Talent Acquisition Strategy & Covid-19

Having spent over 20 years in the recruitment business I have seen companies of various sizes and maturity across a range of industries respond to tough market conditions. The most consistently surprising thing I see is often the short-term nature of the decisions that are made when it comes to talent.

With most industries having just been through a long period of talent scarcity and identifying this issue as the key barrier to growth, why do so many businesses completely lose momentum with their talent acquisition pipelines when the chips are down?

Of course, during this current health related crisis, immediate business continuity planning becomes a priority but as organisations move into survival mode, they would do well to maintain focus on their medium to long term talent goals. If you wait until the markets start to boom again before revisiting cold recruitment pipelines you will find yourself back in the hunt with everyone else.

My advice at times like these for organisations looking to build in a future first mover advantage is as follows:

• Don't let active pipelines for key hires go cold. Manage candidate expectations and maintain regular contact to keep those people warm for when you are ready to move. This will also provide some market insights and intelligence along the way.
• Identify hard to find skills and make them a priority during down markets. If you have the financial capacity then now is the time to be bold and fill roles that can be close to impossible to source for in boom time.
• Work with your internal talent team or external partners to map and build talent pools for the future. You know what your business will need to succeed when the markets rebound - be ready to react quickly and decisively before your competitors even start their sourcing.

Hopefully a path to the end of this crisis will begin to show itself soon but it is important to remember that the talent shortage remains and any over-supply will be quickly absorbed on the upturn and hard to find skills will remain as such throughout.

For those considering their talent issues in Hong Kong and the APAC region feel free to reach out to me for a discussion - [email protected]