Recruiting in a Recession; A recession may seem a strange time to talk about recruitment but most if not all company’s have periods of growth followed by flat periods or quieter times. Your recruitment needs may follow these cycles and it is how you deal with these changes that sets you apart from other company’s. A carefully recruitment strategy of survival in the lean times may help.

Don't stop recruitment! While it is easy to enforce a stop on all recruitment . Recessions create changes and labour availability in the employment market, with good, experienced staff becoming available. Previously unavailable candidates are now there - and frequently with more affordable salary expectations. Downturns offer employers a break from the battle for talent. 

Communicate! Recruitment strategies should be not just about the short-term survival but about how your company wants to position itself when the tides change. Managers should liaise  with sales managers and be aware of your company trends in order to estimate when the economic downturn might end. If the forecast is that it will be short-lived, premature layoffs could be disastrous for your company in trying to re-employ skilled candidates.

Prepare to be inundated! More people out of work, means more applications. This may sound like you have an extensive pool of candidates to pick  from, that's only the case if you can manage to see all the applications that come in. Utilise the skills of a good recruitment agency to help search, source and select candidates

Review your recruitment partners! Ensure any existing contracts will be fulfilled and consider how an alternative can offer you new supplier terms in order to increase your cash flow.
Focus priorities and revise recruiting targets
Make sure you put all your efforts into recruiting for positions that generate the highest return on investment.

Since 1 October 2007 all workers have had a statutory right to at least 4.8 weeks paid annual leave (that's 24 days paid holiday if you work five days a week). From 1 April 2009 this entitlement will increase to 5.6 weeks (28 days)

From October 2010, National Minimum Wage rates will increase from:

·           £5.80 to £5.93 an hour for workers aged 21 and over

·           £4.83 to £4.92 an hour for workers aged 18 to 20

·           £3.57 to £3.64 an hour for workers aged 16 to 17

The rise is around the two per cent mark in each category. As promised, the government has extended the adult minimum wage rate to 21-year-olds from October 2010. Previously the qualifying age for the National Minimum Wage was 22.

When you are next recruiting for your Factory, Warehouse or Office, in the interview say to the prospective candidate that “it is your company policy that staff will only be paid when the company gets paid for the work they have done” then sit back and smile.

Or walk around your Office or Factory and demand your staff to hand you cheques for the work they have done this week. Do you think it will work? Most company’s staff start work on Monday, work all week and you pay them on a Friday or maybe the last day of the month. So to clarify John starts work on Monday produces Widgets all week, you pay him Friday. You put the Widgets in a box Friday, send them to your customer and hey he pays you Monday. Nope that was one of those stop smiling moments. If you are lucky your Widget customer will pay you in a month, maybe two even worse maybe more… Just think John may have been paid for eight weeks or more before you get paid for one single Widget. Next Recruitment allow you to recruit staff cost effectively. We can pay staff on a weekly basis and discuss payment terms in line with your customers. Your products can produced delivered and paid for before you pay the invoice for the work they have done. So lets say that again staff produce, you dispatch, we pay staff, you get paid, invoice settled! Ok you can start smiling now. Call Next Recruitment 0121 733 2888 Contact Us Now to discuss your Recruitment Needs.