Recruiting for Resilience: How to Build a Team That Can Handle Anything

This story is a guest contribution from Talroo, an AI-driven talent matching platform that helps businesses connect with frontline and skilled trades workers that traditional job boards miss.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that certainty in business is a myth. Markets swing. Technology shifts. Priorities flip overnight. And yet, many organizations are still recruiting and hiring as if nothing unexpected will happen.

Resilient organizations take a different approach. They see recruiting as more than filling a seat - it’s about building a strong workforce that can roll with the punches and overcome anything to deliver results.

This recruitment style isn’t about predicting the next big disruption. It’s about making sure your next hire will thrive in uncertainty and bring adaptability to your team. To build a resilient dream team, follow these actionable steps.

Step 1: Hire for skills you can’t put on a resume

We can easily fall into writing job descriptions that read like laundry lists: “3 years of this, 5 years of that.” That’s fine for compliance, but it misses the qualities that might attract more resilient team members.

Here’s what to look for instead:

• Adaptability: People who don’t panic when the playbook changes.
• Learning agility: Those who get excited about figuring out something new and can self-direct.
• Problem-solving: Employees who ask, “What’s the best way forward?” instead of “Whose fault is this?”
• Collaboration: The ones who bring people together when times get tough.

These qualities often reveal themselves in non-linear career paths, volunteer experiences, and personal projects. Candidates who have navigated career changes, managed side projects or volunteer experiences, and have non-traditional backgrounds often have resilience baked into their professional lives.

Pro tip: Ask interview questions that put candidates in real-life change scenarios with specific examples:

• “You’re halfway through a project and leadership increases the output goal by 30%. What’s your next move?”
• “Share a specific example about a time when you were responsible for one goal but a new and urgent priority came up. How did you approach this new twist?”

Their answers will tell you more about their resilience than a dozen bullet points on a resume. Listen for signs of proactive thinking, calmness under pressure, and the ability to engage team members. These traits signify a candidate that will thrive when things change.

Step 2: Make your recruiting and hiring process a resilience filter

If your hiring process only tests for today’s skills, you’ll end up with a team built for yesterday’s challenges. It may perform well in stable conditions, but these teams can often falter when unexpected variables enter the mix.

A few ways to shift your hiring:

• Source outside your usual lanes: Career changers, veterans, and candidates from adjacent industries often bring fresh problem-solving approaches.
• Add scenario-based assessments: Instead of “Can you do X?,” try “How would you approach X if Y suddenly changed?”
• Hire for cultural add, not cultural fit: A resilient team has a broad range of perspectives, backgrounds, and skillsets that balance each other out.

But remember, speed matters. In a competitive market, the best candidates have options. Tighten up your hiring timelines so you can act quickly without dropping your resilience criteria. That might mean pre-aligning with interviewers, using tech to speed up administrative tasks like scheduling, or empowering hiring teams to make quicker decisions.

Step 3: Don’t stop at the offer letter

Hiring someone adaptable isn't the end. Keeping them engaged and ready for the next curveball is just as important. Try these employee engagement tactics to keep the momentum going:

• Onboard for adaptability: Share real stories about how your organization has navigated past changes. Let new hires know that flexibility is part of the job and something that’s celebrated.
• Crosstrain and upskill: Build bench strength so people can step into different roles when needed. Include cross-functional training as part of onboarding, along with self-directed sessions led by team members.
• Recognize resilience in action: When someone saves a project by thinking on their feet, shout it out. Public recognition reinforces the behavior you want.

Change becomes less intimidating when employees know they have the tools and the incentives to adapt. You’ll also boost engagement and retention – key outcomes in HR hiring best practices – while maintaining a healthy workplace for your employees. After all, engaged, adaptable employees are far less likely to burn out, even in high-change environments. 

Step 4: Make resilience part of your long game

Recruiting for resilience works best when it’s baked into your workforce planning. This means:

• Setting metrics that tie hiring success to resilience outcomes (retention during change, internal mobility, and time-to-productivity, for example).
• Meeting regularly with leadership to anticipate where skills gaps might appear.
• Auditing your hiring process at least once a year to keep it relevant.

Think of it as a maintenance plan for your workforce: you don’t wait for your boat to start sinking before you plug any holes. You want to build a winning people strategy as you go along. This approach ensures your talent pipeline stays strong, your teams stay adaptable, and your organization remains ready for whatever comes next. 

Quick-hit checklist: Recruiting for resilience

Share this checklist with hiring managers and recruiters to keep resilience top-of-mind across your organization. The more aligned your team is on what adaptability looks like, the easier it becomes to identify and hire for it.

• Define what resilience looks like in your organization.
• Put it in your job postings, interviews, and assessments.
• Widen your sourcing to capture adaptable, unique talent.
• Move quickly but don’t compromise on adaptability traits.
• Onboard with change in mind.
• Keep skills fresh with ongoing development.
• Measure, refine, repeat.

Creating a competitive recruiting advantage

The truth is you can’t crisis-proof your business. But you can crisis-proof your people strategy. By hiring for adaptability, building a culture that rewards flexibility, and making resilience part of your ongoing workforce plan, you give your organization the best possible chance to thrive even when the forecast changes overnight.

In times of change, the companies that adapt fastest hold competitive advantage. Think of resilience like a Swiss army knife for your organization; when the situation changes, you have the tools you need to adapt and keep moving forward.

Is your organization looking to reach new talent audiences? Visit Talroo on the UKG Marketplace to learn how to build your candidate pipeline and achieve hiring goals on time and on budget with an AI-driven talent matching platform.