Covid-19 has woven its way into everything – restaurants, transportation, parks, and businesses. There are small businesses loans being offered to help keep companies afloat during this crisis, and the government has promised us help is on the way. However, for many small businesses, help may not arrive before difficult decisions have to be made. While hiring may naturally have to be paused for some small businesses, what about recruiting? Should you stop recruiting during the Covid-19 pandemic? 

The short answer is 'no.' If you've already allocated for a position in your budget and your core business is stable, don't change course. Recruiting is a process that takes a lot of time and effort to build and retain a pipeline of qualified candidates. It could take a little longer to land your perfect employee because people may be wary of changing jobs right now. But, this is a perfect reason to keep your search moving forward, and you may even find that if you keep your momentum going, you may eventually draw interest from people who might not have considered job role before. Similarly, if you love hiring people from industries that are struggling right now (restaurants, hospitality, call centers, transportation) then now is the time to snatch them up! With many companies being forced to lay off hourly workers, you can use that to your advantage by offering a stable role.

While this is clearly a very uncertain time for everyone, it won't last forever and it could end up being one of the best opportunities to attract and engage potential employees and find some great people. Many are now newly working from home and will have a bit more flexibility to talk, consider new opportunities, and even schedule virtual interviews.

As the old saying goes, “this too shall pass.” While we're all a bit unsure of what the future holds, what we do know is that our current restricted status won't last forever. The markets will turn up again, the virus will scale back, people will begin to travel again and go to restaurants again, and things will get back to a new 'normal.' The hope is that we'll all come out of this wiser and better positioned for future success than we were before.