Layoff Recruiting – The Strategy For Cherry Picking The Best From Large Layoffs

Spirit’s massive shutdown should have activated your “layoff recruiting” process. This is a targeted recruiting strategy designed to let you cherry-pick the very best “released talent” who have recently been laid off by a major corporation.

And this year, when you add Spirit’s sudden 17,000 employee release to the massive layoffs now occurring at major corporations (Amazon, Oracle, Citigroup, and Meta), you have a “Released Talent Pool” (or RTP) that, due to its size and quality, shouldn’t be missed.

Understanding Why Today’s “Released Talent Pool” (RTP) Is So Desirable

For years, many have considered those who have been laid off to be rejects or bottom performers. But today, smart talent leaders are realizing that high-value talent is often also released. So here are the 7 factors that make today’s “released talent pool” a wonderful recruiting opportunity.

• Today’s RTP will be huge – in addition to Spirit’s contribution of 17,000. A number of famous companies have announced massive layoffs (up to 30,000 workers at Amazon alone). And as a result, corporations that practice “layoff recruiting” will have an extraordinarily large number of desirable candidates to target. In addition, the recent surge in return-to-office (RTO) mandates at companies like Amazon will cause many remote workers to also be actively looking. Finally, with the continuing high level of business and economic uncertainty, you can expect a significant percentage of so far safe corporate and government employees to further swell the ranks of job seekers.

• The skills/training of the RTP will be up to date – unlike the normal talent pool, which includes mostly long-term unemployed (with obsolete skills). If you act quickly, the released talent coming from Spirit and other companies will have up-to-date skills and training. So after being hired, they will be able to get up to speed almost immediately.

• Recently employed candidates will bring with them many current best practices – of course, the longer-term unemployed can’t bring with them current corporate best practices, however, because most of the corporations announcing layoffs are top-performing companies in their industry. When you hire those who have just recently left their jobs, you will also be gaining the current knowledge, plans, and best practices of notable corporations like Amazon, Citigroup, UPS, Oracle, Dell, and Meta.

• These candidates will be easy to attract, sell, and retain – because after 18 months of economic instability due to tariffs, AI-driven job replacements, and the affordability crisis. The top attraction factor for most of these recently laid-off recruiting targets will be job security and company stability. So if your opportunity minimizes new-hire uncertainty, most top candidates will quickly beat a path to your door. And incidentally, if you deliver on your promise of a stable work environment after they start, most new hires will stay with you for a long time.

• Many technologists will be available – airlines and tech companies rely so heavily on technology in every aspect of their operations, so if your recruiters target companies like Spirit, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle. Your candidate pool will include many technologists with up-to-date experience using the latest technologies.

• This RTP will also include many managers – traditionally, many managers have been protected from layoffs. However, recently, many large companies have begun to question the role of “manager”. This current “released talent pool” will be unique because it will contain a disproportionate percentage of experienced, top-performing managers.

• These targets will likely be low-cost, fast hires – if you are concerned about cost per hire. It is important to note that the recently laid off will be extremely active job seekers who will literally “find you”. The fact that they will “find you” will noticeably make your advertising/sourcing costs significantly lower. Finally, because many of your recruiting targets weren’t prepared for a layoff. Most of them will be eager to make a quick deal. Fortunately, that also means that you can succeed without having great recruiters.

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Tips For Recruiting Members Of The “Released Talent Pool” (RTP)

Because the recruiting targets in this RTP are primarily “active job seekers.” You can and should stick with your established “active recruiting tools”. However, there are other recruiting tips I have found that will definitely improve your recruiting results with this group. Those recruiting tips include:

• Make it clear that they will be welcomed – because some companies disdain the hiring of recently laid-off employees (because they are rejects). In your recruiting materials, you should specifically welcome inquiries from candidates who were released by one of your targeted companies by using this template (We welcome candidates from ____ ).

• Emphasize your company’s job security and stability – because it’s likely to be the top attraction factor. Make sure you provide your prospects with details about the level of job security you offer (e.g., we have been continuously growing and adding jobs for the last four years).

• Rely heavily on employee referrals – this most effective of all recruiting channels should be a primary RTP recruiting source. Start by being open with your employees, so they know precisely what you want them to do. And specifically ask each of your best performers (in your open job area) to increase both the number and the quality of their referrals.

• Attempt to boomerang the best that left – another extremely effective recruiting channel is boomerang rehiring. Where you attempt to bring back your top-performing employees who left for a good reason, but now may be willing to return.

• Specifically target disgruntled government employees – I have previously written about how easy it is to recruit unhappy government workers today. Well, after the recent prolonged government shutdown without pay at the Homeland Security Agency. You should add a new focus on recruiting government employees who are literally leaving every day.

• Start recruiting immediately – if the past is an indicator, you can expect a low level of competition from most corporate giants. Unfortunately, most have a less-than-agile recruiting strategy that doesn’t flex with the availability of talent. But in any case, the quicker you act, the proportionally lower your chances of losing a top candidate.

• As more layoffs are announced, add these new companies to your RTP target list – because the upcoming rounds of layoffs may occur at different companies. It’s essential that the recruiting function maintains a continually updated list of companies that are actively laying off.

• Make sure that your hiring process contains no surprises – because suddenly losing a job often raises a candidate’s fear of uncertainty. It makes sense to clearly outline what they can expect during your hiring process to ensure your candidates experience no unpleasant surprises.

Note: More detailed actions on how to effectively “cherry-pick” laid-off candidates can be found here.

Final Thoughts

In my view, the current high volume of layoffs is a great opportunity for visionary talent leaders to provide their company with a competitive advantage. And even though many corporations have recently severely cut back on their hiring. I find that this extraordinary opportunity to target those who are seldom active in the job market should actually increase your overall hiring.

Thank you for reading and sharing this article.

Notes for the reader

This is the latest article from Dr. Sullivan, who was called “the Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company.

You can subscribe to his Aggressive Talent Management newsletter (which focuses on recruiting tools, current recruiting opportunities, and recruiting trends). Either here or by following him on LinkedIn.