Hiring is one of the most important elements that influence success in the IT and cybersecurity fields, especially during an economic downturn. To keep an edge over the competition, you need the best talent on your team. These five tips will help you master hiring even during a downturn.

1. Continuously Look for Talent

An important key to successful hiring is to always be looking for talent. Hiring can be a long and taxing process but when you already have intimate knowledge of the employment market, you will be able to make quicker and smarter hiring decisions. This is even more important now because the pandemic has changed the makeup of the candidate pool. You have an opportunity to hire talent that you otherwise would not have access to. Continuously looking for talent also allows you to gradually improve your hiring process.

 

2. Stay Organized

Hiring isn’t something you can just wing. It helps tremendously to have a strategic process to follow. You want to have a uniform process for filtering applications, performing interviews, and evaluating candidates. This will allow you to make more accurate and unbiased hiring decisions. You also want to set a timeline and stick to it. This will force you to stay focused.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/03/22/5-tips-for-recruiting-the-best-employees/#5c80d7302512

 

3. Be Responsive

Sticking to a timeline will also help you be more responsive to prospective employees. One of the worst mistakes you can make is to wait too long to follow-up with candidates. The best talent likely has many different companies fighting over them so if you take too long, you might lose out to a competitor. It is good practice to reach out to candidates after interviews as soon as possible, at least within 24 hours. This way candidates aren’t stressing out about how they performed during the interview. Candidates are more anxious than usual right now, so you want to do what you can to ease their minds.

 

4. Get to Know Candidates

It is also important to take the time to get to know each candidate during the vetting and interviewing process. To do this, you have to ask thoughtful and strategic questions that allow you to understand their personality and aptitude so you can assess whether they are the right fit for the position and for the team. Think about asking questions that are unusual and unexpected. These types of questions will help candidates feel more comfortable, so they open up to you.

 

5. Woo Candidates

During interviews, keep in mind that your main goal is to lure candidates. You don’t want to interrogate them or make them feel like criminals. Of course, you want to ask questions that allow you to evaluate their fit, but you also want to pitch the job to them. Communicate to them what the highlights are of working for your organizations. What are the perks? What opportunities will they have for career development? Why is your company culture attractive?

 

During an economic downturn, you need an effective hiring strategy. Having a talented team will allow you to bounce back stronger. By developing an organized hiring plan, continuously looking for talent, responding promptly to candidates, asking thoughtful questions, and highlighting the perks of your company and its culture, you can master hiring and land the best talent.