more levels of approval are required before offers are issued.

On the flip side of the talent equation, businesses are seeing substantial growth in demand for their products and services, resulting in a need for more talent. Because the demands are increasing so rapidly, many businesses are discovering that recruiting and hiring procedures that used to take months are now taking weeks.

Then there are the companies that are in the middle: there is just enough uncertainty that full-time employees are risky, but there are enough good signs and confidence to support some hiring. While they wait to see how pandemic situations progress, these companies are increasingly depending on contract employees to fill critical gaps.

The battle for top talent and the finest positions is still on.

It has become apparent that the current dynamic labour market has done little to alter some of the fundamental principles of the people management game. Top talent is, in fact, in great demand.

Top applicants on the open talent market will almost certainly have to filter through numerous job offers. Employers will be under pressure to rapidly identify suitable individuals and make proposals to them. Employers that wait too long risk missing out on the top prospects.

Because of the large number of individuals searching for employment right now, businesses are seeing record levels of response to job advertisements. Prior to the pandemic, it was common to get 100 resumes per job advertisement; today, many companies are receiving 300 or even 400 applications for the same job.

Both companies and the top prospects are frustrated by the rush of applications, many of whom are unqualified. For businesses, it's the frustration of having to sift through mounds of resumes; for applicants, it's the irritation of having to wait longer than usual for an acknowledgement of receipt, let alone a job offer.

Restructuring recruitment in the COVID-era 

Most businesses have had to adapt to executing critical business functions in a virtual environment by now. While video conferencing and cloud file sharing have proven difficult to implement, they aren't the only ways to test our ability to work remotely. Even if some countries have eased regulations to allow for face-to-face contacts, this has significantly affected talent acquisition since recruiting, hiring, and onboarding are now mainly conducted online.

Companies succeeding in this new virtual talent market may be divided into two groups: those with excellent recruiting and onboarding procedures before the pandemic and those obliged to adapt and improve their pre-pandemic processes rapidly.

Companies who previously depended on less-structured onboarding programmes, such as a walk around the office to meet important people, are discovering that developing the infrastructure and programming required to enable onboarding in a virtual environment is important.