Recruiters: COVID has forever changed the hiring, job-search process
4/2/2021
By Julie Sneider, Senior Associate Editor
Even before March 2020, when states began issuing stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many rail businesses were having a hard time filling job openings at their companies. Not only were they recruiting in a tight labor market, they were — and still are — competing against innovative tech companies for highly skilled workers.
“Before the pandemic, employers were challenged to find people quickly,” says Anabelle Cormier, who oversees operations, marketing and business development at Stahl Recruiting, which sources and places people in rail industry jobs. “Between career fairs, conferences and on-campus visits, there was a lot of recruitment activity. Then, the pandemic hit and recruiting events at career fairs, conferences and on-campus visits — along with job interviews in offices — all that’s now gone.”
Once the lockdown started, many rail employers reacted by hitting “pause” on candidate recruitment activity, Cormier says.
“Some clients were like, ‘Hang on, we have to figure out what’s going on,’” she says.
At the same time, other clients — such as those in markets where the local COVID-19 numbers were still low — put a rush on filling spots before stay-at-home restrictions were tightened.
“We still had people who were well along in the process and we still had people hired,” says Cormier.
Anabelle Cormier, Stahl RecruitingDebbie Taylor, a recruiter and headhunter in rail, transportation and mobility at Edna A. Rice Executive Recruiters Inc., describes the past year as a “roller-coaster” in the candidate recruitment and hiring business. She was “super busy in March” prior to the lockdown, then saw many human resource (HR) executives put a halt to making hiring decisions, she says.
While some companies put off hiring early on, others adjusted to the new reality and plowed ahead. Those that had to fill positions regardless of the new remote-work environment shifted recruiting, interviewing and onboarding of new employees from in-person to video conferencing and webinars, Cormier and Taylor say.
With many career fairs and conferences being cancelled, HR execs and business leaders have had to be more creative in how they communicate with potential hirees. For example, many have ramped up their use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to highlight their companies’ corporate culture.
“It’s all about maintaining that engagement,” says Cormier. “If I can’t go buy you a coffee at Starbucks today, I’m messaging you or reaching out and showing you something about what’s going on at our company — whether that’s our safety awards, or some new technology we have or the interesting projects we’re working on. It’s all about keeping the conversation going about your business.”
Such story-telling via social media also helps recruit passive candidates — those who aren’t looking for a job now, but might be interested in making a move later on, Cormier says.
Debbie Taylor, Edna A. Rice Executive Recruiters Inc.
“There’s still a skills gap in the rail industry, so it’s imperative [for the employer] to get in front of the passive candidates who have experience — as well as those with younger careers looking to move up now,” she adds.
Likewise, younger job seekers have upped their use of technology as part of their search. Cormier recalled receiving an unsolicited YouTube video from one candidate.
“It was an amazing video — he told us a little bit about himself and a project he’d just done and projects he was looking to do,” she says. “I know at least five people who aren’t looking to hire who would love this guy if they saw his video.”
Some of the recruitment and hiring techniques that employers have adopted over the past year likely will stay in place once the pandemic is over, Cormier and Taylor believe. While both expect a return to in-person interviewing — Taylor’s already noticed an uptick in travel for such purposes — they expect the hiring process will stick with video conferencing until final selections and job offers are being made.
“I think the process will become a hybrid,” says Taylor. “I think people have missed the face-to-face conferences and there’s a desire to get back to some travel, just maybe not as much as before COVID.”
Many of Taylor’s clients have adapted to what will become the “new” normal.
“As hard as COVID was, it’s really given a lot of leaders a fresh look at their businesses,” she says. “I’ve seen some great leaders weather this storm — they didn’t want to be there, but they’ve come out of it feeling like, ‘Yep, we’ve got this.’”
