Post-Covid Scenario: Businesses are more sympathetic to layoffs and willing to hire if the opportunity arises

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jul 22, 2022 | Kabir Chakraborty

According to Shiv Agrawal, managing director of ABC Consultants, hiring leads are digging further to find out the precise reasons why the employee was impacted, whether it was due to business consolidation, shut down, individual performance, or integrity-related issues.

Digital Desk: The layoff
narrative is now part of the resume in the new normal. According to staffing
specialists and talent acquisition leaders ET spoke with, a candidate who
claims that they have received the pink slip due to business reasons is
acceptable to recruiters and is even viewed as bold in comparison to
pre-epidemic periods.

color:#3E3E3E">In the current business climate, layoffs are unavoidable.
According to HR directors at organisations like Cisco, Deloitte, EY, and UpGrad
as well as executives at staffing and recruitment agencies Randstad,
ManpowerGroup, Adecco, and ABC Consultants, recruiters are now less picky about
CV gaps.

Organizations
now show greater sympathy for layoffs. SV Nathan, chief talent officer at Deloitte
India, stated that recruiters increasingly view it as daring when applicants
disclose that they have been let off and even inquire about the lessons they
would bring to the position. He claimed that at least 5-7 percent of the
resumes sent to the consultancy major at the moment were from people who have
been fired.

According
to Shiv Agrawal, managing director of ABC Consultants, hiring leads are digging
further to find out the precise reasons why the employee was impacted, whether
it was due to business consolidation, shut down, individual performance, or
integrity-related issues.

According
to HR director Jayita Roy, the global workforce provider Adecco has noticed a
trend where job searchers, particularly women and those who were laid off due
to the pandemic, have chosen to take a career hiatus.

People
who have been laid off are not treated differently by organisations from
professionals in active roles.

According
to Hardeep Singh, president of Right Management India, a division of the
Manpower Group, "We are witnessing similar gaps in the CV across sectors
like hospitality, manufacturing, and retail, to name a few."

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According to Singh, there are more consumer-facing
profiles showing a gap in their resume than back-office personnel at the
mid-level and above (managerial roles).

"We
analyse close to 1,000 applicants every day, and in recent months, we have
noticed an increase in the number of resumes from recently laid-off workers. We
are extremely open to recruiting them if there is a fit because this is a
pandemic-driven issue, UpGrad cofounder Mayank Kumar told the media.

According
to Anjali Raghuvanshi, Chief People Officer, Randstad India, candidates may or
may not include in their resumes that the reason for a career hiatus was a mass
layoff because they prefer to speak candidly during interviews. The majority of
recruiting managers, she said, "are well aware of how the pandemic has
significantly affected the workforce."

According
to talent acquisition experts with whom ET consulted, folks who have been laid
off may find employment more quickly by incorporating information on online
learning and upskilling on their resumes. Recruiters may quickly review an
applicant's credentials by looking at quantifiable successes like the outcomes
of certain projects and how many people they have previously led, the experts
advised.

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Qualifications, abilities, and experience are
crucial, but overall personality is more significant, according to Sandeep
Kohli, talent leader for EY India. We look for people who can alter their own
experiences through digital transformation or who can contribute to creating a
better working environment.

According to Sirisha Palepu, director of people
and communities at Cisco India and Saarc, as more and more businesses go
borderless and hybrid, they are searching for employees who can be productive
and imaginative from anywhere.