How Hiring is Affected due to Coronavirus Outbreak?

Coronavirus outbreak has already affected many sectors of human life right from restaurants, food chains, tourism, airlines, sporting events to film industry also which is eventually leading to economic slowdown in many countries. While the various countries are continuing to prepare and practice social distancing and self-quarantine during this COVID-19 pandemic, companies are looking for workers to help restock empty shelves and deliver orders to home-bound customers.  In addition to this, of course, Coronavirus outbreak is also having a significant impact on the jobs market, employers plans to hire and the recruitment industry as a whole, experts have warned. Many industry executives & experts have stated their views towards coronavirus impact on  recruitment industry and hiring.

What Experts say about Impact on Recruitment -

Lee Biggins - CEO and the founder of CV-Library
Lee Biggins has stated, “No doubt that the Coronavirus outbreak will have significant consequences for the recruitment industry as a whole”. He further added, “We're already hearing feedback that employers​ are pausing their hiring plans while they wait for the worst to pass.”
Steve Blank - a retired serial entrepreneur-turned-educator
Steve has said, “It’s no longer business as usual for the rest of the economy. In fact, shutting down the economy for a pandemic has never happened. Millions of jobs may be lost in the next few months, as entire industries are devastated, something not seen since the Great Depression of 1929-39. I hope I’m very wrong, but the social and economic impacts of this virus are likely to be profound and will change how we shop, travel, and work for years.”
Kamal Karanth - Co-founder of staffing solutions provider Xpheno
Karanth has said, “Several India entry projects are getting or likely to get postponed. Senior-level hiring, which is considered as critical hiring in any industry and usually remains insulated from various other factors, is likely to be pushed back for some months.”
Jamie Dimon -  CEO of JPMorgan Chase
Jamie Dimon has quoted that it expected the U.S. economy to contract in the first two quarters of the year, which would meet a common definition of a recession.

Also Read: Effect of Coronavirus Crisis on Employment

Many companies to Freeze their Hiring operations

According to reports, employment in Britain hit a record high in January before the Coronavirus outbreak but now the country is facing for a great wave of job losses. According to official figures, hiring of many firms & companies has been frozen there amid the crisis. Some companies have moved to freeze hiring until the economic impact of the virus is made clear, but many others are continuing to recruit in a bid to prevent a business slowdown. Several companies in India and across the world have already cancelled or postponed interviews. Some of them are turning to video calls, where possible, as they are unable to travel for face-to-face interactions, which is important in senior hires. Many reports state that hiring is likely to be delayed or pushed back by at least a quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic forces companies to suspend projects and find immediate ways to cope with the situation.

Usually, hiring of senior or top executives such as chief executives and operations and finance chiefs is also likely to be delayed by quarter as companies and senior executives are unable to travel. As senior-level hiring needs significant face-to-face interaction to get known about the candidate, interviews are getting pushed and indefinitely postponed. Similarly, the startup are also going to be affected due to coronavirus outbreak.  For instance, in the startup ecosystem, hiring has been decided based on the growth plans they have but now many of them are unable to proceed further because They have fewer cash reserves and a smaller margin of error for managing sudden downturns. The ripple and feedback effect of all of these closures will have a major impact on country’s  economy as each industry that gets impacted puts people out of work  and those laid off workers don’t buy products and services. While according to some experts, the real impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on hiring in India will take 3-4 weeks to gauge.

It’s important to note that the candidate market has always been competitive pre-coronavirus and companies have continued to take their time to process candidates and hire the best person for the job. That’s not going to change ever.  As the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect economies across the globe, few industries still have been left untouched by the fallout, and that’s having huge implications not only for the workforce but also the recruitment process. Many experts said that there is still hope for the recruitment industry, as many employers would continue to hire for essential roles and some sectors – such as health and social care and logistics were already recruiting more workers.

Also Read: Companies are Asking their Employees to Work from Home due to CoronaVirus

Lately, online e-commerce giant Amazon made headlines when the company announced it is looking to hire 100,000 workers for warehouse and delivery positions. Meijer, American Supermarket company, is also hiring additional seasonal team members in each of their stores to meet the demands of the business. Cosco says it to is looking for workers to help keep its inventory moving to meet customer demand. Walmart is looking for employees to add to its delivery drivers.

All above information just comes down to the fact that Not every industry slows down in an economic downturn and not every company within an industry slows down. The bottom line is people get hired during layoffs and hires happen even when things slow down. Hiring will speed up or slow down within an organization based on their strategic plans for the year not solely because of a virus.