Leverage a hiring freeze to be stronger than ever when hiring picks back up

A hiring freeze or slowdown can stall your talent acquisition efforts, which can be jarring, especially when you’ve been going flat out. But a pause is also an opportunity to do project-based recruiting work and fine-tune your hiring processes. So you’re positioned better than ever after the slowdown or hiring freeze ends.

Here are some projects if you’re looking for ways to add value during a hiring freeze or slowdown. They’re more significant than they appear, and completing them (or any one of them, really) will take some work. But your talent pipeline will be much stronger when hiring picks up again. Which it will.

How talent acquisition can add value during a hiring freeze:

1. Update job ad templates and boilerplate copy.

2. Create more inclusive job ads.

3. Clean up ATS data.

4. Optimize workflows for job ads.

5. Connect with hiring managers.

1. Update job ad templates and boilerplate copy

Job ad templates ensure content and employer brand consistency across all jobs, create positive candidate experiences, and provide peace of mind for talent acquisition teams. They ensure that you’re speaking with a single voice across all your job ads.

More specifically, job ad templates save hiring teams from creating job ads from scratch or copying and pasting old ads (that often have outdated copy). The boilerplate copy you use for your job ads (e.g., the info on your company, benefits, and diversity stance) saves hiring teams a lot of time when writing ads. But you still have to update your templates and boilerplate copy from time to time.

Job seeker attitudes are changing, and they want to read job ads that speak to them as people, not just potential candidates. If your job ads don’t put the candidate first (i.e., they’re all about you), they could use an update. And if you don’t have custom templates for different types of jobs (e.g., for specific locations, seniority levels, and departments), you could build some. A hiring freeze or slowdown gives you time to get these ready for upcoming recruiting efforts.

2. Create more inclusive job ads

Every hire counts during a slowdown, especially if you’re only hiring for critical roles. It’s vital to cast as wide a net as possible to attract qualified candidates, quickly. So once your templates are inclusive and attractive, make sure your job ads themselves are inclusive too.

Inclusivity efforts are often some of the first things to go when companies cut costs, unfortunately. Meanwhile, if your company has taken even more drastic measures and introduced layoffs, women and minorities may have been hurt the most. (They tend to work functions deemed “non-essential” like human resources or public relations.) It’s a double whammy. So if there’s ever a time to be intentional about inclusive hiring, it’s during a slowdown.

Inclusive job ads check a number of boxes. A slowdown or hiring freeze is an opportunity to make sure yours are checking (or still checking) all the right boxes.

Box 1: Inclusive job ads are accessible. That means they use an industry-standard title that job seekers can understand and find in job board searches. They’re also published widely wherever potential candidates are looking for them (including on both common job boards like LinkedIn and niche job boards like FlexJobs).

Box 2: Inclusive job ads are also clear. They’re clear about the job, the requirements, and the responsibilities. They include a diversity statement, benefits, and perks so job seekers can understand your company and culture.

Box 3: And, of course, inclusive job ads are welcoming to everyone. Their language is unbiased and broad, casting as wide a net as possible. They make job seekers feel comfortable to apply, no matter how they look, talk, love, or anything else.

3. Optimize workflows for job ads

Every company does job ad workflow a little differently, but most use one of two approaches. One, job ads sit outside the rest of the recruiting workflow. Two, job ads sit inside the recruiting workflow.

If you’ve been on wild goose chases for job ad copy, you already know the pain of the first approach. It means not finding job ads or knowing which one is up-to-date because they’re stored in multiple programs (e.g., Gmail, Google Docs). It means inconsistency, errors, missing information, back and forths with hiring managers, and more headaches.