The recruitment industry has been one of the hardest hit in the Covid-19 crisis. Huge numbers of recruiters have been furloughed or made redundant and hiring has pretty much ground to a halt in some industries.
So it’s understandable if your outlook is pretty negative right now, but there is some light at the end of this tunnel that we can look forward to when this is all over.
Here are four bits of positive recruitment news that we all need to hear right now…
1. History tells us we’re likely to bounce back quickly
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that we’re about to see a repeat of the 2008 recession, but it’s important to recognise just how vastly different the current situation is to what happened a decade ago.
For a start, this a pandemic, not a recession. The economic downturn we’re seeing right now is a result of the government’s policies for public safety, not because of any market instability or a turbulent stock market. The market was strong when the outbreak hit and the economy dipped virtually overnight. This hasn’t happened slowly over the course of months or years like we see in a typical recession so the situations aren’t easily comparable.
However, there are similarities between the current situation and what’s known as a ‘mini-recession’. Unlike a typical recession, which has a long, slow economic downturn, a mini-recession involves a very short economy drop; it dips fast, but most importantly – bounces back quickly!
And when the economy bounces back, so does the job market and by extension, the recruitment sector will too, and we’re expecting a recruitment boom at the end of the tunnel.
2. Recruiters will play a leading role in economic recovery
There’s no denying that recruiters get a bad rap sometimes, but in the coming weeks and months, we’re going to see this change. Recruiters are the backbone of the jobs market, so businesses and even the government will be looking to us for help in rebuilding the economy.
When the economy grows, recruitment booms and your expertise will be essential to help business recover and rebuild. This will be a really rewarding time to be a recruiter; helping candidates get back into work is one of the best parts of the job and you’ll be able to help highly-skilled candidates who were hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis get back into doing what they love – and they won’t forget that.
Plenty of business are already thinking ahead and looking for ways to boost employment figures as quickly as possible. A new ‘Keep Britain Working’ campaign is encouraging businesses to pledge their support to help companies keep staff and help people who’ve been made redundant find new jobs. The campaign is supported by some of the biggest names in UK business (including Firefish!) which have all pledged to help support employment in the UK.
3. Recruitment will be very interesting when this is over
When the lockdown ends, the recruitment landscape will be vastly different to how it was at the start of the year. There will be less competition and more candidates on the market than there’s been in years. As we switch to a job-lead market, you’ll probably find some of those gold-dust candidates who’ve been ignoring you calls suddenly wanting to talk to you!
The opportunities and challenges we face every day are changing, and it’ll be interesting to see how we’re able to adapt to these changes in the market.
It’s likely we’ll see big changes in the workplace too. Home working has been a huge success for a lot of businesses and proven to us all that flexible and remote working is completely doable in most industries. It’s likely that companies will implement more relaxed remote working policies after lockdown is over and this means it’ll become common practice to recruit and onboard new candidates completely virtually.
4. We’ll come out the other side of this stronger
One big silver lining in all of this is that you finally have some downtime to become the recruitment expert you’ve always wanted to be. With less jobs to fill and fewer calls to make, you can spend time on educating yourself, building your personal brand and focusing on your self-development. All the things you never had the time to get round to because recruitment is such a busy job.
There are loads of free online courses being offered in response to lockdown right now (Social Talent are even offering free training to recruiters who’ve been made redundant) and there are plenty of other ways you can upskill yourself right now.
Now is also the perfect time to work on your personal brand. Since lockdown, internet usage has gone up 50% – people are watching, so make sure you’re visible!
Get creative with the content you put out, get involved in relevant online conversations with leaders in your niche and offer your audience help with their challenges. Use this time to build your following and ensure you’ll be remembered when the market picks back up again.
Don’t be disheartened by how tough the market is right now. There are some positive signs that recruitment is beginning to recover already. Download the data report below to see the latest statistics on the impact of Covid-19 on the recruitment industry.
