by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS
The VET Recruiter®
If you are an Animal Health company or Veterinary practice and you are looking to hire right now, there is certainly a market for you to do so. Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. However, where some organizations might see obstacles, others see opportunity.
I also understand that not every employer is looking to hire. While some Veterinary practices for example, have experienced an increase in activity and business, there are those that have experienced just the opposite. So while they might be interviewing, they’re not looking to hire at this exact moment. Many of them are waiting until we get to the other side of this crisis.
There are some employers, though, that are looking to hire. And in that instance, there are still challenges involved. That is because a hiring manager might be hesitant to offer a job to a candidate they have not yet met in person. There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, hiring someone without meeting them in person is not a common practice, or at least it was not until now. Since it’s has not been a common practice, it makes sense that people would be hesitant about it. Second, employers are afraid of making a wrong hire to begin with, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the search. I’ve written before about the high cost associated with making a bad hire. Consequently, there are employers that exercise extreme caution in terms of their hiring methods.
On the other side of the spectrum, though, you don’t want to suffer “paralysis by analysis” and not make an offer to a really good candidate.
Selectively aggressive Animal Health and Veterinary hiring
In a recent article, I addressed the fact that employers should be selectively aggressive in their Animal Health and Veterinary hiring efforts. That’s because there are employers that are not being aggressive at all. In fact, some are withdrawing from the market. These are the same employers that were having difficulty finding the candidates they wanted to hire just a few short months ago.
As I mentioned above, while there is uncertainty in the marketplace, there is also opportunity. That opportunity involves identifying, recruiting, and hiring top talent. Employers should continue to interview, hire, and build their teams during this time, especially if they have a critical hiring need that is essential to the business. After all, these employers might be able to hire talented people away from their competition. One of the ways that organizations can accomplish this is by hiring these talented people without actually meeting them in person.
There are two important reasons why employers should consider both conducting video interviewing for hiring in both the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession and also making an offer of employment to a candidate they have not met in person:
#1—You are branding yourself as a forward-thinking organization.
If you’re willing to hire a candidate without meeting them in person due to the current situation, then that is a sign you are a forward-thinking organization. As you may know, I am a proponent of both personal branding and employer branding. Branding your organization as forward-thinking is one of the best ways you can brand it.
Think about it: job seekers and candidates want to work for a forward-thinking organization. If a candidate is interviewing with your company or organization, then they must already believe that their current employer is not forward-thinking enough. And if that is the case, then you may have the opportunity to hire them.
#2—No one knows when in-person interviews will again become the norm.
Right now, we do not know when employers will be able to start holding in-person interviews with job candidates as the norm. Of course, we’re hopeful that it could only be a matter of weeks. But even if that’s the case, there’s a chance that some job seekers and candidates will still be hesitant to board a plane, much less do so and then interview in person with an employer. This is a contingency for which your organization must be prepared.
Even when all of the lockdowns end, the marketplace is going to come back in stages. As a result, even when we’re on the other side of this crisis, employers are going to have to implement new hiring strategies and techniques. One of those strategies is hiring an employee remotely or hiring one without meeting them in person.
Different market = different challenges
The key for employers when it comes to Animal Health and Veterinary hiring is to be flexible and willing to move with market conditions, regardless of what those conditions are. Ideally, employers should be proactive about meeting the challenges that exist in the marketplace and overcoming those challenges with creative and innovative ideas.
During the last several years, even though there was a good economy, there were still challenges. It was a candidate-driven market, which meant that top talent was difficult to find, recruit, and hire. Those were challenges that employers had to overcome with creative and innovative ideas. Today’s market offers challenges of its own, although they’re certainly different than what we’ve seen in recent years. It’s up to employers to do what is necessary to rise to the challenge and become creative with how they operate, and that definitely includes their Animal Health and Veterinary hiring efforts.
The VET Recruiter has helped Animal Health and Veterinary employers find, recruit, and hire top candidates for nearly 23 years. We can help your Animal Health business or veterinary practice during these uncertain times so that you can thrive now and in the future.
You can click here to find out more about our services for employers. Click here to learn more about our recruiting process.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.
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The Animal Health Executive Search Firm
The Veterinary Recruiting Firm
Workplace/Workforce expert for the Animal Health Industry and Veterinary Profession
Stacy Pursell is an Animal Health Executive Search Consultant and Veterinary Recruiter.
The VET Recruiter is the Animal Health Executive Search Firm and The Veterinary Recruiting Firm.