RECRUITMENT ROB BISHOP
COVID-19 and talent in 2022 The COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes to every working sector’s framework and structure. Rob Bishop, Director at Bishop Associates Recruitment, explores changes to the recruitment industry, in general, and offers insights into what will help businesses in the ongoing war for talent.
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ntil recently, New Zealand has avoided the worst of the negative impacts triggered globally by the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest move in New Zealand to a trafficlight system, because of COVID-19 appearing in the community, means HR teams need to think carefully about workforce planning and keeping their people safe while maintaining and protecting business continuity. The current ‘red’ status for New Zealand has also triggered changes to how we get things done. Many businesses are now opting to split their teams into groups and alternate the days or weeks they are onsite at work. This can help reduce the risk of business interruption should members of the team contract COVID-19 or need to isolate as close household
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HUMAN RESOURCES
AUTUMN 2022
contacts and potentially take time off to recover. A split of working remotely when possible, dividing staff teams into different work groups that alternate when they are in the office and ensuring limited and protected contact with clients and customers, stakeholders and other team members are all useful options to consider.
Domestic search for talent
From a talent perspective, the past 24 months have driven changes in the way recruiters approach the search, selection and appointment process. Most talent professionals are conducting all interviews via Zoom. They also complete more rigorous telephone screening of candidates. Talent specialists often have used remote working, when completing recruitment and search work, to fill roles in remote regions. The changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic mean these remote strategies are being used locally as well as regionally. MIQ and border control have been front of mind for many HR and talent teams. A big talent challenge, particularly at executive level, has been the almost complete closure of New Zealand’s borders to people not already holding New Zealand citizenship or residency. It has been more complex and challenging to bring top talent from overseas
into Aotearoa. The New Zealand Immigration Service has been understandably reluctant to allow people to come and go as freely as they did before the pandemic. Competition for MIQ space and the lottery system have all added to these pressures.
Members of the HR sector will need to think creatively and with purpose about how to attract, retain and develop talent while also wrapping their arms around, protecting and investing in their existing people to reduce the risk of them being tempted away. As a result, the search for talent has been largely limited to our domestic market and to New Zealand passport and residency holders returning from overseas. Recruitment teams have been working closely with candidates and clients to overcome this challenge when a senior appointment is clearly best filled with an overseas applicant. With the help of immigration lawyers, it has been possible to support several cases of bringing in overseas candidates for executive appointments, including CEOs and managing
