There is no denying that Covid-19 has had a huge impact on recruitment agencies across the globe. The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom took a turn for the worst, and quickly too, in the March of 2020 when the world went into the first lockdown of its magnitude. While things have been a little better for recruitment in healthcare, logistics and Information Technology, the overall picture still looks far from peppy.
This year, many companies have started hiring again, inspiring hope for candidates and recruitment agencies alike. As we finish Q3 of 2021, let’s take a look at the key takeaways from the past year that will help recruitment agencies to surf over these troubled times and survive the Covid-19.
The Healthcare Priority: Recruitment in healthcare has continued steadily during the last 15 months and is expected to continue the upward trot. Nursing jobs agencies have played a huge role in supporting the government and private hospitals in their battle against the coronavirus. As more healthcare centres, vaccination centres and testing centres open up, there is going to be an increased demand for healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical professionals, Lab technicians and other allied healthcare and life science professionals. Hence, it is safe to say that healthcare recruitment agencies will continue to be the most sought after among others in the coming years as well. Along with healthcare recruitment, recruitment in logistics and Infomation Technology has also shown great resilience in these rough waters.
Process Improvements: When the first lockdowns began, a large number of companies began freezing roles and disbanding their recruitment teams overnight, thereby rendering a huge segment of the population unemployed. But as hiring picks up pace again, recruiters and employers are faced with a steady influx of applications from unskilled and irrelevant candidates who are desperate for a job – even outside of their expertise or experience levels. Identifying the right candidates for their handful of jobs from this haystack can be quite a challenging task and a little bit disheartening as well. Recruitment agencies must brace themselves for some serious screening process improvements that effectively weed out unsuitable profiles without wasting precious resource hours. Automation of the screening process will not only save time but also help agencies cut costs in the long term.
Adaptability is Key: All said and done, recruitment agencies have a key role to play in the post-Covid world where candidates are looking at employers and recruiters for additional support in adjusting to new work environments and team dynamics. Once recruitment agencies successfully mobilise the workforce again, they will have to normalize new recruitment processes such as video interviews and virtual onboarding. Employers may also need to offer virtual training sessions where required so that employees feel more confident about accepting job roles that are new to them. According to recent studies, flexibility to choose ‘Working from Home or Office’ is key to attracting and retaining talent in the new world. Hence recruitment agencies must ensure that their clients are informed and up-to-date on their HR and work policies, to build a productive workforce.
