A hiring hiatus is to be expected now and again, especially in times of economic difficulty or after a global pandemic; however, there is plenty that recruiters can do to overcome this quiet period and set them up for success while they wait for hiring to return. Here are ten ideas for staying productive and continuing to add value.

1. Look at your staffing CRM and overall tech stack

Tech changes constantly, so look at your staffing CRM and other software systems and ask yourself whether they still make the grade given what else is on the market. If your tools aren’t working as they should or adding enough value, it is a good time to assess upgrade options.

2. Boost your skills

It is a great time to work on your own recruitment skill stack. LinkedIn says that the three most vital skills for modern recruiters are the ability to engage with the passive candidate market, to accurately evaluate talent-related data, and to provide consultancy services to client businesses.

3. Understand brand advocacy

If you can train your employees to be brand advocates, your company is far more likely to receive inbound visitors online and more business overall. People trust people, so share your messaging and really understand what makes your employer brand excellent. If you can’t easily define your employer brand, it is a good time to work on it.

4. Develop content for your own brand

Again, support your own people to become advocates by creating content they can share and reuse online.

5.Look at the talent pipeline

Turnover in key roles will start again, so make sure your talent pipeline is kept warm and have a plan in place for backfilling those strategic positions as they become open.

6. Look at opportunities for automation

How can you run a more efficient and streamlined business? Consider everything from your staffing CRM automation through to other process efficiencies that cut costs and waste.

7. Make sure your staff are tech-savvy

Even the best staffing CRM system is pointless if your staff can’t fully use it. Take this time to train everyone on the full feature set on offer and make use of it.

8. Work on your career page

Research suggests that most career pages only achieve an eight per cent conversion rate, so why not work on yours and improve it?

9. Boost your social media activity

Businesses with a strong social media presence are far more likely to get quality applicants. Invest in your social platforms and ensure they are up to date, correctly branded, and filled with relevant and quality content designed to engage your end-users.

10. Write better job descriptions

It is amazing that so many job descriptions are still so poorly written in this day and age. Take the time to better your standard wording, to write better descriptions for roles that you regularly recruit for, and to generally improve your content so that it reaches more candidates.