By Tasneem Mohammed
It’s clear to see vacancies and jobs have dropped as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Recruiters are tight for budget because they are losing business, and job seekers are uncertain about looking for jobs as multiple businesses continue to close each day.
The drop in overall vacancies, however, has led to an increase in immediate roles for labour intense key working roles. It’s fantastic to see these people who may be at the top of their game accept a role they may have only worked in at the beginning of their career – but are they happy? Probably not.
While many people are jumping on key worker jobs to help pay the bills, they won’t be planning on staying there forever. Source them. Employ them. The characteristics they are showing in this time of adversity is what you need at your business, once normal business resumes. Hard working, agile and multi-skilled individuals you can recruit for the long haul.
This is not the time to slow recruitment, but boost it.
We at Aviation Job Search have our own innovative ways of helping you to recruit from home. Find out about one of the ways we did this, via our blog about our free online job fair to connect airlines and Flybe jobseekers.
Below is a few ideas on how to support candidates during this difficult time, while also securing top talent for your business.
Be flexible for hunters
Don’t play table tennis with those searching for employment. Chances are, in this Covid-19 environment they are hunting throughout their day, particularly if they have accepted a role as a key worker to bring in the bacon until the storm blows over.
Ensure you are open, clear and available for candidates through a variety of platforms with times that show when you are free to speak. Continuing to post job adverts ensures your brand is still available to them too.
Go fish
The fish tanks have been cracked wide open. Put yourself in the candidate’s shoes. Many will have lost their jobs, but many will also be home wondering what they want from their career. Create catchy, enticing advertisements to catch your ideal candidate, but be open to the masses as an epidemic shows true character – you never know who might surprise you.
Be the needle in a haystack
There are hundreds of employers and recruitment agencies out there, and yet these candidates have applied to your job advert. They have likely come to you as a result of brand awareness. Now you must live up to your brand. Know your company’s values and integrate them into every conversation you have.
If you provide a live chat for candidate questions, tell them. Don’t leave it for the terms and conditions page.
Everybody knows onboarding is a nightmare with all the documents required. If your company has an online process, express this to reduce losing top talent to head-hunters simplifying their process.
Change your tactics up – this Ted Talks for successful sales people might help.
Enhance your collection
Have a list of go-to candidates? You probably have a few 2nd best candidates too. Why not mentor your candidates to beat the other recruitment companies?
- Compile a list of top talent Vs. those that aren’t quite there yet
- Source credible websites that fill skills gaps – this will support your role as well as their future applications. Advise candidates on relevant Aviation Courses to improve their skills
- Advertise your courses – want to help develop the next generation? Don’t forget to encourage new recruits to the relevant certifications that you already have to avoid losing them to a role they never wanted.
- Create a support network for your candidates – they can learn from each other and encourage healthy competition amongst themselves
Ear to the ground
Stay in touch with your candidates. Have you ever heard the saying ‘people buy into people not products’?
For example, salespeople who are good at their trade attract the best salaries. They get into the heads of people; they create rapport and relationships that retain and attract. Recruitment is the same.
Look at your jobs as a product. You are the gatekeeper. You would never put a candidate forward for a role you think is incorrect, but at the same time you need to persuade these candidates that you have the best roles available.
Provide insights for education
During these kinds of epidemics, you’ll have insights on the aviation industry from connections that your candidates will not have access to. Make common knowledge available to your candidates to make them feel valued and less anxious about the industry, or direct them to careers advice and industry news for the aviation community.
Build a rapport
Build a relationship with your candidate. A top trick is creating a database with personal information regarding your candidates. Do they have a dog? Ask how Mollie is the next time you call instead of leaving a cold voicemail regarding a job so important you couldn’t call again to tell them about it. We are all guilty of it.
Find them something they love
Find out where they would love to work. Do they want to relocate? Are they an engineer who wants to work for an SME, or a technician who wants to work within defence because his mum was in the army? It’s not about finding them a job, it’s about finding them a home away from home in these challenging times.
Budgets for recruitment may be tight right now – but we’re still seeing a surge in job applications. Our online job fair last Friday saw over 1,000 job seekers registering to speak with our exhibitors on the day. These people are now registered to our site and are actively seeking work in the UK, particularly. If you would like to explore recruiting with Aviation Job Search, simply click the button below to continue.
