The COVID-19 crisis isn’t going to end suddenly, anytime soon. We need to learn to live with it and accept the opportunities it brings. Here we look at some areas where demand is already high and where jobs are likely to be created.
Prepare to recruit for opportunities in these boom sectors
As countries have rolled back their COVID-19 pandemic responses, the reintroduction of lockdowns in places such as California, Florida and Leicester shows us that COVID-19 isn’t going to end suddenly, anytime soon, if indeed it ever ends at all.
Even if they develop a vaccine for coronavirus tomorrow, we are going to have to remain wary of it evolving, or perhaps being superseded by another microorganism that threatens global biosecurity.
Living with the threat is something that we are going to have to adapt to. The disruption is permanent and here to stay. The crisis has accelerated the uptake of digital and online services, and the decline of the high street and retail parks.
Many white collar and knowledge-based workers are ‘refugees’ from their offices, permanently displaced to working from home. This has proved that mass home working is viable for major companies. They have also seen the enormous financial advantages of doing away with conventional bricks and mortar offices.
In the main, lunchtime and after work footfall at retail and hospitality is not only down; it may never recover to pre-COVID-19 levels. Some businesses catering for this market may not be viable and this may further hollow out some central business districts.
However, it is not all gloom! Part of learning to adapt and live with COVID-19 is accepting the opportunities it throws up. If your agency is in a boom sector, now is the time to ramp up preparations to exploit the increased demand in the appropriate area which you specialise.
Likewise, even if you don’t currently have a foothold in a booming or likely to boom sector, maybe you can pivot your business to take advantage.
Anticipate increasing demand for workers in…
Consider these areas where jobs are being created. You might be able to fill roles where your clients previously didn’t have a need. Or amplify your recruitment market presence to offer these types of staff for the first time:
- Security services – Security staff – door and internal security for any business or public place subject to high footfall or demand; face mask rules are likely to create flashpoints and a security presence is necessary.
- Cleaning and hygiene services – Increased cleaning routines and specialised deep cleaning is in great demand. Hospitality outlets such as restaurant groups and pub chains need to maximise consumer confidence in their hygiene arrangements.
- Cleaning product manufacturing – Increased cleaning means a boom in demand for cleaning products and companies are likely to need production operatives and workers for order processing.
- PPE and garments manufacturing – The opportunities in this sector are likely to centre on demand for production operatives and workers to process orders.
- Healthcare sector – If nursing and medical staff were at a premium beforehand, it’s even more so now. Across the entire spectrum healthcare workers are in demand. COVID-19 recovery therapy services have a long tail.
- Adult Social Care – COVID-19 is colliding with the 31st December Brexit deadlineafter which there will be greater complexity in recruiting EU workers, driving demand for UK sourced care home staff.
- Biomedical research and pharmaceutical manufacturing – Biotechnology roles for vaccine & therapy development and the manufacturing of increased volumes of medicines appropriate for COVID-19 therapies is driving demand for skills and knowledge.
- Food production & agriculture – Abattoir meat processing, fruit and vegetable pick and pack is already in high demand. Expect no let up here.
- Screen and barrier manufacturing – Getting supermarkets, retail and hospitality open and adapted to the virus has seen a massive demand for screens and other COVID-19 ‘furniture’, with manufacturers in need of more production and order processing staff.
- Retail & shop fitting– Screens and barriers for counters and one-way systems need to be installed, so prepare for big spikes in demand for maintenance and fitting staff.
- Couriers, eCommerce delivery and Last Mile services – Some report online sales trends increasing from 40% to more than 60% as people have stayed out of and continue to stay away from high streets, retail parks and shopping centres. All these online orders need to be delivered or distributed to collection points.
- Telecoms – Working from home, home schooling and on-demand entertainment all gobbles up bandwidth. Connectivity, upgrading domestic broadband and the installation of business-class lines are also likely to see an uplift, driving demand of engineers.
- Technology – Online media & entertainment, software development, IT infrastructure and technical support – online platforms for business and leisure; e-learning for home schooling and higher education, wellbeing and fitness; these are just some of the online services thriving as a result of COVID-19. Then there’s data centre infrastructure to be looked after and end user support… you get the picture!
- Off high street commercial property – For manufacturing and e-tailer online sales, no caller/delivery only businesses, such as ‘dark kitchens’ specialising in delivery-only restaurant quality food. Repatriation of some manufacturing to insulate against supply chain disruption that results from a globalised approach to manufacturing. Demand for suitable off high street property is likely to drive demand for refurbishment workers.
Maximise COVID-19 recruitment opportunities with ETZ
These are some of the more obvious areas of the economy where demand is already high or where an increase can be anticipated. There are bound to be others that require specialist knowledge to recruit successfully.
If you are anticipating a COVID-19 bounce to your agency business, consider using ETZ to streamline your back-office operations. If you are still manually processing paper timesheets, the increase in efficiency really helps you to maximise your profitability. To see how, simply call us on 0800 311 2266 to book a demo.
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