Forecasting for a higher prospect

Business might not be open as usual, but we have a promising moving market. Since Monday 23rd March, in the early stages of lockdown, deverellsmith has seen a 20% decrease in job placements compared to the same time period in 2019 and a 22% decrease compared to the 3 weeks prior, 2nd March – 23rd March 2020.

As the real estate industry is forced to relieve talent, across all sectors, we are experiencing an influx of high-quality talent available, a prime opportunity for employers to reach candidates which would usually be unavailable. In order to attract and retain these candidates, before normality resumes, onboarding remotely should be considered.  

Yeshim Yusuf, former Personal Assistant at St James Group, recently successfully managed a remote onboarding process. Yeshim commented, “we heavily relied on Skype during the onboarding process to ensure there was an element of physical communication. It’s important that new employees feel part of a team and aren’t alone in the experience.”

Censa Caird, Director of Delivery at deverellsmith, has successfully onboarded 3 employees using remote working techniques. Censa commented, “The process of onboarding begins at the recruitment process and continues throughout the first 6 months of employment. It’s critical that onboarding remotely should include the same framework as you would in the office, to engage and retain staff.” 

Hiring managers should also consider transferable skills when recruiting, as a vast majority of the hospitality, retail and leisure sector has been forced out of work due to Covid-19. Employers of customer service and site-based staff in property are likely to reach a wider pool of talent when hiring in the next couple of months, however, new opportunities mean new challenges: deverellsmith recently posted a job advert which required customer facing staff – the advert attracted 186 applications, in a 24 hour period.

Many sectors of the property industry deem high-quality talent from hospitality, retail and leisure a desirable hire – the challenges posed by Covid-19, enables this to be an achievable prospect. However, creating a shortlist from hundreds, if not thousands, of applications is a daunting and expensive scenario for employers.

It is estimated that an internal recruitment consultant, processing an application every 10 minutes, will take almost half a year to process applications from 5 roles posted for a week, if working a 40-hour week. With superior talent most likely to be secured within the first few weeks of the economic bounce back, companies will find a costly, and what is likely to be, an ineffective method of sourcing talent from the market.

To combat this challenge, deverellsmith is offering a CV sifting service, delivered by our specialist Data & Research division, providing your talent teams with fast access to the best talent at a significantly reduced cost.

For more information, contact Julian Murray, Director of Client Solutions on 07495955321 or email Julian.murray@deverellsmith.com

For advice on how to onboard remotely, download deverellsmith’s guide 9 steps to onboarding remotely: The key to formulating a modern talent strategy for an introduction and detailed breakdown on onboarding remotelyhere.