In the best of times,building a diverse teamis tough.
When youre stuck inside, starved for human interaction, you might wonder whether its possible at all.
Its a fair question, frankly.
How are you going to find candidates outside your bubble?
You cant leave your house to attend conferences, college job fairs, or even coffee shops.
There are ways to do it all digitally.
But know this: youre going to have to work for it.
Attracting fresh faces
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What can you do other than hang a Were hiring sign on your website?
Remember, people are spending a lot of time online right now.
Let them check out your culture from their couch:
1.
Shes planned a spirit week of scavenger hunts, costume competitions, and meme-offs.
Post that stuff on your blog.
Make people wish they were part of it.
Let them join in on occasion, but limit most of the events to your core team.
Show your strength as a company
Right now, people are looking for financial security.
But if youre making sales, give those a shoutout on your blog.
Your new clients will appreciate it, and itll make applicants more confident in your companys stability.
Create a community vibe
Reach out to those people, but dont do the I-just-met-you pitch.
Target your philanthropy
Another thing people look for during a crisis is which companies are lending a hand.
Great candidates want to help the helpers.
What if you still cant seem to attract new types?
Youre a responsible person, so you know to avoid public places.
But there are places online where you’re able to find off-the-beaten-path candidates.
Instead, go hunting for talent on:
1.
The self-titled frontpage of the internet has forums known as subreddits dedicated to specific interests.
And because people are spending a lot of time online right now, these communities are especially active.
Meetup
Meetup is an online platform for finding a professional online grid.
Although events are typically hosted in the real world, COVID has changed that.
Much like Reddit, the challenge with Meetup is finding the right community.
Once you find it, participate as an individual before you try throwing your own event.
Meetup communities tend to be tight-knit, so strangers arent always successful in getting people to attend their event.
Freelancing sites
Its true: Many of the people on sites like Upwork arent looking for a full-time job.
But in a time like this, gigs tend to dry up.
Offering promising people a test project lets you see their skills and cracks the door to traditional employment.
During a crisis, you probably wont have trouble getting contractors to say yes.
At my company, freelancers have been coming out of the woodwork asking for opportunities.
If you arent sure where to start, TopTal typically only accepts thetop 3%of freelancers.
Increased demand might make it possible for you to afford next-tier talent.
One-off opportunities are a great way to check that your applicant has the skills she claims.
Growing the team from afar
Onboarding is something a lot of companies struggle to get right.
Meet the team via videoconferencing
One of the most important parts of onboarding is meeting the team.
Help the new hire put names to faces.
Ask everyone to join a video chat on his or her first day.
Encourage questions: How have the companys operations changed during the crisis?
How does the team stay productive?
Are kinks still being worked out of new workflows?
Use self-service HR
Nearly three-quartersof U.S. employees prefer to conduct HR-related tasks on their own.
People from minority backgrounds, in particular, may want to keep their personal details private.
ensure every document the new team member might need is posted there.
Check for a chat tool so they can reach out with questions.
Get them into your group chat
see to it to add the new employee to your instant messaging platform.
Building relationships over text isnt ideal, but its the best option right now.
In addition to department-specific channels, set up fun and background-specific ones.
Diverse, cohesive teams cant be built quickly, but they can be built remotely.
And once everyone is back in the office, communication and talent development will seem like a cinch.
Remember, this crisis will end eventually.
By recruiting tough people in a tough time, youll have bought not just a stronger team.
Youll have set the stage for an above-and-beyond culture.
