How to Recruit and Hire During a Crisis

As a business owner, you’ll likely encounter a few challenges and disasters throughout your career. And while each may look different, there are ways you can adapt your recruitment and hiring process to respond in a way that consistently serves your customers and keeps your company running smoothly.

Adapt to remote recruiting practices.

If a crisis has forced your business to operate remotely, you can use common-sense practices, like interviewing over video conferencing and connecting virtually with job seekers, to keep recruiting top talent from afar.

Checking in on candidates — and keeping them informed — can go a long way in earning their loyalty and trust. Take time to ask potential hires how they’re doing in a crisis. And, take care to let them know where you are in the hiring process.

Tap into your existing network.

Nobody understands the way your company works better than your employees. If you need to quickly bulk up your team – say for hurricane response work, or to tackle more repairs jobs than normal – ask your employees to recommend candidates they’ve worked with and trust.

Trusted referrals can be hired and onboarded quickly, and you won’t need to spend the time and money required with traditional recruiting methods. What’s more: If you want to keep employees on long-term, studies show that this kind of candidate is most likely to stick around.

Plan for the impact on your employees.

When a disaster affects your community, it may also affect your employees. Whether you plan to do clean-up work, or just keep business running like normal, it’s wise to plan ahead for any potential impact.

The best time to prepare for this scenario is long before a disaster strikes. If you have a human resources department, they should be involved with the planning. This includes figuring out where resources will be allocated and where employees might be sent to work, as well as what you’ll do if your team loses staff to illness, death or travel restrictions. Consider providing additional training to prepare your staff to step up and help in an emergency. Things will go most smoothly when everyone’s informed of procedures and sure of what to do when disaster strikes.

How to Recruit and Hire During a Crisis

Adapt to remote recruiting practices.

Tap into your existing network.

Plan for the impact on your employees.

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