The Hiring Slump is Over. Now What?
ByObama’s job stimulus package will target several fronts to create more jobs for Americans, including green incentives to retrofit homes, building energy-efficient infrastructure and providing relief to small businesses across the country. Between these initiatives and a bevy of other job stimulus strategies, it seems like a surefire plan to get the US job market back on track.
However, once this happens, and there is a surplus of job openings and available talent - then what happens? For the past year and a half businesses have been in hibernation, attempting to run as lean as possible due to the economic downturn.
Downsizing has been the norm and hiring has definitely become somewhat of a rarity for the majority of US companies. When the job market picks up, and we have a surplus of talent as well as openings, how can businesses best get back on track and manage their resources for the hiring onslaught?
Open Up the Gates
Whether you are a small business that receives help from the stimulus or a larger company that suddenly gets a ton of green contract work; open up the gates to let the talent out there know that you are hiring again. For the past year and a half you’ve probably let many of your new talent funnels get outdated – whether it be the employment section of your website, or a job board you regularly post to. Take the time to make sure you are up to date with all the previous resources you utilized, as well as some new tactics that have emerged since you’ve been out of the hiring game.
One new management resource for hiring that is constantly evolving is hiring software. Modern day hiring software can make the lives of hiring manager and recruiters within your company far easier. Not only does hiring software make recruiting simpler, it makes it more efficient. Whether it is tracking a large number of job applicants, auto posting to job boards, sending out automated thank you letters or keeping up with a variety of statistics, hiring software can pretty much do anything nowadays.
Don’t Overdo It
Learn something from the past two years. Running trim and slowing down your hiring lets you hone in on the important parts of your business: the cogs that are integral for survival. Although the lean, mean days are starting to disappear, don’t suddenly jump into needless spending mode. Get a hold of some statistics to determine what worked and what didn’t and capitalize on this newfound knowledge.