It wasn’t that long ago that unemployment was at record lows. Employers complained that new hires ghosted them, finding and keeping quality candidates was difficult, and the job market was pretty rosy.

2020 has been changed a lot of things.

Now, the unemployment rate is hovering around 10%. And though some employers can barely keep up with hiring, many have instituted hiring freezes for the foreseeable future.

If you’re a business looking for help, there are ways to source and hire quality candidates. Here’s how to get started.

Recruit Outside the Box

Research has shown that employers are less likely to hire someone who’s out of work for any reason. While there’s no explanation why the hiring bias occurs, unemployment at about 10% (as of this writing), focusing your recruitment and hiring efforts on only the employed may harm your business in the long run.

Nearly all the unemployment right now is due to circumstances beyond our control. And depending on how quickly social distancing measures are lifted, many people may find themselves out of work for months. By ignoring the currently unemployed, you’re limiting your applicant pool, and possibly missing out on fantastic and well-qualified candidates who otherwise likely wouldn’t be available to help your business.

As you sift through applications, look for transferable skills that the applicant can put to work for you. You might gain talent in an area you didn’t even know you needed, and may even learn some new tricks from your new hire.

And though you may feel that you have the luxury of picking and choosing from a pool of amazing candidates, the reality is that, unless your company is in a solid financial position, people who are currently employed may not be as willing to jump ship.

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Although an applicant is unemployed, that doesn’t mean they’re sitting at home doing nothing. Even with social distancing, there are still plenty of ways to keep up and stay professionally active.

So, give candidates a chance to explain how they’ve spent their time away from work. Ask what they’ve been up to professionally. Try asking:

• What kind of ongoing education have you pursued? Or, what have you done to keep your skills up to date?
• What’s your long-term career plan? How does losing your job affect that?
• Had you not been laid off, what do you think your career path would have been at your old company?
• What exciting projects were you working on in your old job?

Asking questions like these helps you assess how creative and persistent the candidate is in the face of adversity. That, in turn, can help you understand how they might approach your business issues with a unique and fresh approach. The answers also help you understand what the candidate’s professional goals are, how they hope to achieve them, and what role your company plays in their plans.

Prepare for the Rush

While a rush of applicants sounds like a recruiter’s dream, you need to manage the influx carefully, or else it could become a pain point. For example, since you’re likely to get more applicants than before just considering the unemployment numbers during the pandemic, look at your current hiring procedure and see what you can do to make it easier.

For example, are you using an applicant tracking system (ATS)? If you aren’t, now might be the perfect time to test out a few to see if one can help you manage your applicant flow. If you are using an ATS, take a hard look at it and see if there are ways you can improve it.

Also, consider adding applicant testing to your hiring process. Data-backed hiring usually results in employees that fit into your existing corporate culture and last longer than when you hire with your gut instinct. Don’t, however, only test applicants on their “hard” skills. While these are important, soft skills are equally important, so make sure you’re considering and testing both during the interview process.

Go High Tech

Digital recruitment isn’t anything new. But virtual job fairs, video interviews, and virtual onboarding are.

Because you may not have a choice right now, embrace these new technologies. Take advantage of them and use them to find candidates you might not otherwise meet.

Build Your Hiring Pipeline

If you can’t hire right now due to the pandemic (or any other hiring freeze), don’t stop your recruitment efforts. Any hiring slowdown is a great time to build your candidate pipeline so that when the freeze is lifted, recruiting talented candidates isn’t complicated or time-consuming. Many unemployed individuals are reaching out to companies and making cold introductions. If that’s the case for your situation, be sure to respond and build the relationship.

Remote Work Skills

If the pandemic has taught the work world anything, it’s that many jobs can be done remotely. Even if your company hasn’t solidified long-term remote work plans, it’s likely in the cards for the near future.

Working remotely means staff have to be self-motivated, goal-oriented, and focused. And at this point, employees should have a reliable set up where they can work productively for large chunks of time. That’s why it’s important that you ask how candidates stay focused and got their work done at home, especially considering a lot of the uncertainty around the pandemic.

Hiring Is a Process

Your company may be hiring more during the pandemic than before, or less. But either way, an economic slowdown is a perfect time for you to evaluate and revamp your hiring procedures so that you can hire with confidence.

Whether your company is going remote permanently, or plans to implement remote work for certain teams, we can help! FlexJobs has been a leader in the distributed workplace for more than 13 years. 

We help companies of all sizes recruit top talent in the flexible work space, which ranges from full-time remote jobs, freelance, contract, part-time, and more.

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