In a virtual job fair held last month, human resources industry thought leader and Q2 HR Solutions founder Trixie Whyte outline the changes in the recruitment process that companies need to adopt.

With different iterations of the community quarantine in place, many businesses need to adapt in order to cope with the changes brought about by the current global situation. There have been many repercussions on policies aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus. In the Philippines, companies are either downsizing or shutting down, and OFWs are currently being repatriated.

“There is an oversupply of labor,” said Trixie Whyte, founder, Q2 HR Solutions, a fully integrated HR solutions provider. “There is repurposing and redeployment of workers in certain industries hit by the pandemic such as entertainment, hospitality, airlines, and cruise ships, among others. It is more challenging now than before. This is due either to a logistical problem and limited access to transportation or a skills mismatch. There are just competencies that are very specific to an industry and are difficult to move across another sector.”

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During the virtual job fair held in September, Whyte said that businesses need to recalibrate “in this kind of environment.” Those who are still hiring have pivoted to accommodate what is now called the “new normal.” This pandemic has given rise to technology tools and portals to help job seekers look for employment opportunities.

“Virtual platforms are now the norm in recruitment. This means candidates would need to differentiate themselves to stand out from the crowd. People are up-skilling to broaden their job opportunities through online courses, and there has been a surge of freelance workers in various disciplines. Digitizing CVs is a trend that will continue to rise, and I predict that video CV will be the new norm and will be a differentiator.”

She said that because of these changes in the hiring landscape, companies will need extra resources to help identify the right candidates due to the surge of unemployment leading to more applications.

Whyte outlined how she was able to steer Q2 that now has about 4,000 employees, with 160 of them organic.

“We had to re-align our tactical approach and plans based on government rules that kept changing and continue to change. We focused on things that we could control: I called it our 3-Cs: Converting contracts to revenue, Controlling costs and expenses, and Cash management because as we all know, cash is king. This means ensuring we billed accurately and on time, and collected quickly.

Constant communication was key, as her employees were starting to feel insecure about their safety and job security.

“We conducted weekly town halls, and continue to do so, to communicate what was going on in the country, in the company, and the impact of the pandemic on our business and our clients. We were transparent and we did not sugarcoat the situation. Our ExeCom took turns in speaking in the virtual town halls every Monday afternoon via Zoom. Here, we rallied everyone and leaned on our set of 5 Core Values, which really spoke to us during this crisis.  Never has Create Positive Impact, Embodying Malasakit, Have Grit, Being Grateful, and Be Innovative, been so relevant as it served as a compass and our guiding principle during this very challenging time.”

Whyte is confident that their culture of customer-centricity is a factor for their continued success. The thought leader says that businesses should start future-proofing their companies, adapting while staying true to their core values.

“We always need to keep ourselves relevant and must constantly adapt to the changing needs of our clients, as well as the current economic and physical environment. Work is not immune to these changes and businesses cannot afford to be bystanders and expect things to go back to normal, if they want to survive.”