Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation labelled the Wuhan-born coronavirus a global pandemic, affecting businesses, schools and governmental organisations.

With widespread political, medical and social uncertainty, it’s natural that employers will fear for future recruitment processes and employment measures.

Working in recruitment myself, it’s very clear that businesses are reluctant to proceed with hiring new staff, which does make sense due to such uncertain circumstances. However, because so many businesses are taking a similar approach, we have found the competition for the pool of talented candidates in the market has significantly decreased. As such, this could be a great opportunity to actively look to attract the top talent without competition from other employers.

How to interview

A lot of our clients have mentioned their reluctance to bring new people into the office for interviews due to fears of spreading the virus. But, this does not necessarily mean that recruitment itself needs to be frozen.

At Thompson & Terry, we’ve found that carrying out interviews via video is just as effective and eliminates the need for unnecessary human contact – you are still able to discuss the role, company and candidate in-depth as well as being able to conclude whether the cultural fit is right.

Video interviewing is easy and doesn’t have to be expensive. For larger corporations, video platforms such as Zoom are a popular choice. According to CNBC, Zoom has enjoyed more active users in 2020 so far than they did for 2019 overall, presumably as a consequence of the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Alternatively, if your budget is more limited, Whatsapp video calls and FaceTime calls via mobile phone are also an effective option. At Thompson & Terry Recruitment, we make sure to interview all candidates, either face-to-face or via video call and tools such as these have proved really valuable to us – they’re easily-accessible, free and mobile, which is makes an interview much easier on a lunch break!

Working from home

As the coronavirus pandemic becomes more of a threat, employers need to consider implementing measures to accommodate employees being able to work from home.

• Technology – all employees will likely need their own laptops and phones in order to maintain normal working (if employees are using their own devices these must have effective firewalls and antivirus software installed)
• Access to information – cloud-based technology and regularly updated CRM systems are a great way to ensure that employees always have access to any relevant documentation, information or contact details
• Access to a landline – if necessary, any incoming calls to the office can be transferred to mobile phones using various telecommunications software
• Data protection – invest in necessary cybersecurity support and educate all employees on data protection laws and practices to prevent any information leaks

If you would like any more information on how to adapt your recruitment and employment processes in light of the coronavirus – please do contact us