Why a Hiring Pause Is the Best Time to Recruit Top Talent

In 2024, the tech sector saw more than 152,922 employees lose their jobs, according to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi. While this trend has slowed slightly in 2025, it serves as a stark reminder of how quickly market conditions can shift and how vulnerable even the biggest names in business are to economic pressures.

When the purse strings tighten and headcount freezes, many business owners instinctively put their entire hiring process on hold. However, for savvy founders, this time is a strategic opportunity to build a more resilient, future-ready talent pipeline.

Smart entrepreneurs know that staying engaged with high-impact candidates, even when they’re not actively hiring, can create a powerful competitive advantage. It all comes down to shifting your mindset from reactive hiring to proactive talent engagement. Instead of waiting for a new budget to be approved and then scrambling to fill a role, you can use these quieter moments to build the relationships that will put you ahead of the competition when the time is right.

I’ve spent years helping companies build and scale their teams. I’ve seen firsthand how a bloated, reactive approach to hiring can fall apart in a downturn, and I’ve seen how a more agile, strategic approach can help a company thrive. Here’s how you can make your hiring process more resilient and stay top-of-mind with top-tier talent:

Related: 3 Strategies to Optimize Your Hiring Process and Find the Best Employees

1. Emphasize a lean, relationship-driven approach

When economic pressures mount, it’s easy to assume that a robust hiring process requires a large budget and a massive recruiting team. But in reality, a more nimble, high-touch approach is far more effective. Boutique-style recruiting prioritizes quality over quantity, focusing on building genuine relationships with a smaller pool of exceptional candidates. This model is all about efficiency and impact, which is perfect for an unpredictable market.

Consider the recruiting process at Shopify, a company that has undergone a significant transformation and adapted its hiring strategy to a changing landscape. Following a major round of layoffs, the company has shifted its approach to focus on more strategic, targeted hires. Rather than casting a wide net, Shopify has homed in on building a lean team with specific, high-impact goals. This allows it to stay agile and avoid the “bloated” feeling that can plague companies in uncertain times, a sentiment that CEO Tobi Lütke has emphasized in the past.

When your process is relationship-driven, every interaction is an opportunity to showcase your company’s values and culture, creating a more memorable experience for the candidate. Instead of relying on a convoluted, multi-stage interview process, focus on making every touchpoint meaningful and personal. This attracts better talent while also reducing the time and money spent on candidates who aren’t the right fit.

Related: I Hire a New Employee Every Week. Here’s What This Practice Has Taught Me About Hiring and Recruiting

2. Proactively build your talent pipeline

In a tight economy, waiting until Q1 to start hiring means you’re already behind. By the time your budget is approved and you post a job, the competition has already had months to build relationships with top talent. Instead, use a “hiring hold” to focus on pre-engagement and passive search. This means identifying potential candidates, making contact and building rapport long before a role is open. This can be as simple as sending a personalized email, connecting on LinkedIn or inviting them to a virtual coffee chat to learn more about their career goals.

One of the most powerful tools in this process is leveraging your internal network. Referred candidates are seven times more likely to be hired than those who apply through career sites, according to Pinpoint. Encourage your current employees to act as brand advocates and share company wins, market insights and team growth on their own social media channels. Not only is this a low-cost way to reach new candidates, but it also provides a more authentic glimpse into your company culture.

This type of proactive networking is more focused on nurturing relationships than immediate hiring. Keep top candidates engaged with updates on company progress, share thought leadership content and celebrate wins. This keeps your company top-of-mind and ensures that when a role opens up, you already have a list of qualified, interested candidates ready to go.

Related: How to Hire Peak Performers with These 5 Proven Strategies

3. Refine your hiring machine

When your company is in a hiring sprint, it can be difficult to take a step back and identify what’s working and what isn’t. A hiring pause is the perfect time to audit and refine your processes. This can involve everything from updating job descriptions to be clearer and more inclusive to identifying and removing redundant steps in your interview process. A lean, agile hiring machine is not only more cost-effective but also more effective at attracting top talent.

Let’s consider the story of the video conferencing company Zoom. During the pandemic, Zoom experienced an unprecedented period of hyper-growth. However, as the world began to return to a new normal, the company had to scale back and reevaluate its strategy. This forced Zoom to streamline operations, including its hiring process. By taking a closer look at what was working and what wasn’t, the company was able to make its recruiting more efficient, focusing on the roles that would drive future growth rather than those that were simply filling a need in a moment of rapid expansion.

Use this time to identify your most critical hiring goals for the next quarter. What roles are absolutely essential for your Q1 success? What skills will be most valuable? By clarifying your priorities, you can ensure that every dollar you spend and every minute you invest in recruiting is strategic and effective.