Due to the Corona crisis, candidates are not willing to change their current job? No!
Of course, the assumption is that currently, only those who are willing to change jobs anyway or who are afraid because of the situation of their employer are willing to change.
But this is also not true.
We often read in the media: employees are holding on to their jobs, many companies have decreed a hiring freeze, short-time work is being introduced and job cuts are imminent.
This may be true for some professionals and companies, but not for the entire economy. There are industries where production is still running at full speed and even extra shifts have to be worked. This applies not only to hygiene articles and the pharmaceutical industry, but also to the food industry and selected technology companies that are not experiencing standstills due to supply bottlenecks. Many branches of industry are producing at their usual high capacity utilization rates or sometimes even at more than 100 percent. Moreover, the current production level is in many cases the calm before the post-Corona storm.
On the candidate side, the situation is very similar: there are candidates who are frightened by the current situation and who are currently unwilling to move to a new, as yet unknown company to complete a probationary period and do not know what the entrepreneurial future will bring.
The flip side, however, is that it is precisely the highly qualified top candidates who have been dissatisfied with their current employer or their area of responsibility for some time that are open to new job offers in the current phase.
Often they have been so intensively involved in their normal professional life that they have neither the time nor the freedom to even think about the direction in which a change could be considered for them. In the current travel and commuting-free time, in which many people work in the home office, it is precisely these candidates who have the freedom to deal with changed and new professional perspectives.
Before the Corona phase, it was often difficult to find suitable candidates because there was a massive shortage of specialists and managers on the German job market. Currently, there are many potential top candidates available.
Quote from Henry Ford: “Whoever does what he can already do will always remain what he already is.”
Professional recruiting in times of Corona offers multiple opportunities
Hager Unternehmensberatun, partner of Horton Group International is very broadly networked due to the wide variety of industries it serves. This means not only that the right contact person is known. A good network also means that information is available from trustworthy sources about what is planned in the background at companies. What is the strategic direction for the post-corona phase? Are there short-time work plans? Are there any plans for redundancies? Are plant closures being considered?
This level of so-called ‘insider knowledge’ ensures a placement with solid employers. Vice versa, there is the concrete possibility to identify suitable candidates for companies that want to take advantage of the situation now.
What distinguishes a good personnel consultant is that, in addition to general market knowledge and an understanding of the industry, he also knows what is happening behind the scenes. This also includes knowing which candidate is already willing to change anyway and is just waiting for the right offer. We advise these candidates in particular not to passively shape the current – possibly uncertain – phase and shy away from change, but to think about the time after the crisis.
Conclusion:
A lot has shifted, changed and relocated because of Corona. But the economy is still running. Maybe not everywhere at full speed, but in many places with new creativity and willingness to change. To sit out topics in a crisis situation and wait until the phase is over can paralyze a successful future. Activity in such times is a credo for ambitious employees and company leaders.
Finally, there is a positive reverse conclusion: Candidates who are currently prepared to take this ‘personal risk’ and do not just want to wait until things are more relaxed again are also willing to take entrepreneurial risks. Such employees are often those who can positively shape the future of a company.
