Worried about a recession? The reality is that it’s probably coming sooner rather than later. How will you respond?
Get your hiring and recruiting strategies worked out now, and you’ll be well placed to weather the storm. Here’s how.
- Be prepared
Don’t wait for the recession to hit–plan ahead and start thinking about your hiring strategy now. When it actually happens, you’re likely to be stressed and emotional. Would you put a stressed, emotional person in charge of your hiring strategy? Quite. Make your decisions now while you can make them with your rational brain. Work out how a recession is likely to impact your business and how you can best respond.
- Work on your employer brand
Employer branding is crucial to any hiring strategy. It’ll also boost your employee engagement, productivity, and retention (this last is even more important in a recession, when you want to avoid the cost of losing people if at all possible). Maintaining a strong brand will help you lure away top talent during the tough times–if they see that your company is struggling, they’re not going to want to join you and risk going down with your ship.
- Look at your hiring sources
Having said that, you might see more job applicants during a recession because of layoffs–and you might not have time to pore over CVs while fighting to keep your company afloat. Before that happens, take a look at your hiring sources, and get clear on which ones tend to deliver the best people. Focus on those when recession hits, and you’ll save time, effort, and (most importantly) money.
- Prioritise
While this isn’t a fun task, you’ll want to think about the job functions in your company and put them in priority order before a recession arrives. Which roles would need filling immediately, and which could you manage without for a while? Which could be automated or outsourced? This info will help you make smart hiring decisions.
- Think flexibility
Think about how you could keep things going without new permanent hires–using contractors or temps, moving your existing people into new roles, or retraining them. Get clear on what flexibility you have–this will also help you make good decisions in a recession.
Speaking of making good decisions, give us a call today if you’d like some expert guidance through whatever the coming months and years bring. It could be the best decision you’ve made all year.