While there are some notable exceptions, most companies big and small have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The economic impact is obvious, but the pandemic and resultant lockdown have also affected how certain brands and employers are perceived.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban believes how organizations treat workers during the pandemic “could define their brand for decades.” We agree. We also believe that a time of crisis can often be the best opportunity for companies to let their employer brand shine.

How an RPO Partner Can Help Companies Like Amazon and Other e-commerce Companies Hire Thousands of Employees

During the first two months of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., Amazon experienced an extreme increase in customer demand. To meet this abrupt increase, Amazon successfully filled 175,000 positions in its fulfillment and delivery network. Other e-commerce businesses like Instacart and Chewy also rushed to fill needed positions. Therefore, they needed to ramp up their hiring function to hire thousands of workers to meet the extreme demands placed on their operations. It’s in these kind of extreme situations, recruitment process outsourcing providers (RPO)s offer strategic, consultive, and proactive solutions for quickly hiring thousands of people.

Media rental service Netflix, toy manufacturer Lego, and photography giant Fujifilm. Vastly different industries but they have one thing in common. They used internal disruption to improve their business models and reinvent themselves to adapt to a changing world.

For Netflix, it was recognizing changing technologies and transforming from a DVD by-mail rental business to the king of streaming. Lego, for decades one of the most popular construction toys for children, turned its brand around by releasing The Lego Movie in 2014 and then scaling back its products to focus on those that delivered a great customer experience. Perhaps the greatest adaption came from Fujifilm which not only survived the move to digital photography but started successful pharmaceutical and cosmetic lines.

a·gil·i·ty (noun) The ability to move quickly and easily. (Alternative) The ability to think and understand quickly.

Agility was once limited to the technology space. Today, diverse industries and brands are applying agility to their competitive advantage. GE relied on it to transform itself into a modern digital industrial company, National Public Radio employs agile methods to create new programming, and equipment giant John Deere credits an agile mindset with helping it develop new and advanced machinery.

When Ernest Shackleton set off to explore the Antarctic, his quest was for fame. When disaster struck and his vessel was trapped in ice, he knew that if his team were to survive he had to adjust his thinking. To make his men feel they were part of group that could not fail, he employed a more human touch to his command. After supper each evening, for example, he walked around to his men's tents to tell stories or play cards. Once, when supplies and morale were equally running low, he ordered up double rations to raise his crew's spirits.

What distinguishes a great leader is how they respond in times of crisis. By embracing uncertainty, great leaders can leverage precarious environments to launch new ideas and try new approaches.

A health crisis never happens when it's convenient for hiring. And COVID 19 heightens the urgency of filling open positions at companies that are hiring during the pandemic. Industries like Healthcare are hustling to fill temp positions because of quarantine related furloughs. During the Coronavirus disruption, sectors that are filling open positions, need to know how to quickly scale up their hiring to meet the sudden spike in hiring demand. Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is a flexible solution that can be customized to meet different hiring requirements. Here are some helpful tips to manage hiring requirements using an RPO program. 

One of the main challenges for companies hiring during the Coronavirus pandemic is to speed up their hiring process. Industries like Healthcare, Grocery Retail, and Manufacturing are feeling their hiring functions stretched to their limits. Recruitment process outsourcing providers (RPOs) offer a strategic solution for high volume hiring situations. So during this pandemic, it's an excellent time to partnering with an RPO for your hiring functions to weather these troubling times. Here are seven reasons why.

The recent coronavirus pandemic has flipped the labor market on its head. Some businesses have volunteered to close while others were mandated to close. This action has caused upticks in unemployment. The Department of Labor (DOL) reported that as of the week ending March 14, 2020, it saw an increase in initial jobless claims by 70,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 281,000. According to the DOL, several states specifically said that COVID-19 caused the layoffs. Some companies have frozen hiring efforts until there's more certainty about the economic impact of the virus. However, some businesses are hiring. Amazon is looking to fill 100,000 positions; the supermarket chain Kroger is looking to fill 10,000 jobs. Also, Healthcare providers, biotech, and pharmaceuticals are hiring, and big tech firms are hiring.

For industries that sharply increased their hiring volume because of the coronavirus, speeding the hiring process is vital to meet the sudden increased demand for jobs. In this post, we'll discuss the importance of reducing time-to-hire and show three ways recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) can help with this important recruiting metric.  

With a candidate-favorable labor market, organizations are facing fierce competition for talent. Talent acquisition practices that worked five or three years ago are no longer effective in hiring the right people, or getting them onboard fast enough.

Joe Marino, Senior Vice President with Hueman RPO, recently interviewed three talent acquisition leaders from different industries, company sizes, and geographical distribution to learn about their talent acquisition strategy. Here's an edited transcript of their conversation on common recruiting challenges and how each leader has positioned their organization to meet hiring needs.

Efficient business operations begin with a happy workforce. Research from the University of Warwick shows that when a workforce is happy, productivity increases by 12%. Enhanced productivity equals higher profit margins, and happy employees start with creating a positive candidate experience. In 2020, to create positive candidate experiences, employers are searching for ways to empathize with their potential employees on a deeper level. These employers rightly believe that understanding prospective new hires will help recruit skilled talent in a small labor market.