We do live in unprecedented times. If someone would tell me a month ago that the borders of my country would be closed I would have to laugh. It's a reality now. I had some discussions with some recruiters about possible impacts on the recruitment industry. This situation nudged me to think about a lot of things. An example could be how we as recruiters do our job. If you are a recruiter the impact of coronavirus on recruitment will depend on two aspects. At first how long the current situation will take and second how serious it will be for the economy. I don't have a crystal ball but here are some of my thoughts. I am convinced that the current situation will have a positive impact on the recruitment industry. The time will show how precise my "prediction" was. The impact will be on..

Labor Market

It's very likely that there will be more candidates who will be open for new job opportunities. Especially candidates working IT will stay picky and cautious about changing their job. Recruiters will have to invest a lot of efforts to convince these candidates.

Some specific positions will not be so in demand from a long-term perspective. As an example, we could mention the construction industry, engineering, agriculture. Companies will strive to automate as many roles as possible. The reason is that they will want to mitigate the impact on their industry. It won't happen overnight. The current crisis is another catalyst for companies. They will have to change to be resistant to crisis.

Technical Advancement will be quicker than before. Companies will be more creative in the face of the current situation. You can take as example masks and shields printed on 3D printers. You can find a report here. It shows how creative we are.

I have good news for you. There will be more jobs and more people will work from home. Yes, that's true. We live in an amazing time and thanks to technologies more people can do their job from home than 10 years ago. That is also the reason why the impact of the current situation on people might not be so harsh.

Recruiters

In general, I don't think that companies will stop hiring permanently. A typical example could be IT roles and other in-demand positions. More likely there will be fewer roles from a short-term perspective. Companies will consider each role and at the same time, they will have more candidates. You should take into account also some other aspects like location, market, skills, tools, industries so..

You will become a Virtual Recruiter. Many talent acquisition teams are working remotely for a couple of years. It's working so more recruiters than ever before will work from home.

You will have more candidates. As a recruiter hiring remote teams you will have a competitive advantage. Employees will have to learn new skills and upskill themselves. It will be good for them because they will be able to find a better job.

You will have to learn new skills to be successful in the new world. Yes, it will be necessary if you want to compete with other recruiters. Do you want to be successful in recruitment? You have to be good at psychology, sales, marketing, IT etc.

You will have some new tools which we don't know now. The reason is that technology reflects the crisis. The companies developing HR technology will have to evolve too. They will want to make your job easier. There will be some new emerging products in interviewing, assessment, sourcing etc.

You will recruit in the new industries and these will flourish. I am talking especially about healthcare. More and more companies are operating in this industry now. They will want to prevent a similar situation as we are going through right now. You can expect a similar trend in some other industries like nanotechnology or renewable energy.

I would like to tell you that you should not be afraid of the current situation. Yes, it's likely that there will be a lot of changes in our lives and work but not all changes are negative. Can you imagine being a recruiter based in Prague and recruiting for a company in Canada? Our job is not tight to the specific region and we can work from anywhere. This crisis will speed up the process of transformation of our profession. I wish you all to stay safe and let's stay strong and face this situation together.