Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the recruitment industry, so we can’t expect things to go back to the way they were once this is all over.
We’ve already seen some pretty major changes to how our industry operates, and while some of these will be short term until the economy recovers, there are some ways that Covid-19 has changed our industry forever.
Here are five predictions about the future of the recruitment industry after Covid-19…
1. It’ll be a sales-driven recruitment market
You’ve probably noticed that the market has already flipped from being candidate-driven to sales-driven. And as most industries are unfortunately still making redundancies, we’re likely to see this sales-driven market continue after Covid-19.
Recruiting in a sales-driven recruitment market means you can expect to get a lot of applications to every job you advertise, so one area you’ll need to become efficient in is screening out unsuitable candidates.
Unfortunately, having a lot more active candidates on your books doesn’t mean it’ll be much easier to fill jobs either. With more candidates on the market, clients are likely to become even more picky about your shortlists, so finding purple squirrel candidates will still be important.
2. Recruitment niches will get even more niche
Recruiting in a particular niche has become more necessary over the last few years; but now that the market has contracted, clients will expect your niche to be an inch wide and a mile deep.
When there are more candidates on the market, you have to specialise in a niche that your clients are still struggling to find the best talent in. Otherwise, you’ll just be offering them candidates that they can easily find themselves (and why would they pay a fee for that?)
The good news is your experience recruiting in a candidate-short market will have taught you everything you need to know about attracting hard-to-find candidates in your niche.
To win business in an ultra-specialised niche, you’ll need to be a true consultant to your clients. They’ll be coming to you for expert advice and will expect you to have a detailed understanding of your market. If the ‘you got any jobs?’ approach was failing before Covid-19 – it’s likely to die not too long afterwards.
3. Temp and contract recruitment will grow
During times of economic uncertainty, temp and contract recruitment tends to stay fairly active as companies feel more comfortable employing non-permanent staff when they’re unsure about the future of the market.
The unfortunate reality of this pandemic is that nothing is certain about the economy until a vaccine is discovered. So even as lockdown ends, no one knows if there could be a second wave of the virus that’ll send us all back into quarantine, and this is a huge blocker on company hiring strategies.
Until then, you can expect to see higher rates of temp and contract recruitment in most industries. Recruitment agencies are uniquely placed to offer temp and contract services to clients, and this will help make them indispensable until the market stabilises.
4. The workplace will be more flexible
Lockdown has been a nationwide experiment that has helped business owners round the world answer the question: Does working from home really work for my business?
It looks like a lot of business owners have recognised the benefits of a workforce that’s remote or has WFH options - and some countries are even proposing laws that mean employers have to let employees work from home.
Recruitment has never been a 9-5 job, so having the option to work from home a couple of days a week be a really positive option in an industry with such high burnout rates.
This could change how we sell jobs to our candidates too as having the option to work from home is likely to be a must-have benefit that candidates will look for in a new role moving forward too.
5. Recruitment will move online
74% of businesses claim they’ll be keeping a remote working policy in place permanently – so what does this mean for our recruitment and sales processes?
Recruitment is one of the few industries that still relies heavily on a face-to-face sales strategy, but this is something that lockdown has changed, and likely for good.
Now that many of your clients and candidates will be working from home indefinitely, you need to adapt both your recruitment process and your BD strategy to ensure you’re still able to offer the best service possible in this new environment.
Download the eBook below for a step-by-step guide to moving your entire recruitment sales process online and making it pandemic-proof.
