We’ve spoken of reskilling before on our blog, but the onset of the pandemic and a shift in hiring priorities has changed what a reskilling process can accomplish for businesses. Before COVID-19, industries across the nation were experiencing record-setting low levels of unemployment, and staffing agencies struggled to find and retain top talent. During this time, reskilling was an alternative to hiring new talent, a strategy that focused on giving current candidates a wider range of skills and thus making them available for a greater variety of job orders.

Almost overnight, COVID-19 has upended the economy and hiring practices. We are now at record-high unemployment, and the number of jobseekers often outnumber available jobs. Demand for employment is skewed: where some industries (i.e. entertainment) have seen a severe drop in job demand, others (such as healthcare and education) have seen an equally dramatic rise in their demand for jobs. This is where reskilling can make a difference.

Despite the benefits of reskilling their workforce, many staffing agencies were slow to invest in such a strategy. But in the current economic climate, reskilling may be crucial to connecting jobseekers with employment, and it must be done at a much faster pace. Although challenging to act on, the steps for implementing a reskilling process are relatively simple:

1. Identify client needs and high demand skills. This will bring a focus to your reskilling process.
2. Look at available candidates. Locate candidates with adaptable skillsets who might succeed in a different job. Adapting their current skills will take less time than training workers in entirely new skillsets, and time is of the essence in such a rapidly changing global crisis.
3. Place reskilled workers in new jobs and ensure quality control. Ensure your candidates are succeeding in their new roles. If they are not, look over your reskilling process and make any necessary changes.

Reskilling requires time and proper investment, but it has brought success to companies and their local communities. In addition to helping jobseekers find employment now, reskilling will also diversify your candidate pool and help you fill orders faster in the future.