In a world of social distancing, get closer to your recruiterPosted about 4 years ago by Nick Boulton

It’s the song everyone’s singing: “These are truly remarkable times.”

Last week, it felt like every business owner, founder or entrepreneur I spoke to was either battling solvency, making mass redundancies or furloughing staff. Directors and CFOs alike are wondering how quickly the Government will reimburse them, as cash reserves are plundered with little to no business coming in.

I can’t lie, I ended the week feeling pretty depressed with life.

So I decided to forget work for the Easter weekend and spend it concentrating on my family and the things that really are important.

It did me the world of good. I started back in my home office on Tuesday with a renewed vigour, drive and enthusiasm. I thought, I’m not going to sit idly by and let this mayhem consume me or Client Server.

So that got me thinking: In these incredibly uncertain times what do people crave?

Certainty!

Certainty that if you are responsible for doing a job, project or any scope of work, you will do it. No fuss, no issue, no micromanagement needed, you will just get on and do it.

My advice to companies still recruiting - and let’s be honest, if you want to stay ahead of your competition – is that you need to find ways to create certainity in your hiring practices.

This isolation isn’t going anywhere fast, and with now three weeks’ worth of working from home, interviewing, hiring and on boarding people remotely is not difficult. It does pose challenges, but it’s doable and those embracing it are having the pick of the best talent out there.

The big questions are:

• How do you secure the best talent, especially as more businesses are now hiring remotely?
• And, when we do get back to normal, how will you compete when demand for that talent suddenly explodes?

It’s simple: find your trusted recruitment partner and stay as close to them as possible.

“Exclusivity” is sometimes seen as a dirty word, but, with the right partner this can take away all your hiring woes, especially if they know your business inside out.

Now is not the time to be trying to haggle on fees and see if you can get a “bargain” -  this will only return to bite you in the ass when things return to normal, trust me!

Now is the time to build a strong, lasting partnership with your chosen recruitment partner and let them shoulder the burden of finding, interviewing and securing you the best talent.

I think when things do go back to normality, there is going to be a war for talent. The best candidates will be in such high demand that companies will struggle to secure them without the right recruitment partners.

In all honesty it doesn’t need to be exclusivity, it just needs to be a strong, open relationship with excellent lines of communication, bonded together with trust. This can be working in partnership with the internal recruitment team, or taking responsibility for the whole process, they both work.

The key is, if you have strong relationship with your recruitment partner, you have the recipe for success, now and in the future.