Make sure your communication is clear. Some people who were furloughed from the outset have been off work for 3 months and for them time in the work place has stood. They may expect to return to exactly the same way of working as pre-lockdown and will certainly not understand exactly how the business and your way of working may have changed. Take time to explain what “business as usual” now looks like the changes that have been implemented and why these changes have happened. A clear redefinition of their role responsibilities will also help them to understand “now” as well as focussing on health & safety and any new policies and procedures you may have introduced. 

 

 

 

When lockdown first happened all of our vacancies disappeared overnight. Clients that we were running active campaigns for as their outsourced recruitment department asked that we hang fire for a while…which we did. We had nothing. 

 

We spent six weeks looking at our marketing activity and posting regularly across social media. We are lucky as we knew that we could weather this storm so was able to look at offering rewrites of job descriptions for free and to train up the Emerald Starfish team for sunnier days. We looked at the new world of working remotely and realised that actually recruitment is mainly a remote activity anyway so we could embrace the processes that we had already got in place. 

 

 

 

 

Job offers are usually made over the phone, candidates are used to receiving the news that they have been successful over the phone and managers are used to doing this not fact to face. However, during lockdown how can you ensure that the job offer is received with as much impact as if you had met the candidate and were building on that initial face to face interaction? 

 

 

 

 

Let the candidates know during the recruitment process when you will let them know and keep to the timelines. It is a big non-verbal clue that you think that they are the best person for the job and you are excited to have them on board if you offer within 24 hours. The message isn’t quite the same a week later!