5 key tips for companies recruiting in a Global Pandemic

I started writing this blog a few weeks ago & was going to call it ‘5 key tips for companies recruiting in a down market’, however we’ve been pleasantly surprised with the positivity in the NZ IT market with a lot of hiring activity.

It seems life (& business) goes on & especially in technology, the reality is the whole world is being run on software. So we feel grateful for being in the technology industry & living in Aotearoa.

One of the hardest things in a ‘down market’ or ‘mixed market’ as we’re terming it, is to actually do the same things as you would normally do, but unfortunately there is a lot more digital noise and distraction going on so….

1 - Stay focused on the key skills & experience you’re looking for

You may see over or under qualified people and a huge variety of different people but they key is to stay focused on what you’re looking for and pay market rate and get the right fit for the team. 

2 - Make sure you get back to all applicants as often this is the first contact people will have with your brand 

In the current market we’re seeing a huge deluge of candidates many people returning home, people being made redundant etc this does not change the fact that it’s still hard to find really good people, who even if they’re not happy in their current role they’ll often ride it out where they are currently. 

3 - Continue to recruit on merit & don’t make assumptions because of Covid

See a good deal when there is one - it’s not the market for candidates to negotiate high so often you’ll pick up very good talent for market rate or have very good candidates happy to do different projects. Don’t bias people who have got caught up in restructures / redundancies either - interview people on merit and everyone’s situation is a little different so don’t make assumptions because of Covid.

4 - Larger Talent Pool 

Because of a disrupted market you can often find people that are more difficult in a stable market, especially with redundancies and Kiwis returning from overseas so here is a golden opportunity to acquire IT specialists who have built up overseas software experience and are bringing this back to NZ. As the saying goes ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’.

5 - Consider Interim Contract solutions

Because of organisation or market uncertainly is your team stressed? Look at getting a contractor in for 3-6 months.

Again because there’s a larger talent pool with more people available on the market it’s easier to get well skilled & experienced IT contractors who can often start immediately to lighten the load on your team. 

I’d love to hear your experiences or what you’re seeing in the market so feel free to post your comments.

I'm Paul, I Iove coffee and I’m Founder & Principal Consultant of Sunstone, an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in recruiting IT roles within software, web, mobile, blockchain, big data, infrastructure, security & networks in Christchurch, South Island of New Zealand.