Finally, some good news for your business:  Some superstar talent is available.

For the first time in 10 years. We’ve gone from 3.5% unemployment to 13.5% in a month.

While it may not be raining candidates, there are candidates who, due to no fault of their own, are available.

And you can hire them.

Now.

But logistically how do you hire now?

You can, and should, interview candidates using video conferencing tools.  It is not as accurate as an in-person interview, but far better than just using phone.  In-person interviews can be done, but they are a touchy situation.  Read More: Interviews: A Touchy Situation During Coronavirus

Once you have decided it is time to make the offer, what do you do?  Do you extend an offer before meeting the final candidate in-person?  This model can work, with few issues, as long as you check references thoroughly.  Nearly all states in the country are at-will employers.  This means that if you found that you have made a mistake you can part ways.  It’s not the end of world, as long as you do so quickly.

A second option is a deferred start date.  If you are in a city that will soon be “reopening”, you can extend an offer (including negotiating and agreeing on compensation) “pending in-person interviews by date.”  This commitment lets the candidate know that you are serious about them, but that you’re also serious about culture-building.  If the candidate does not want to take the risk that you’ll pass after an in-person meeting, it gives them the chance to take themselves out of the process.

DOWNLOAD a Sample Contingency Offer Letter

Sample Contingency Offer Letter

A third option is to Consider Contract Employees.  If committing to new full-time employees without the ability to meet them in person is unnerving for your company’s hiring managers, consider retaining experienced freelancers instead.  For executive positions, start the candidate as a contractor until travel is allowed for in-person interviewing.  In these cases, negotiate the contractual agreement and the employment agreement at the same time, which allows the candidate to check you out also.

A fourth option is to wait to hire until this crisis is over. By then, the unemployment rate will have begun its decline and you will have missed this rare once-in-10-years chance to upgrade the talent on your team.

If you want to talk thru the options give me a call.  Michael Neufeld 941.219.3900

At Hunter Davis Group we are in the trenches every day talking to superstar talent 1 on 1 and nurturing those relationships until the time is right to make a career move.  Our complete deep and wide market map of the entire talent pool ensures that our clients have access to every qualified candidate.