5 Reasons to Keep Your Hiring Process Open During Market Shifts

Shifts in the economy are inevitable. Of course, your team has plans in place for small deviations. Or maybe your company isn’t even impacted by them. 

However, when the market takes a hard turn and the economy rapidly shifts downward, you have to reconsider your entire budget and need for available talent. Placing your hiring process on hold seems like a logical answer. 

Unfortunately, if you look below the surface, pausing the hiring process can have devastating effects on future sourcing, recruiting, and hiring efforts. Consider the number of quality candidates still in the job market, and even rapidly joining it. Without sourcing efforts, your chances of connecting and hiring them for future job openings decreases dramatically. 

That being said, we understand your hesitation. Your fears are valid. But together, we’ll walk through the reasons you shouldn’t pause your hiring process during a market shift: 

1. Candidates’ lives haven’t stopped

You don’t want to waste time or money on talent that won’t be available when the market snaps back. However, it’s important to remember that candidates’ lives haven’t stopped. 

Job seekers still have financial needs, career dreams, and long-term goals. During a market shift, candidates fear for all three of these future-focused factors. Moving through sourcing and screening processes offers them a sense of control they wouldn’t otherwise have. 

When you’re ready to hire, they’ll be grateful for the opportunity you gave them to focus on tomorrow. This instills a deeper, longer-lasting connection that’s only created in these unique moments. 

2. You’ll need talent someday 

Year after year, we’ve witnessed job seekers hold the power in the hiring process. But of course, this balance shifts when the market shifts. 

However, candidates will eventually regain control over their job searches. Companies will once again battle for top talent as they have more career options than ever. Halting your hiring process now means when they do, you’ll already be behind your competitors.  

Keep growing your network. Candidates are spending time on job boards, social media, and your career page. If you don’t have the right opportunities for them now, be honest. Still connect, engage, and encourage them to submit their application or a video interview — with the understanding that they’ll be added to your ‘watch’ list. 

3. You actually have time to build out a talent pool

Did you know not pausing your hiring process could be a good thing for the quality of your future talent? 

The hustle and bustle of modern hiring practices make candidate assessments challenging. Missing the mark on fit isn’t just an issue for your company. In fact, three-quarters (75%) of Americans have had a job where they didn’t feel they were a good fit, according to Monster’s 2019 State of the Candidate Survey. 

Now, possibly more than ever, you have time to accurately assess candidates. As a result, your talent pool will consist of only the best-fitting candidates. Build out a video interview library to keep potential future hires organized and your notes on their skills easily accessible. 

4. You can take advantage of team collaboration

It’s challenging to focus on collaboration when your company is firing on all cylinders. You may not all be on the same page, but the process must move forward. 

Use a market shift to focus on hiring process collaboration with your team. Build out a video library to both impress candidates and increase teamwork. 

Ask candidates to participate in video interviews, and ask hiring team colleagues to review. Encourage them to take notes directly in the software on each video interview. This highlights disagreements in real-time before you have to make an offer. 

Once everyone sees their colleagues’ opinions, they can freely discuss why there’s a division, how different roles affect viewpoints, and more. So, when it’s time to fill positions, those candidates and corresponding notes will be ready to move forward. 

5. Current employees need to stay engaged

A hiring pause also impacts those outside of the hiring team. Frustrations rise as employees feel the weight of a missing support system. Continue accepting employee referrals to show your support. Let them know you’re there and want to listen to what they want and need in new hires. A simple sign of support like this shows employees you still see, hear, and value them. In turn, they trust you’ll ease their workload burdens the minute you’re able to actively hire again.