EFL Associates Executive Search & Talent Acquisition Blog

As economies slowly recover, the threat of renewed waves of coronavirus remains. Uncertainty will stay with us for many months, and it will be almost impossible to define what’s “normal.” What we need to think about is not a “new normal” but a new reality—a “new now.”

While unemployment numbers are rising during the coronavirus pandemic, there are still jobs to be had. So, as the world practices social distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19, nearly all hiring managers are turning to virtual interviews to fill open roles in all ranks of their business -- from presidents and CEOs to part-time employees. The virtual interview is a practice large global companies adopted years ago to connect with potential employees around the world – flash forward - it’s now becoming the new normal across the board.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a variety of crises across various sectors of business. Perhaps most notably, unemployment is at an all-time high and has continued to rise throughout the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting nonprofit organizations in previously unthinkable ways, from the inability to carry out core missions while volunteers, board members and employees practice social distancing, to a general lack of engagement.

Has COVID-19 disrupted your firm’s hiring process? You’re not alone. However, maybe this is a unique opportunity to think strategically and retool for the future. Here are a few ideas our clients are thinking about.

COVID-19 has caused unprecedented numbers of employee furloughs and layoffs, resulting in historically high unemployment rates across the U.S. As companies struggle to make financial decisions regarding their employees’ futures in the workforce, having a robust career transition services (CTS) program in place would make today’s crisis far less stressful. 

Be wary of returning to the comfort of normalcy.  As the recent wave of urgent, reactive change swept across the higher education landscape, colleges and universities found themselves in one of three basic categories: those who were [relatively] prepared; those who were unprepared but able to grind out a short-term solution; those who were neither prepared nor able to respond.  We have already seen institutions in the last category shutter their doors.  There will be more in the coming months.