The changing landscape of today’s economy has begun to set in for workers across the globe in very real ways. For some in industries like e-commerce, manufacturing, food retail, telemedicine, telecom, and healthcare, this has meant longer hours and increased hiring. But for workers in sectors like the service industry, who can not continue to collect an income while remaining at home, the reality is layoffs, furloughs, and unemployment.
Simply put, the current pandemic has caused a rapid shift in the supply and demand of the talent market. Where there is a growing demand for more workers in a number of digital services and food retail industries, there is a growing supply of job seekers entering the job market from severely impacted industries. If you are a recruiter ramping up hiring, here’s why you should consider tapping into this growing talent pool – and how to adapt your recruiting strategy to do so.
Transferable Skills Abound
Day in and day out, service workers hone a skill set that is not easily taught but is entirely essential in almost any role: soft skills. These include skills like problem-solving, collaboration, adaptability, effective communication, creativity, and work ethic.
In fact, according to a recent Linkedin Global Report, 92% of talent acquisition professionals believe that soft skills are just as important as hard skills when it comes to hiring and 89% report that bad hires are usually lacking in soft skills.
Immediate Hires
Thanks to the record low unemployment that has shaped recruiting over the last few years, passive candidates have been one of the most important sources of hire for top talent. While it’s too soon to say how the current pandemic will redefine the talent market over time, in the short term it has afforded recruiters the opportunity to source highly-qualified candidates who are ready to start a new job immediately – and are eager and enthused to do so.
Due to today’s circumstances, some of the workforce’s very best talent has found themselves jobless. These candidates don’t need to give two weeks to their employer or take their time to balance the pros and cons of their current position versus a new opportunity. They are eager to get back to work and back to normalcy - whatever that might look like in today’s economy.
Adapting Your Sourcing Strategy
So how do you tap into this growing pool of available talent? One strategy is to set up Google Alerts to inform you daily of layoffs and furloughs. This can give you a starting point of companies to source from. Here’s how to set up a Google Alert. You can also reference this live tracker of layoffs to stay up to speed on new companies issuing layoffs.
Additionally, there are tons of online communities popping up across the internet aimed at connecting recruiters to workers displaced by the pandemic. As a provider in the Talent Acquisition space, we’ve created a community specifically for recruiters searching for candidates within the TA space. Other online communities to source from include: Facebook groups such as Free Resume Review – which aside from offering free interview guidance for displaced workers, connects hiring employers to job seekers – and the Sourcecon and ERE Facebook groups in which members are posting daily about hiring companies, layoffs, and job leads.
Finally, a number of companies are coming up with products and services to help support hiring companies - proving that innovation abounds in a time of crisis. One such organization is the referral company Draft which is offering hiring companies free access to their Layoff Network – a growing database of laid-off workers who come highly recommended from their former employers.
Undoubtedly, COVID-19 will mark a dramatic shift in the talent market. In order to position your organization for long-term success, it’s critical to remain flexible and adaptable to the changing landscape of recruiting. Fortunately, one of the best ways to do so also helps displaced workers get back on their feet. If you yourself have been displaced by the pandemic, check out our resource guide for job-seeking recruiters.