Should A Company Halt Hiring During A Crisis?

While it makes business sense to pause and critically assess roles and manpower requirements during this crisis, this is also an opportunity to build pipeline for the future.

To start with, an effective graduate employment program should continue, as no organizations should be caught with pants down, when the market is ripe, say in 2 years. Young graduates canbe provided hands-on trainings and job rotations for a year or two, before they are finally offered permanent employment in a function where they excel in. An oil major had done just this, when it froze its recruitment in January this year. The company has the board's approval to only hire fresh graduates, who are the cream of the crop, from Ivy League universities.

This is also a good time to find top talents, as people who are always on a high, will get impatient and experience anxiety if their current organization does not promise a good future today. However, never assume that you will get a good bargain, as these are top talents who know their market value.

CnetG Asia had experienced this recently. A German energy company had recently appointed a Malaysian as a Director for Services, for its ASEAN cluster. Just 6 months ago, they would not have imagined localizing this role, as talents in similar roles are only a handfew, and are at the peak of their career with competitors. CnetG recommended this approach and highly recommended a candidate from a US based competitor, who had all the workings of this role. Negotiations were concluded within a month, and the candidate had recently started his new career, which he would not have achieved in his last company.