From foundations to glass ceiling – how recruitment software helps

November 30th, 2020 | Industry News

Every organisation has found 2020 stressful, today Recruit So Simple is looking at how one sector is finding mass hires for essential work. At the other end of the scale, we’re exploring how recruiting software is helping find key talent at the executive and board level.

Building from the ground up

One industry that has always struggled with recruitment is construction – and this has been made worse by the pandemic. After difficult years, notably 2008, construction has found it difficult to fill qualified and experienced roles. Developing creative recruitment systems has been key to helping successful building firms stay afloat. For example, the traditional apprentice route had been revitalised by government schemes, but COVID-19 has required much more virtual recruiting such as:

• Posting positions on hiring sites
• Encouraging passive applications through online recruitment software which allows individuals to list their future availability whilst already engaged on a project
• Creating a virtual platform that demonstrates market leadership for more senior positions.

In addition, recruitment CRM software is being used by the largest building companies to ‘onboard’ new projects up to two years ahead of foundation laying, giving them a strong pool of talent to draw on and allowing them to design training programmes that move current employees through skills development in an optimal fashion.

Finding the right executives during a pandemic

2020 has also driven talent management online. The traditional approach to attracting and retaining top employees has often been a ‘hands-on’ exercise, with sporting events a key focus for wooing talent. However this approach just hasn’t been possible this year. Instead talent management has been focused on how the best recruitment CRM is able to develop and maintain a relationship with potential talent, simplifying processes that can be implemented rapidly when actual recruitment takes place. One complication has been the fact that workforce planning has been disrupted or destroyed by the effects of the pandemic, meaning that existing projections are worthless and standard systems meaningless.

However, companies have still needed to recruit strategically and many have used recruitment database software for relationship-building and to help succession plan when the organisation has had all senior talent working remotely. Web based recruitment software allows for rapid identification of key requirements, sophisticated matching with elements in a talent pool and careful development of digital approaches to engage and onboard talent in a streamlined fashion.