5 things practices need to do when hiring during a pandemic

If you’re hiring or looking to hire amidst a pandemic, you will have to up your recruitment game.

That’s because the nature of jobs, candidate preferences, and recruitment metrics are changing dramatically. You may be looking for candidates with multiple skills so that you can repurpose efforts when the needs present themselves, you may no longer be able to hire people already in your recruitment pipeline due to geographical constraints. Recruitment metrics may change significantly, which will need to revisit your recruitment strategy.

Here are five things you will need to do to hire top talent despite the pandemic.

1 Set SMART Goals

SMART goals for HR professionals are critical to creating strategic hiring objectives that are:

S: Specific – goals that are clearly defined with the reasons to accomplish it

M: Measurable – goals that allow measuring success at timely intervals; goals that can be quantified

A: Achievable –goals that are realistic a nd can be accomplished taking into account current organizational status

R: Reasonable – goals that produce end results worth your time

T: Time-bound – goals that have fixed timelines

Before creating recruitment goals, develop a plan of how they can be achieved. Create reports on how long the goal will take to be achieved, how the success will be measured, how the timeline will be decided, etc. This will help you steer clear of recruitment mistakes.

2 Create Good Job Descriptions

To create good job descriptions, you will have to look at your recruitment goals and set requirements accordingly. You will have to communicate your expectations clearly so that the only people who apply to the role are actually fit for it. For example, if you would like to hire someone who is comfortable with working on a contractual basis for three months after joining, mention it in the job description. This way, unfit candidates will filter themselves out, and you will save the time of going through hundreds of irrelevant resumes.

Make sure that every line is to the point and there isn’t an overuse of fluff words such as organization, business, success, etc.

3 Create a New Candidate Pool

Due to the impact of pandemics, such as the need for social distancing during COVID19, you will have to remodel recruitment metrics. For example, if your company is only looking to hire locally, you will have to modify your geographic search accordingly.

As a recruitment expert, you can also come up with strategies for internal hiring or project-based hiring. See if you can repurpose your employees or make gig recruitments. The goal currently should be to save time and cost and maximize the safety of your people.

4 Learn Screening Tools

While telephonic interviews have been the first step of a recruitment process for a long time, many organizations are now using video interviews as final interviews. Soon enough, face-to-face interviews may not even exist. So, adapt to the change while also keeping the comfort of your candidates and employees at the center. Make sure your recruitment staff members assist candidates in using technology.

5 Adapt to Remote Onboarding

Because of the new work-from-home culture, remote onboarding has also increased in popularity.The employee will start working with you without a single office visit. This is where the challenge lies, and your team should be prepared for it.

See if your team is equipped with remote onboarding tools such as video conferencing software, screen sharing software, VR technology to give office tours, and screen recording tools. Your team should be able to make the new employee feel like a part of the team.

Kelly Barcelos is a marketing manager specializing in human resources. Send your practice finance questions to: medec@mjhlifesciences.com.