Corona & Recruiting: Experiences and tips from our consultants

Erfahrungen & Tipps für Recruiting in der Corona-Krise

Our recruiting consultants have summarized their experiences and tips for dealing with the Corona situation in recruiting – we would like to share these insights with you.

Due to the Corona crisis, many companies are currently recruiting staff through Remote Recruiting continued or even stopped completely. We at Brandmonks, as recruiting consultants, are also feeling these effects. Our consultants have summarized their experiences and tips on how to deal with the current situation - we would like to share these insights with you.

Let's go Remote

At Brandmonks, things currently look like this internally: Anyone who goes to the office must adhere to clear rules, such as keeping a minimum distance of 2 meters from the person opposite, refraining from high fives, hugs, handshakes, etc. Since many employees are currently also switching to home offices, we are increasingly communicating via messenger, telephone and regular video meetings.

For us, this doesn't mean too much of a change at the moment - our team is perfectly equipped to work digitally and remotely. But what about the recruiting activities of our consultants for companies that are still looking for staff?

Here, too, physical contact is avoided as much as possible and the process is switched to remote. For many candidates and applicants, this is not a problem; in our experience, the majority of them can be easily reached online or by phone. Most people are also familiar with video conversations via WhatsApp, Skype, etc. in their private lives, so introductory meetings and interviews are not a problem.

We have also noticed that Corona creates a kind of common component in conversations with candidates. This is noticeable, for example, in email correspondence, when people start with "I hope you are well" and end with "stay healthy". The virus is also almost always part of the conversation on the phone. Despite the common component, recruiters must be particularly empathetic in these times:

Stay at Home is not the same as Stay at Home

Yes, the "Stay at Home" calls give the feeling that we are all in the same boat - both recruiters and applicants are staying at home. But what "home" means to each individual and how application situations should suddenly take place there is a personal matter.

For example, it makes a difference whether you have three children at home due to school closures and have to makeshift arrangements in the kitchen for a video interview or whether you are alone at home and have a quiet, perfectly equipped study.

Recruiters should keep these different circumstances in mind and exercise sensitivity when dealing with each candidate.

Positive facets of the Corona situation from a recruiting perspective

One thing is clear: the current situation is unusual for all of us. Our Recruiting Consultants can also see positive aspects in the current change and focus on remote recruiting.

Travel to interviews and meetings is eliminated – this saves time, energy and protects the environment.

The circumstances are currently “forcing” many companies to DigitalizationFor example, we can see how employees are being provided with laptops and home office is being made possible in areas where it was previously undesirable.

The fact that some companies have completely stopped their recruitment efforts for an indefinite period of time is no reason to be discouraged. There is plenty to do in the area of recruiting during the Corona crisis, especially things that have otherwise often been overlooked in everyday business. We have summarized 8 to-dos that can "finally" be tackled in the current phase:

Infografik To Dos für Recruiter während Corona

From optimizing the Career website From analyzing previous recruiting measures to maintaining contact with potential candidates – there is a lot to do.

All in all, we see many opportunities for recruiting in the current phase. Now is the time to rethink, optimize and redesign existing processes. Let's get to it.

(Cover image source: goodluz – Shutterstock.com)