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.