We’ve all seen the news and read the articles about the layoffs and furloughs happening in our country due to the novel-coronavirus pandemic. The unemployment rate is rapidly increasing every day but there are plenty of companies still hiring. Some companies not currently hiring may start seeking candidates in a few months as businesses slowly begin reopening their doors.

Here are some tips that businesses can use to take advantage of the employer's market without getting buried under a stack of candidate résumés.

Use cognitive pre-employment assessments

Companies will have to find ways to narrow down the candidate pool quickly when there’s hundreds of résumés to go through. Your company might not always have the resources or expertise on hand to improve your hiring methods. Pre-hire testing can help you streamline and optimize your hiring processes by ensuring only the most viable candidates make it to the interview phase of your hiring selection. These assessments are a series of online tests that allow employers to objectively measure an applicant’s aptitude, abilities, and attitudes. Pre-employment assessments can also be tailored to specific positions. By identifying the unique requirements for each role, hiring managers can make a better hiring decision.

Create a structured interview guide

A structured interview guide is a standardized way of interviewing candidates based on the specific needs of the job for which they are applying. Candidates are asked the same questions in the same order and are all compared on the same ranking scale. Structured interview guides help employers standardize the interview process and more consistently assess candidates’ knowledge, skills, and abilities.

The guide also helps with eliminating biases and helps ensure that hiring decisions are made fairly—not emotionally. Implementing these guides will come in handy now more than ever as they will help narrow down the list of viable candidates in a quick and efficient manner, especially when there are tons of applicants competing for the same role.

Ask for referrals

G&A Partners uses an employee referral program to help bring in talented individuals. Programs like this allow current employees to refer a friend, family member, former colleague, etc. to the recruiting team. These referred candidates go through the same process as everyone else, but the recruiting team is able to eliminate the need to spend hours digging and sorting through résumés to find quality candidates that will fit a position at the company. Another benefit of getting referrals and input from your employees is that it can help with retention for the employee as well as the potential candidate.