Laying Off Recruiters in a Downturn Is a Dangerous and Risky Temptation

Skilled recruiters provide a hidden ROI and laying them off during a recession can negatively affect an organization’s subsequent ability to grow in the upturn given the difficulty of rehiring and training them.

Part of an organization’s workforce planning process should be developing a talent acquisition (TA) capacity management plan for cyclical or economic surges and freezes in recruiting. A TA capacity management plan creates a recruitment strategy and focuses on the most valuable open positions, which allows recruiters to prepare for surges and freezes in hiring. The role of recruiter is ultimately expensive and time consuming to replace. Despite this, during severe economic downturns, organizations will often look to TA as the first place to cut expenses, making it almost impossible for them to ramp up quickly when the economy starts to recover.