Hiring through a recession by engaging and aligning your agency clients

Do we need confirmation of a recession by official measure?

The prospect of a global economic recession is rearing its head. The UK economy is predicted to meet the official measure, which is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. The US has already met this benchmark in 2022. Australia, which went some 30 years without meeting the official measure, looks unlikely to escape the fallout of global recessive forces this time around. 

In such a shaky operating environment, recruiting becomes a difficult area. Much as with marketing, hiring budgets tend to get axed first as companies go into defence mode and batten down the hatches. However, reviewing costs is one thing, but axing hiring completely is short-sighted.

Of course, for recruitment agencies, it is all down to what your clients elect to do. Chances are they won’t make decisions in isolation. Here we consider some key points on which recruitment agencies can engage and discuss with clients to help them navigate the choppy waters of the recession that lies ahead.

Align your clients with the opportunities a recession brings for employers

• Engage with your clients – Engage with clients and set out the case for maintaining recruiting during a recessive period. The life-blood of agencies is of course taking new instructions from your clients. It is vital to be proactive in preventing their hiring activity drying up completely. Clients with whom you have strong relationships will be easier to provide counsel to than others but makes sure you reach out to all of them.
• Opportunity knocks! – There is little doubt that a recession throws up all sorts of opportunities. For some businesses, it may be that they have recession beating market offers. For others, it might be the acquisition of struggling competitors. For almost all, the opportunity to pick up top talent that may have been released as other companies downsize is an opportunity that needs to be fully embraced.
• Cut back, yes. Put all hiring on hold… NO! – Prioritising hiring needs is a logical first step. Review open positions and focus on high priority needs. Of course, key positions will always need to be recruited, no matter what the economic outlook. Love it or hate it, all organisations have a certain amount of person dependence. Some skills and experience levels may not be available from within the organisation and there is no option but to make a new hire.
• Look beyond the short-term – Yes, we all have to watch the monthlies. But we also need to contextualise hiring activity within the longer-term strategic goals of the business. Despite the seemingly shifting nature of key elements which influence the operating environment in the short to mid-term, such as government policy and compliance, remember, it’s a long game.

Take a long-term goal like carbon net zero. It’s easy to make short-term decisions such as renewing the pursuit of fossil fuels to offset fuel supply uncertainty. However, it is important not to let the achievement of net zero get side-lined or even lost. The same applies to recruitment – make sure hiring activity dovetails with long-term business strategy.

Like and unlike previous recessions

The times we are in are anything but typical. Some might argue that the context for the recession that looms is radically different to others we have previously seen, and the tactics that may have helped recruitment agencies and their clients to get through previous recessions may not be as effective this time around. 

Recovering from Covid, uncertainty over food and energy resource supply, and masses of unfilled vacancies resulting from a skills gap and large percentages of working age people not in employment – all certainly seem specific to here and now.

But elements like runaway inflation and the rising cost of borrowing seem to be consistent characteristics. The same is true of the need for efficiency in the recruitment back office.

Recession beating recruitment back office automation with ETZ

ETZ’s leading timesheet and invoicing solution, streamlines the back office processing of your recruitment agency. Our complementary solutions, ETZ Comply for onboarding and document management, and Caspian for business intelligence give agencies further capability to streamline and uncover opportunities. To find out more call us on 0800 311 2266 or book a demo.