As COVID-19 continues to reshape organisations, industries and economies, business leaders need to look beyond short-term survival to identify the building blocks of the future. Periods of economic hardship have historically offered excellent hiring opportunities, and with an abundance of people now looking for employment, forward-thinking organisations will balance the need for cost reductions with the chance to make strategic investments in previously unavailable talent.

Given that talented people are critical to business success, hiring within a candidate-rich talent pool can provide unparalleled advantages in the long term, enabling you to have greater access to skilled Technology professionals than ever before.

Understandably, the uncertainty in the business landscape means you may not be able to immediately move on your recruitment efforts. Keep in mind, however, that hiring is not a short-term process. It often takes weeks or even months to find the right candidate for some roles, so it’s important to start getting in the position to hire early so you can have your pick of the best talent when the time comes.

To help you prepare the ground for post-COVID-19 recovery and growth, here are our tips on how to navigate the hiring process and capitalise on the surge of jobseekers in today’s rapidly changing and expanding talent pool.

1. Be Strategic and Reassess Your Requirements

With limited budgets and the shifting pressures in the business landscape, leaders should be strategic about hiring and regularly take inventory of their requirements. Although business may have slowed in the short term, it’s a good time to assess your resourcing needs for the next six to 12 months and identify potential talent gaps. Prioritise roles that are typically difficult to fill, as well as ones that are central to business operations and long-term sustainability – you may even need to consider creating entirely new positions to suit your needs.

You should also think about the specific skills and qualities you require in new hires. In addition to technical skills, traits such as adaptability, resilience and innovation are likely to prove invaluable in the current and near-future market.

2. Revisit People You Missed Out on in the Past

Have you come across people in the past who you considered ideal hires but, for whatever reason, did not end up joining your team? This can include not just candidates who have applied to previous vacancies, but clients, advisors, suppliers and professionals you met at industry events. Now may be your chance to secure “the one that got away,” so take stock of these individuals (and ask the leaders in your organisation to do the same), and create a shortlist of the top people to contact. You never know how their situation may have changed since the last time you spoke and they could be open to opportunities they weren’t before.

3. Focus on Finding Ways to Motivate Top Candidates

When considering how to make the most of a candidate-rich market, it’s important to remember that while employers may now have more sway in the hiring process, it’s still necessary to understand what motivates top-tier candidates and adapt accordingly. After all, the competition for the “cream of the crop” remains high despite the increased availability of jobseekers.

Remuneration will always be a key motivator and offering competitive pay will help ensure you retain your hires for the long-term (as opposed to risking that they will jump ship as soon as they get a better offer), but there are also other factors that can help attract and motivate people in the current climate. For example, many Tech professionals value autonomy, purpose and a good company culture, and flexible work arrangements have become extremely popular as a result of the COVID-19-induced push towards working from home. By focusing on the right motivators, you can increase your chances of attracting the absolute best candidates on the market.

4. Leverage Recruitment Support

Hiring new employees can be time-consuming and overwhelming at the best of times, but in an environment with high levels of unemployment where each vacancy is likely to receive hundreds of applications, this increases exponentially. Leveraging the right recruitment support can alleviate the burden of sourcing, assessing, interviewing, reference checking, negotiating and onboarding, and helps to ensure you make the best hiring decisions, particularly for newly-created or hard-to-fill roles.

When you utilise the services of a Technology recruitment specialist such as Emanate Technology, you benefit from extensive market knowledge, broad professional networks and experience working with a wide range of technologies, products and methodologies. We partner with you to identify and secure the best candidates available, giving you confidence in your investment and freeing up your time and resources to focus on existing functions within your business.

Whether you’re looking for Project Management, Infrastructure Architecture, Web Design or Data Governance professionals, we offer dedicated recruitment consultants for a range of technical verticals and can help you find the people that will carry your business forward, both now and in the future. Get in touch with our team in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra  or Melbourne today to get started.