“Talent Acquisition Groundhog Day”

Listening to my clients talk about their days blending into each other during this pandemic makes me flashback to Bill Murray's character, Phil, in the movie, Groundhog Day. If you have never seen this silly comedy, Bill Murray played a weatherman who woke up every day, stuck in a time loop until he could learn how to communicate effectively with his love interest, Andie McDowell.

In the talent acquisition edition of Groundhog Day, employers are feeling a lot like Phil, stuck on the same day, feeling out of sorts, and stressed. It is the same for my friends, regardless of whether they are working for essential or non-essential businesses. The difference is, instead of trying to win McDowell over, most of us in the talent acquisition world (except for the few extremely active essential employers) are working to figure out how to prop up our employer brands during a global crisis. We are seeking the best ways to keep candidates engaged or warm in our hiring processes despite our inability to offer jobs. Many of us are trying to determine the priority list of work to be done in an ever-changing environment.

Due to the Coronavirus, many of us in the workforce pivoted sharply from heading into the office every day to waking and walking into our dining room, guest room, or home office. It has taken us several weeks to grow accustomed to seeing our coworkers in their natural habitats. We are just now getting used to seeing our coworkers and our clients in their sweats, Duck Dynasty-level beards, unkempt hair, messy buns, no makeup, and natural faces. Now that the novelty has worn off, we are ready to get our minds back on work. We all know this is the time for focus and prep work in anticipation of the comeback of the economy that will arrive once the COVID shelter-in-place orders lift.

My recommendation is to turn your sweatpants into a power suit by tackling some of these short-term projects over the next few months:

Audit your Candidate Experience and Employer Branding:

Breaking down your candidate experience and looking for opportunities to bring efficiencies while creating more positively positioned and memorable journeys is a challenging but essential task. Start by auditing your application process from the candidate's point of view and every candidate's touchpoint. You should be checking off the boxes for the employer brand along the way. Is your branding consistent, impactful, and authentic? Make sure you are benchmarking your company against your competitors. And remember, both your candidate experience and employer branding should be as unique as your thumbprint. The test for whether you have nailed your brand is to peel out your company name from your EVP or brand copy and plug in a few other companies’ names to see if the copy and imagery could still make sense. If you can interchange company names, I would say your employer brand needs some work.

 Test your EVP or Employer Branding:

Has it been more than a few years since you created your EVP and employer brand? Have you experienced significant organizational changes? Maybe now is the time to pressure test your brand message and imagery. Conduct a small sample survey, roundtables, and some executive interviews to see if your brand pillars are still intact. You never know how much your culture could have shifted, especially if you have a higher turnover rate.

 Refresh your Collateral:

If you have manager hiring kits or an asset library, now is a great time to take stock of what you have and what pieces you need or want. Utilizing the same imagery and copy can grow stale. Consider coming up with some new messaging aligned with your employer brand and freshen imagery.

 Build a Social Ambassador Program:

If you have always wished you had the time to gather stories from employees, videos, or testimonials, now is the perfect opportunity to begin. With COVID-19 creating angst, inject a lighter mood into your social feed, and focus on your people. Let your associates showcase their work-from-home environment, hobbies, family, or pets. Videos can quickly be shot on cell phones during a shelter-in-place order or consider implementing a point solution like Altru to collect, vet, approve, and publish employee videos. Nothing is as impactful as the stories your employees share.

 Determine Points in your Process that may be Automated:

Has your company laid off employees in your talent acquisition department? Now might be the perfect moment in your talent acquisition journey to explore if there are parts of the talent attraction process and hiring funnel that may be automated. There is so much TA Technology that can help from capturing, screening, and guiding candidates through the application process to slotting candidates in for interviews, and more. Determine your desired outcome and then find the right technology that can accomplish your goals while staying within budgets, timeframe, and resources.

 I know that you are yearning, as I am, to get to the "new normal." My hope is you find a nugget or two in this list that can help you fill your days with extraordinary work and alleviate the Groundhog Day effect during these uncertain times. I know that when this is over, we will forever be changed. I am hopeful that it's for the betterment of all.

Until then, our teams and I at Shaker hope that you and your loved ones stay safe. Always remember, we are here for you, whether it be as a sounding board, consultant, or friend. Whether you are in your sweats or dressed to the nines, we won't judge you, so give us a shout.