Looking at recent unemployment numbers, there are more and more talented people in need of work right now. If your business is fortunate enough to be in a position where you are looking to expand hiring efforts, here's where you should be sourcing talent.
Seek out short-term arrangements
If you are in recruitment mode because of increased demand for services driven by the pandemic, bringing on furloughed workers may be a good place to start. Because they typically expect to return to their original employer, their circumstances often lead them to seek temporary employment. If both you and a prospective hire are responding to pandemic conditions, you could end up needing each other for about the same length of time.
Another scenario is that your hiring needs are immediate and could potentially lead to long-term or permanent employment, but you're unable to adequately conduct thorough interviews because of travel restrictions or concerns surrounding Covid-19. In this case, you might consider bringing on an experienced freelancer and stipulate in your contract that the terms are subject to renegotiation at a predetermined time, such as when quarantine travel orders are lifted.
Tap into talent directories
If necessity is the mother of invention, what I've learned from this pandemic is that empathy is the mother of productivity. From apparel companies pivoting to make masks, to auto manufacturers switching gears to produce ventilators, and so much more, it seems everyone is stepping up their game. That includes how employers are supporting their workforce.
As massive layoffs and furloughs emerged during the pandemic, employers showed up in a big way by implementing professional networking initiatives on behalf of their out-of-work employees. One of the more prominent examples of this comes from Airbnb, who created a talent directory--essentially a job site--to promote employees who've been furloughed or laid-off due to Covid-19 in an effort to help them secure new employment.
Uber created Work Hub, to help drivers find work (whether with Uber or elsewhere) by teaming up with companies that are currently hiring, and linking to job postings to get drivers connected to jobs. Construction management software provider Procore announced the launch of the Construction Career Board, a construction-focused resource for recruiting and job finding.
Collaborate with other employers
In addition to using existing sources, you can take it a step further by forging direct relationships with vendors, partners, and other industry allies whereby one or both parties commit to hiring the other's furloughed and laid-off workers.
Hilton, for example, partnered with various organizations to help find temporary work for their furloughed workforce. Hilton's U.S. employees were given direct access to an online resource center and expedited hiring processes at reputable companies such as CVS, Amazon, Albertsons, and Lidl.
Take a nod from Lidl U.S., whose chief human resource officer, Eoin Byrne, explained the simple mechanics of the process with Hilton in an article from SHRM: "We send our requisitions to them, and they offer information about our open roles in their furlough process. If their employee has an interest in one of our opportunities, they apply for it on our careers page and their application is tracked in our ATS for prioritized hiring. It's been good for us because we've been able to find skilled people who work in similar customer-serving industries."
Cash in on your connections
As a social network for professionals, LinkedIn is an ideal platform to find, attract, and recruit talent. There are various ways to go about discovering desirable, qualified candidates. You can browse through the connections of people who are already in your network and ask for an introduction if a profile piques your interest. You can also search for companies by name and review the employment statuses of employees whose profiles are linked to those companies.
Alternatively, you can procure targeted results by typing a term--"furloughed," for example--in the search bar under the "People" category, as well as specify other filters such as location, industry, past and current companies, and more.
Importantly, finding successful employee prospects on LinkedIn largely relies on how committed users are to keeping their profiles updated, so while it's an excellent resource, it's certainly not an exhaustive channel.
All said, I do think that this is a good time to hire. Whether you're aiming to build a bigger, better, or more productive workforce, using the right tools will help you identify employees with the skill sets you need to bring value to your organization.