We’re nearing the end of 2014, and while some teams may be ramping up their hiring with newfound allowance to spend, others are doing just the opposite.
Hiring freezes happen after a piece of the budget pie’s been cut smaller than expected, or when managers realize they don’t need to hire for certain roles now, but perhaps at the start of the new year.
No matter the reason, putting a hold on your hiring doesn’t mean your talent acquisition strategy needs to be a halt, too. Build out your pipeline in the meantime and focus on these three areas to hit the ground running as soon as you get the go.
Do an audit of your social profiles and careers pages.
Heading into the holiday season, it’s likely traffic to your site is going to drop. Candidates are prepping for or already on vacation, focused on meeting their Q4 goals (if you’re recruiting passive talent), and in general, are less likely to be spending time poking around the net looking for a new job. Use the ample downtime to check through photos, videos, status updates, and other content on the company’s social profiles and careers pages.
Is all the info on the company up to date? Are there status updates with links to open opportunities that no longer exist? Do all the links direct or redirect to the correct sites? Are there any pictures or videos on the site that aren’t appropriate or are no longer relevant to the company’s brand or mission?
Source through your company’s network.
Nobody knows what the company is looking for in a candidate better than those who are already in the role or in the same department. Ask employees if they can connect you with someone in their network who’d be a good fit for the position. Instead of reaching out to the potential candidate yourself, which could end up being a poorly-timed, easily forgotten email, have your mutual connection/colleague send a quick note or mention the role the next time they meet. These candidates are more likely to remember a comment or message from someone they know than from a stranger. That way, when you restart messaging candidates after the holiday season, candidates will recall the brief mention from your coworker and there’s a higher chance they’ll send a reply.
Consider hiring contractors instead of full-time employees.
If your company is in a hiring crunch and needs additional team members to make ends meet, assess the value of onboarding a new hire on a possible contractor-to-employee status. Granted that hiring managers know when they’ll have the budget to bring on another full-time employee, you’ll already have talent in the door, trained in the role, and ready to onboard. If you’re unsure about the company’s budget timeline, like at a smaller company or a startup, working with contractors on a per-assignment basis may be more suitable and could save the cost of paying an hourly wage.
What are some tactics your company uses to deal with a hiring freeze? Share them with us in the comments or tweet us @Entelo
