Mar 25, 2020 5 min read Blog

Hiring in Uncertain Conditions – How Can Freelance Recruiters Help?

COVID-19 has brought us the future of work – remote, gig-based, autonomous, flexible. While most of us stay at home, companies are still trying to stay on course and grow their teams. How to keep hiring in these uncertain conditions?

For a while now, our work lives have been shifting towards remote, project-based (or gig-based), and more independent. Personally, it's been a joy to see so many great freelance recruiters and HR experts offer flexible support to companies who need on-demand help.

As of March 2020, a new shift has been forced upon us. A crisis that has left the whole world re-imaging their daily routines. Including the recruitment community and a lot of companies, who are trying to figure out if and how to go on with their recruitment plans.

These uncertain times will definitely create new challenges in recruiting. Heck, for a lot of companies, it will be a challenge to survive. Thankfully, a bounce-back is predicted to happen sometime during summer. 🙌 Until then, the show must go on. 💪

With this 5-minute read, I can't promise of a perfect recruiting solution to relieve this complex situation we're all in… But I promise some valuable insights on working with freelance recruiters. Perhaps it's exactly the flexible recruiting and HR support your company needs in the following months.

Ready? Let's go!

Should you continue hiring?

Although overall hiring has been decreasing over the past weeks, the picture on an industry level is quite different. According to Glassdoor's latest job market report, the tourism and travel sector has taken the biggest hit, logistics has seen an increase, and tech hiring has remained quite the same.

Those who are already working remotely or have been able to move online fast, definitely have the upper hand in this situation. It feels a bit morally questionable to say out loud but…

It could be a great opportunity to scoop up some great talents. 🙈
Candidates are more responsive than ever, and recruiters finally have the time to source and build their candidate pipelines. Talents do not join new teams overnight. They need convincing and time to consider. But sitting at home, being concerned about the future, they might be more eager to learn about new opportunities.

Your company should be in a good position if you're already familiar with these three:

Remote work
Flexibility and fast adaptability
Online tools (for every aspect of your work)

How office-based companies are reacting to the situation 👇
Here are some most common notions from personal conversations, social media posts, group chats and articles.

"Like most companies, we have moved to all WFH (working from home) where we can, and are interviewing via video."
“There is no panic for us, but we have halted all our hiring at least for 2 weeks, just to see where this situation is going.”
“We are continuing with hiring as planned, but developed an online onboarding program and focusing more on local candidates.”
“Had to send some sad messages to my candidates who needed relocation and a visa. We're not declining them, rather putting them on hold.”
“We've seen the number of applicants drop, but nothing drastic. The processes take longer, but we're keeping up the communication with our candidates.”
“As we are still closing our next investment round, we have to cut costs where we can and cancel all hiring plans until further notice. ”
“We're focusing on reaching out to candidates and building up our talent pipeline. As people are online with spare time on their hands, it's a good time to start conversations.”
“Not so good: All in-person interviews are on hold, and hiring managers are moving slowly because they are remote. Great: Recruiters finally have the opportunity to focus on searching for talent!”

Freelance recruiters help you reduce risks

The current crisis will probably have a longer-term impact, as it affects not only our health but our economy, society and overall well-being. Many companies will struggle to find their way back to stability for quite some time.

As we started Relancer, an online workspace for freelance recruiters and companies, we inherently designed a business promoting remote work, flexibility, and online tools. That has allowed us to adapt quickly and we hope to help others as well.

How freelance recruiters help companies reduce risks:

They work with you temporarily, for as long or little as you need.
They can work with you part-time or full-time. The project scope will be just as you agree upon.
They are a cost-efficient alternative to recruiting agencies and in-house recruiting teams.
They are more likely to find top-quality candidates in their field of specialisation.
They take the extra work off your shoulders and let you focus on your main business: making sure your clients are happy.
They are open to discussing different pricing and collaboration models. You can agree to work an hourly/daily basis, on a results basis or per achieved milestones.
They are the best of both worlds: results-focused like recruitment agencies and people-driven like your in-house recruiters.
They come into your team with their own processes and know-how. As you don't have to spend time on training them, you can focus more on cultural aspects.
A BONUS ⭐ Our team at Relancer can help you find, evaluate and choose the right freelance recruiter for your situation. So you can avoid making costly mistakes. Reach out to us 📩 [email protected]

A brief intro to freelance recruiters

aka contract recruiters
aka independent recruiters
aka external recruiters who work as a part of your team part-time and/or temporarily

Freelance recruiters are often considered as something in-between of an external and internal recruiter, called Embedded Recruiters. Coming from an agency or an in-house recruiting team, they seek more independence in choosing their clients and projects.

The support they can offer:

Providing pay-per-hour support in any part of your hiring process, where you need help the most. (e.g. sourcing, pre-screening, interviewing, background checks, etc.)
Local recruiters help you hire in new or foreign locations, where you don't yet have any recruiting experience or you need someone to be your "local eyes".
By having specialised experience in a niche (role or industry), they can find top talents much faster. Some recruiters even have established talent pools, so they can reach out to candidates right away.
Senior consultants and coaches can help you update your recruiting processes to be remote-ready and online.

Conclusion

Building and managing a company is always challenging, always a bit uncertain, and always with limited resources. Thankfully, as leaders, managers, specialists – as human beings – we're also always creative and adaptable. If this new situation means adapting to remote work, online tools and being more flexible… We can do it!

At this moment, I'm so thankful that we've built Relancer as an online workspace from day one.

💻 Encouraging freelance recruiters and companies to connect and collaborate online.
💡 Breaking away from the traditional recruitment agency model.
🏆 Empowering recruiters with more flexibility and freedom in their choices.

Are freelance recruiters the right hiring solution for your business? How can they help you during uncertain times?

We offer a free recruiting consultation where we analyse your specific situation and challenges. Online, of course :) Reach out to us 💌

Hope this helps!