The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for businesses across all sectors and it can be easy to focus on the negative aspects. But there have also been some really positive things to come out of the past two years.
Here at Beyond, we have been able to demonstrate that as a recruitment business we can successfully recruit remotely and we have seen employers become more open to flexible and remote working options.
Effective Remote Recruitment – A Case Study
Beyond has always recruited on a national basis, but COVID-19 has emphasised just how effective it can be. This is best illustrated through a recent project with a national Technical Machinery Dealership. We worked with them in an exclusive partnership for a year until they built up an internal recruitment team. We recruited right across their business, from Yard Person right up to Dealership and Regional Managers.
During our tenure, we realised that - Trained Service Technicians with relevant experience were particularly difficult to source with limited numbers available throughout the country. To address this shortage, we looked beyond traditional recruitment approaches. We sought out workers from other similar organisations within New Zealand and from overseas until the COVID-19 situation brought a stop to the immigration of overseas candidates.
During this time, we successfully filled 57 mainly permanent roles based right around the country. The majority of the roles were based in the regions and we managed all interactions using online recruitment tools including MS Teams.
With the severe shortage of candidates across almost every area of recruitment, we have had to think smarter and more broadly than ever before. Whereas in the past, we could attract talent from overseas, this has become much more difficult. Even when the borders open up, we are likely to see just as many people depart as come in.
Building Talent Pools of Regional Workers
We have also been able to identify a readily-available pool of candidates who are being under-utilised in the regions. Often when people move to the regions for lifestyle reasons, they have to compromise on their careers due to the limited numbers of jobs available.
Now that we have clients open to fully-remote working, this may no longer be an issue. We have seen over the past two years that you can have the choice of lifestyle you want for yourself but also continue growing your professional career. Sounds like the dream for many, doesn’t it?
Not every role can successfully be undertaken in a remote working set up – it would be a bit difficult to be a receptionist and not be on the front desk – but we are finding the appetite from our clients for full remote working roles has increased significantly.
Taking the Next Step
If you are a potential candidate who is either located away from preferred career opportunities or a client who is struggling with a hard-to-fill role, give us a call. Our team of experienced, specialist recruiters will be open and honest about the availability of roles or remotely-working candidates in your sector.
Our team are also here to support employers across New Zealand, and are ready to discuss your recruitments and how we can support you with your needs.
