COVID-19's Impact on the Candidate Population
WHAT I THOUGHT WOULD HAPPEN…
One silver lining I imagined early on with COVID is that companies previously skeptical of significant remote work could see how it would be possible to achieve goals just the same (since being forced to test working from home/anywhere). Sure there’s been flexibility primarily for knowledge workers for a long time, but COVID brought a sea change and even a blank piece of paper to start anew the thinking about where and when employees work.
ANYTHING that could result in a larger number of potential candidates after our tight labor market for years on end would be a hallelujah in the Bay Area and beyond. And well, in any market it’s never easy to find just the right fit A Player for an executive role.
I specifically thought of a VP HR search from two years ago when the employee wanted two days from home and the employer needed the person in office four days a week. The candidate did not move forward. That marriage would most likely have been consummated today.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED…
… is more employees became accustomed to mostly at home. For them, even a couple days a week in office, if more than a 30 minute commute away, was now not going to work! Wow. Exactly opposite of what I thought. So we have this divide now. Something that caused candidates to have LESS flexibility when employers generally have more.
I’ve also heard from many who are very ready to get back to some type of office interaction at least part time. The “work around” with Zoom, although convenient and a life-saver, just can’t replace actual in-person, reading the room, body language cues, and off-line talk.
Many job descriptions today are labeled REMOTE. On the upside, one candidate said his office was probably going back and he wanted to remain remote, so he was interested and placed with our client who was already partially remote anyway.
There are many possibilities. And any way you look at it, you can find new and different thinking and silver linings that emerged from COVID. You just need to look for them!
Reach out to us to discuss how the candidate population or compensation for your specific role has changed.