From An HR Advisor: How To Prepare for the Great Re-Hiring
If you’ve just had layoffs, it sounds weird to say you need to start preparing now for hiring in the future. Whether layoffs cut you deeply or you’re on the edge of a pivot that will grow your market share, it’s time to think about the people who will drive you forward.
Economists are predicting a “U” shaped recovery after COVID. While no one is quite sure how long the flat bottom of the “U” will last, when it ends the next steps will come at lightning speed. That will lead to a hiring bloom for many companies — and talent will become scarce quickly.
Economists are predicting a “U” shaped recovery after COVID.
If you’re not prepared for hiring in the near future, you could miss a huge opportunity. COVID pushed brilliant people out of their otherwise secure roles, but you can benefit from that. Wait too long and they’ll have a great job — top talent always gets the first crack at any opportunities that come up.
At Bloom, we’ve seen the downside of companies not preparing for hiring after layoffs or in anticipation of a pivot. Here’s what you need to do.
PS — Read this and still need help? Bloom’s here for you. Book a no-obligation intro call with us to ask more questions and learn how we can help you out as much, or as little, as you need. Book a call with me, Avery, here.
Preparations to think of
Yes, COVID put a lot of amazing people out of work that could benefit your business — but you can’t hire all of them. It’s not feasible financially and not good for your business growth in general. Instead, prepare so you know exactly who you’re going after.
Map competency gaps
Chances are you’ve got competency gaps stemming from one of three things:
- Layoffs.
- Pivots or evolutions.
- Natural gaps that occur in a company.
While you’re in survival mode, take stock of those competency gaps as they compare to near-term and mid-term (6 months to 2 year) goals — those will be your first priority hires.
Think about processes that scale
Hiring an agency recruiter on contingency is great for placing one or two key hires, but becomes incredibly expensive at scale. If your business will need to hire more than 5 people in the next year, think about other processes that are more scalable, including assessing whether you need a full-time in-house recruiter.
Consider Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
Compared to a full-time recruiter, RPO is the equivalent of hiring a SWAT team for your recruiting efforts. RPO providers are an extension of your team, providing access to senior recruiters and HR professionals that help you develop processes and execute on interviews, providing offers, and even handling negotiations.
This method is fantastic because it allows:
- Your team to focus on internal matters.
- It provides senior-level professionals at a fraction of the cost.
- It’s done either on a specific project or ongoing basis, so you can make the choice based on your needs.
Pitfalls to avoid
When times are tough, planning for hiring can feel like the last thing you want to spend time or money on. But even with that mentality, avoid these traps that end up costing you more than you get.
Don’t force your internal team to handle everything
After a layoff or before a major pivot, your internal operations and HR team is busy. This is doubly true if you already had a lean team, to begin with or had to part ways with some of your HR and operations staff during a layoff.
Putting all the re-hiring work on them would take them further away from supporting your existing team, which could end in disaster.
A contingency recruiter could easily cost you $15,000 — $40,000 per hire. Imagine doing that on a scale of 200 — or even 20 — hires.
Don’t put everything on new hires or junior workers
This kind of project requires expertise not just in HR but also in your company and the way it operates.
If you ultimately decide you need to hire in-house, pick someone senior if they are going to take on this role. Then give them at least 6 months to ramp up and fully digest your culture, processes, and ways of work. In many cases, though, this timeline isn’t feasible so in-house is not a good option.
Unfortunately, this kind of work is simply not suited to a junior level HR professional, no matter how deeply they understand your culture. The intricacies of workforce planning and re-hiring require experience that most juniors don’t have and would need years to develop.
Think before you work with contingency recruiters
A contingency recruiter could easily cost you $15,000 — $40,000 per hire. Imagine doing that on a scale of 200 — or even 20 — hires.
On a cost scale, here’s how working with external recruiters goes:
Most expensive: Contingency recruiters.
Affordable options:
- Retainer-based senior recruiter who functions as a part-time member of your key hiring team (but works with some existing internal HR processes).
- RPO teams that come in to handle the entire recruiting process for you (great if you already have a skeleton team from layoffs).
Thinking to brighter futures
It can feel weird to think about hiring when there’s so much uncertainty. If you’ve been hit hard, I understand being hesitant to make big plans. However, the reality is that while you fight to survive now, you have to make plans that will allow you to grow and thrive later. If you don’t, you risk being stuck in survival mode for much longer than you want. Perhaps worse, if you’re not ready for the upswing you could miss the opportunity altogether.
Keep blooming,
Avery
One more thing — At Bloom, we support companies who aren’t ready to hire a full-time HR or Talent but need the leadership on an interim basis. We do the nitty-gritty foundational work like implementing the best tech, tools and processes that are infused with your org’s values. Read this article and still need help? Bloom’s here for you. Book a no-obligation intro call with us to ask more questions and learn how we can help you out as much, or as little, as you need. Book a call with me, Avery, here.
