Finding Positivity in the New Way of Work
Since the onset of the pandemic, the global workforce has seen dramatic changes. Adjusting to fully remote lifestyles, battling layoffs and furloughs, juggling work and at-home responsibilities – the list goes on.
We’re feeling all of the emotions at once: exhausted, confused, nervous, and ready to find some sense of normalcy again. It can be easy to sink into the negative mindset in all of this chaos, but a recent conversation reminded me that we can also use this time to reflect and train our minds to think positively.
When I connected with William Tincup, president of RecruitingDaily and expert in all things recruiting and HR, he shared his approach to navigating the pandemic with a positive outlook – both personally and professionally. While the natural instinct might be to feel chaotic or disrupted, his approach is to instead focus on being introspective. If we think of our lives as a book, this is a good time to ask ourselves “What is the meaning of this chapter?” and also, “What do I want my next chapter to be?”
Tincup and I talked about this from both a personal and professional standpoint, how we can use the pandemic as an opportunity instead of an obstacle, and what types of unexpected benefits we might see from the impact, like the rise of virtual recruiting in the future of work. Here’s a recap of some of our key takeaways:
Using the pandemic as an opportunity, not an obstacle
We can all relate to the desire to fall into a quarantine slump and let the global pandemic take over our mind with negative thoughts. But Tincup didn’t let that happen to him – instead of seeing the pandemic as a challenge to get through, he views it as a time to reflect on life, value, purpose, and even art.
“There are a lot of things in this world right now that we can’t control,” he said. “There’s no need to waste time thinking about what you can’t control.”
I find his perspective incredibly refreshing and positive in a time of chaos and negativity. While we cannot ignore the tragedy that the pandemic is creating around the world, we can focus our mindset to find the positive, enjoy the increased time we have with our families, and find new ways to add value to our lives – both personally and professionally.
Tincup noted that he has used this pandemic and work-from-home order to focus on positive things. Personally, he’s reflecting on his life, rekindling his passion for art, and spending time with his children. Professionally, he’s started two new podcasts, is writing more on the evolving landscaping of HR and recruiting, and is using the time that was traditionally spent traveling to conferences now building out his professional platform.
This practice can deliver benefits not only for personal reflection, but also when thinking about our professional lives, the way we conduct business, and the overarching future of work. While the global workforce has been hurt by the effects of the pandemic, what types of benefits will we see on the other end?
A new foundation for recruiting and job search
The pandemic has changed the role of recruiting and how we look for jobs in a significant way. With everything going virtual, both HR leaders and job seekers alike have to shift their traditional template of landing a job or building a team. We’ve proven that work-from-home policies and remote teams do work, eliminating the need for location boundaries or geographic limitations for many roles.
The changes to the global talent market have fundamentally changed the foundation of recruiting and have opened more possibilities for candidates. Tincup believes this change is for good and we won’t go back to the way we did interviews before. The 1970s headhunter mindset is gone and virtual recruiting can help level the playing field for the workforce of the future.
“Most of the recruiters I talk to on a daily basis are rethinking everything and have the mindset of ‘there’s nothing I can’t do now – everything is on the table,’” said Tincup.
The potential to help improve diversity and inclusion at work
Since location is no longer a filter in the candidate or job search, hiring from home has the potential to drive further change and improvement for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Without roles being tethered to a specific city or office, it widens the aperture of jobs available and allows the only focus of recruiting to be about capability – can they do the job?
This shift makes competency, skills, and collaboration increasingly more important. For employers, there’s a much bigger candidate pool to engage with in order to find that perfect match. And for job seekers, there’s a bigger opportunity to highlight qualifications for roles that may never have been possible before due to location or cost of living.
Without worry about all of the in-person factors (hand shake introductions, office tours, or creating that ‘right vibe’), the role of recruiting can zero in on the candidate’s ability to get the job done. “Now we can see what biases we really have,” said Tincup.
He believes we’re entering a phase of diversity and inclusion that we’ve never seen, and I agree.
A need to adopt a new mindset
We’re now having to do work – and ultimately life – differently, and therefore need to rework our mindsets accordingly. For hiring managers, it may seem foreign and unnatural to hire somebody you’ve never met in person – like marrying somebody without meeting them first.
Rewiring the mind to a hire-from-home strategy requires recruiters and hiring managers to prioritize their role as a candidate advocate. With the help of machine learning and automation tools to handle most of the administrative work, hiring managers have more time to go deeper with the candidates to truly understand what they are looking for. Now is the time to have empathy for the candidate and get to know them in a meaningful way. And the great part is, this can all be done via Zoom – no conference room needed.
Additionally, those looking for jobs may also need to adopt a new mindset to expand the scope of possibilities they might consider. Many industries have been hit hard by the pandemic, but the skillsets from one industry may be very relevant and applicable to another industry looking to hire. It’s all about the skills and capability to get the job done. There’s a whole new world of roles and candidates from different industries, locations, and backgrounds just waiting to make a change.
Innovating for a better future
While this is a time full of chaos and confusion, it’s also an opportunity to stop and reflect. To reimagine the way that we’ve traditionally done things. And to innovate for a better future.
The rise of virtual recruiting is only one of the ways the pandemic will change the future of work, and hopefully for the better. And in Tincup’s own words, I believe “great innovation is going to come from this period in history.”
This article was written by Emily He from Forbes and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
