Covid-19 and it’s effect on Recruitment

The year 2020 proved to be an extremely tough year; with extreme political divides, violence, disasters causing mass destruction, and mass spread of misinformation. Though all these are eclipsed by the worldwide pandemic caused by the virus Covid-19. It is safe to say most of the world was unprepared to deal with a pandemic of this scale. Covid-19 shook the world to its core, with economies tanking globally and countless jobs being lost, it triggered a global recession that we as a whole are attempting to pull ourselves out of. 

From the moment our company was founded, our mantra has been to give the general public all the tools they need to achieve their dream career. From career mapping, training and volunteering opportunities to a jobs platform catered to the user, etc. Our philosophy has only become more resolute in the wake of this pandemic. However, we also have our sights set on the business end of recruitment. We want to trim down all the fat that has accumulated within recruitment, and present the most ideal candidates for our clients. 

Covid-19 and the furlough scheme

As Covid-19 started spreading throughout the world, our government made the right decision to put the country in a lockdown state. This state meant that we couldn’t leave our homes unless: it was to attend a job, wherein the company required you to be there; daily exercise; or to pick up groceries. It was requested that people would work from home if it was possible, to reduce the amount of people needlessly travelling and mixing with others not in their own ‘bubble’.

However, many businesses would, and at the time of writing this blog still are, temporarily shut; due to the fact that they wouldn’t be able to receive any business during the lockdown. Any employees in these businesses – and others who wished to opt in – would be placed on the furlough scheme; wherein they would refrain from working for the company, and the government would pay 80% of their wages. 

This furlough scheme was a great strategy for the employees and employers. However, as time went on and the issues surrounding Covid-19 were becoming more apparent; many businesses found themselves struggling financially. As there were many restrictions put into place, many businesses were not making enough money to stay afloat, and would eventually has to close their doors for good. Unfortunately, many employees would go under with the company, and find themselves unemployed. According to the Office of National Statistics, the unemployment rate went from 4.0% within Jan-Mar 2020, to 5.1% in Oct-Dec 2020. Meaning the employment rate increased by 1.1%. To put that in perspective, that meant 750,000 people suddenly found themselves without a job and an income.  

Covid-19 in the present day

Now we are slowly pulling ourselves out of the pandemic, we need to be quick to rectify this rising unemployment within our society. Our company has been working tirelessly with the Department of Work and Pensions to provide coaching sessions to job seekers. We’ve seen great success with our experienced coaches delivering support to these job seekers and as of writing this blog we have delivered our services to 611 clients, wherein 104 have found work following the coaching sessions. We are immensely proud of the work our coaches have been producing, and we plan on continually boosting those numbers. 

We now have an exit strategy for this lockdown we’re under. Eventually our lives will turn back to how it was. However, this trying time has proven that maybe there are some aspects of our career driven environments, that aren’t necessary.  

The benefits of remote working

This period has shown that a large majority of our white-collar jobs do not need to be performed within an office each day. It would be beneficial to find our own personal balance of working from the office and from our own homes. Although working from home has been tough due to us missing a lot of social interaction and not be able to meet colleagues/clients face to face, it has also come with many benefits, one being a decrease to our own travel costs and time spent travelling; which can be steep depending on the distance between our homes and our jobs.  

Another benefit being the roads will be clearer at peak times; reducing our carbon footprint as a whole within the country. In fact, the 2020 period has proven to be very beneficial for our country’s emissions. According to the BBC, emissions have dropped by 7% this year, the lowest it’s been since World War II. In a world where the threat of climate change is very real, this has been a silver lining on an otherwise large and terrible cloud.

An additional benefit would be if you had children who are too young to be attending school, or children on a school break. To be working from home would mean you wouldn’t have to find paid support to look after the children. Keeping an eye on them, and balancing your work around them, can really help ease your mind. We just hope they aren’t too distracting! 

Using imployable to kickstart your recruitment

Overall, this Covid-19 period has been an extremely tough time for many people across the world. However, we believe it’s important to learn from this and to perhaps consider some changes to how we work. This time has shown us that working remotely is possible for many of us, and may be beneficial in terms of efficiency depending on the employee and the job role. Although the unemployment rate has increased by a wide margin; now is the time to look at utilising the untapped potential within the many who have lost a job. 

If you are looking to build up your company; then be sure to look into our app to pinpoint the right candidates for any positions you may have. We offer various packages, all with their own tools. However, just by using our app, you have access to unlimited jobs postings; all completely free. We want to make the recruitment process as easy and streamlined as possible. So to best achieve that, we removed the ludicrous costs attached to recruitment. So we hope that you have coped well during these trying times, and if you need to hire additional help; our services are always here at no cost.