COVID-19 The Economic Impact
Who better to invite on the show to talk about the economic impact of the current COVID-19 crisis. We welcome, former labour economist turned Global Talent Acquisition Manager. Enter, Steven Kosakow. With a passion for people and the candidate market, of his early career, he tells us, âI was really curious as to why are there so many disparities in terms of the wage gap for genders and ethnicitiesâ.
As Steven realised he liked âworking with people rather than computersâ, we fast-forward to the present day. Now a Talent Acquisition professional that has âalways been involved in building companiesâ, he tells us, âI love what I do!â.
Going back, to addressing the topic of the show and the current crisis,
âYouâre never going to get where youâre going if you donât have a plan!â and he thinks that itâs okay to say, âright now we donât actually have that pathâ.
He advises that this is the time to be âthinking differently about how we navigateâ and offers the opinion that we could, âturn the uncertainty into something we can learnâ.
Live and express your values!
Discussing the topic of brand and brand messaging, Steven highlights some of the âreally thoughtfulâ companies that are thinking about their employees and who understand,
âHow you leave an employer is just as important as how you join them.â He knows of stories where an employer has âlaid off in a Slack channel, the whole entire teamâ.
This is why Steven believes it is so important to set the right expectations for candidates by being transparent and telling applicants, âthings are going to be a little bit slowerâ. He has also seen companies be more proactive and tells us, âIâve seen a lot of employers post this in their job descriptions tooâ or âon your websiteâ.
In Stevenâs opinion, it is key for companies to think about their messaging, actions and brand during the crisis in the context of candidate and employee experience,
âThe market is changing, even if it is an employers market, you still need to attract the right people, and the only way to do this is to focus on developing communities of talent through high-touch connection.â
As a final piece of advice for employers, Steven ran a poll to gather information from the experiences of individuals impacted by the economic impact of the crisis and he tells us, âwhen I sent out the survey, I asked what number one piece of advice would you give employers now? One word that came out was “empathyâ.
If that wasnât enough, below youâll hear Steven talk about:
- What is the definition of palaver?
- Reviewing your ATS auto-responses
- Coronavirus preparedness
- The importance of employee and candidate experience
- How to position your message if youâre still hiring
- Aligning the hiring team for virtual hiring
