Why hire a recruiting firm during a pandemic?

It only makes sense that it’s an employer’s market during a pandemic, right? With so many businesses forced to furlough or let employees go given the challenging circumstances, most of us know someone looking for a job. Hiring managers might be tempted to bypass a recruiting firm to fill their vacancies given a flood of applications in their inboxes.

Don’t be fooled. If your business is looking to land qualified talent, it’s more critical than ever to use the resources of a staffing and recruiting agency. In fact, it’s actually a misconception that it’s easier to fill your hiring needs these days.

Instead, it’s harder. Much harder.

Having been in the employment industry for more than 20 years, I have an idea of what today’s employers endure, navigating their hiring needs. The applicant pool might be deep but wading through it is a cumbersome process. It can be distracting at a time when most businesses need to focus their attention elsewhere.

Here’s where a good recruiting firm can help.

What’s only part of your business is our only business. Especially if you’re a small or mid-sized business, you’re likely too busy to engage in the process it takes to properly vet the best candidates. A staffing and search firm networks and interviews all day every day. They talk with candidates so much that they don’t think of them as interviews. They consider them conversations, deep and enlightening dives into personalities to discover what makes them tick and what they want professionally.

Quality recruitment firms are likely a step ahead of even the most efficient employer. Because of the breadth and knowledge that comes with a continuous recruitment process, they have a deep bench of talent eager to step into multiple kinds of vacancies. While a hiring manager sorts through the stack of resumes, the staffing firm already has vetted candidates in the pipeline. That means placements are made in a fraction of the time it would take a business to do so on its own.

Hiring a candidate is easy. Hiring the best candidate takes work.

Here’s what I’ve learned about candidates during the pandemic, too. Many of the best ones are fearful of making a professional change during a period of uncertainty. Transition is hard anytime. During tenuous times, it’s not surprising that even the most confident candidate has some trepidation about making a career move.

Staffing and recruitment firms understand that fear. They make sure candidates know that companies showing interest in hiring during a pandemic remain committed to growth. That’s why the best candidates are likely not the ones constantly filling out online applications. The great misperception is it’s easier to hire when seemingly everyone has a hand up for a job. The truth is the top candidates might not be applying even if they’re dissatisfied with their current roles.

Even if you’re an employer who has never considered working with a staffing or recruiting firm pre-pandemic, now is the perfect time to change that.

Perhaps the most important advantage a staffing firm can offer is a strategy for not just the new normal but the next normal. Those firms that are ahead of the game are already talking with employers about their workforce needs post-pandemic. The best recruitment firms not only help you with today’s needs. They anticipate tomorrow’s needs so your company can continue to prosper.