Date: Sep 21st, 2020

Hiring Top Talent Post Coronavirus

Virtual interviews during COVIC-19

With unemployment rates forecast to drop to 6.6% by the end of the year, the recruitment industry has made pivotal changes to mobilise the UK workforce and help our clients adjust to new ways of hiring staff.

Here at Zest, we’ve rapidly adopted a different approach to food and drink manufacturing recruitment.
So, how do you recruit the best employees post coronavirus? Our experienced consultants share their secrets.

1. Detailed insight into current market conditions

Staying up-to-date on industry-specific developments in the coming weeks and months will be vital when planning your recruitment strategy.

To achieve the best results, you need to not only maintain a comprehensive understanding of your own business but also be aware of:

• on-going changes in your industry
• changes in related markets that could impact your industry
• fluctuating hiring trends
• competitors and their hiring practices
• the challenges and concerns felt by job candidates

With many people working at home for the first time and figuring out how to stay productive and connected, keeping abreast of wider market conditions, trends, and the competition can be demanding.

Within our team, each of our consultants works in a dedicated sector and so have a detailed understanding of the difficulties faced by individual markets when hiring during Covid-19.

2. Fully adapted recruitment programme

Recruitment companies have already had to make serious and swift changes to the way they work to help support the recovery from Covid-19.
An adaptable operational foundation – how you find, evaluate and deliver top candidates – puts you in the best position to embrace any future adjustments in hiring practises.

Within our recruitment agency, we’ve built upon our existing processes to:

• make it easier for us to embrace technologies that allow every team members to work remotely with clients, candidates, and each other
• improve the way we select and interview job candidates in line with social distancing measures, for example, by carrying out initial telephone screening and virtual interviews
• enhance the way we communicate with and onboard candidates, taking into account their unique concerns at this time, and offer additional reassurance

3. Access to engaged candidates

Hands-on processes keep candidates motivated and in-touch. With social distancing in place, however, it takes additional work to keep the best talent engaged.
As a specialist recruitment agency, we’re in the strongest position to save our clients’ time and ensure quality hires for the people who work with us.

A recruitment agency like ours will:

• take care of the initial steps in the hiring process
• take a proactive approach to talent sourcing to grow and maintain a pool of talent
• save your in-house team time by sifting through applications and CVs
• ensure that your time is only spent viewing candidates who are most suitable for the role
• deal with administration issues such as communications with successful candidates and unsuccessful applications, verifying candidate information like qualifications, and checking references
• deliver a quicker turnaround in filling vacancies
• increase efficiency at every stage of the recruitment process

4. Thorough candidate screening

With a high percentage of candidate screening now part of a virtual process, hiring managers have been forced to adapt to making hiring decisions over video interviews instead of in person.

The interview process is moving faster; candidates are available and eager to move forward and there are fewer scheduling challenges. New questions have also been added to the screening process, such as “Have you travelled internationally?” and “Have you been exposed to anyone with symptoms of coronavirus?”

At Zest, we always make sure that candidates and our clients are comfortable with the virtual recruitment process and resolve any concerns. Keeping the conversation going at all levels addresses what changes are working, and which are not making an impact.

Thorough candidate selection should offer the assurance that:

• time is never wasted on unsuitable candidates
• any candidate you meet will have already passed provisional screening assessments
• all individuals put forward are fully aware of your business and the role
• candidates will know how the opportunity relates to their experience and career aspirations
• the candidates are professional workers with the right mindset for the company they want to work with

As the pandemic continues to impact how we work, hiring trends will be dependent on how the country recovers.Here at Zest, we bring a fully-adapted and refreshing approach to food and drink manufacturing recruitment. Get in touch with Zest today. We’d love to speak with you.

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