We've been here before. Some economic indicators and business realities require businesses to slow or freeze their hiring. Corporate leaders typically react to these changes by laying off their recruiters. If my LinkedIn feed is any indication, this has started happening.
I know that shareholders and investors look for leaders to find cost savings during these times. Let me encourage you to look outside of your recruiting team for those savings.
Your brand matters.
Over the past 2 years, we have learned that candidates are more selective about where and whom they work with. Culture and values matter. The first interaction most candidates have with your brand is through a recruiter. If you reduce or eliminate your recruiters now, when your hiring pace increases (and it will), you will either have overworked or new recruiters who aren't yet able to represent your brand authentically. Candidates will be attracted to those companies who are able to make a connection with them early. A good career site and advertising only go so far. You need the human touch.
Use this quiet time to optimize.
Every company I talk to has processes and systems to improve. Use the time when recruiters aren't overwhelmed to deconstruct your process, eliminate the bottlenecks, and update your system configurations. It is much easier to change processes and tools when your volume is lower. Now is the perfect time to increase efficiency. Recruiters are amazing at figuring out how to work around a process or system when it doesn't work for them. Capture those shortcuts and operationalize them for everyone. Ask your hiring managers what changes they would like to see and put them in place now. Map your candidate journey and find areas for better engagement. Assign a group of recruiters to find solutions to your process and system challenges. Implement and test them now so that when the chaos returns you are more efficient and effective.
Build your content library.
Authentic content is key to attracting talent. Finding time to build content is impossible when you are overwhelmed with hiring. Do it now. Tap your recruiters to build candidate personas, identify messages that matter, and create content that will attract top candidates. Recruiting has so much in common with marketing and sales. Use the skills of your recruiters to build and execute a robust content strategy. Get all of your content and assets in place now. Build and test your engagement strategies now so you can implement them at scale when your hiring needs escalate.
Most business leaders tell me that attracting and hiring the best-fit talent is key to reaching business goals. Yet, those same leaders cut their recruiting team as soon as hiring slows. Instead of depleting your recruiting team today and rebuilding it in 6 months, invest in improvements now so you will stand out to candidates when it matters most.