Employment expert warns businesses against freezing
recruitment activities in response to recession.
Failure to recruit throughout the economic downturn could lead to a scarcity of trained staff, it has been claimed.
In an interview with onrec.com, Gradcracker director Sean O'Connor expressed his belief that while abandoning recruitment programmes may benefit a company in the short term, it is unlikely to lead to a long-term gain.
Indeed, Mr O'Connor suggested that it could have a serious impact on a firm's development plans when the economy recovers.
"Companies who are freezing, or greatly reducing, their graduate recruitment now may well face problems in the future," he told the news provider.
"When the recession does end, these companies could find themselves starting to get busier, but not having the people in place to cope."
While this problem could theoretically be solved by kick-starting a recruitment drive, Mr O'Connor noted that many of the best candidates will have already been secured by companies with a more forward-thinking strategy.
This would leave those who fail to take on staff now at a competitive disadvantage.
Mr O'Connor went on to say that, given the economic downturn, companies will be looking to ensure they extract the maximum benefit from the money they spend on advertising their job vacancies.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, small firms are being imaginative in their attempts to reduce costs without laying off staff.
Measures taken include reducing the number of hours staff work, encouraging people to work from home, diversifying and using the internet more.
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