Since COVID-19 hit in March of this year, almost everything about our work and our lives has been disrupted and turned upside down. For instance, HR teams practically overnight have had to figure out how to enable their employees to work from home. And companies in industries highly impacted by the pandemic are laying off, furloughing, or reassigning employees to new positions.

In short, many are learning that remaining agile is critical for survival; yet they’re not completely sure what it takes to navigate this unchartered territory. What does all this mean for RPO providers? That helping clients meet their most pressing recruitment challenges now goes hand-in-hand with guiding them on how to be more agile in their recruiting approach. We recently brought together a terrific team of RPO leaders to talk about just that and we’ll be covering their helpful insights and (mostly) upbeat outlooks over several posts.

The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on employers and candidates requires RPO providers to pivot their business. Pivoting to a new strategy often entails drastically changing an entire organization. But in the case of unexpected crisis, pivoting has more to do with quickly changing course to adapt to outside, uncontrollable forces.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted recruiting practices and caused organizations to rethink their candidate screening process. As companies adapt to these changes, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) leaders are adjusting with them. The ability of RPOs to quickly pivot in any direction makes them the perfect hiring partner to help businesses adjust to the changes in candidate screening.   

Throughout history, leaders have relied on communication to spark action and ease fears. When one of its flight landed nose first at LaGuardia airport back in 2013, Southwest Airlines quickly and immediately handled the crisis through social media. Honest communication on Twitter and Facebook helped the brand control the story and maintain good faith with its customers.

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.