Recruitment Post Covid era

We all have seen how this pandemic has affected businesses, both their goals and functioning. Even the workplace and the HR department’s roles saw a sudden shift following the new normal. Concerns about the future have made the employers cagey about their talent strategies and recruitment decisions. Although more cautious than ever, these employers are still hiring.

Certain recruitment trends – introduced or accelerated by COVID 19 pandemic-have transformed the rules of hiring and recruiting, forcing organizations to adopt new practices to compete in the war of talent. And few of these hiring trends will possibly continue well beyond the pandemic.

Here are some trends that will define recruitment post covid.

Remote Hiring

The increase in remote hiring is a clearly visible trend and the most dominant hiring practice today. There is a need for HR professionals to rely on video communication to communicate clearly and evaluate the applicants for a good hire.

Online assessment testing has been implemented by many hiring managers and has shown good results. As the recruitment world turns to more digital communications, tools, and platforms, primarily due to covid – perhaps what we’re witnessing at the beginning of an era of recruiting innovation and technological developments.

Fierce competition for top talent and best jobs

Although the businesses have seen a lot of dynamic change due to the pandemic, there are a few basic rules that remain untouched. One such rule is that good jobs and talented minds are in high demand.

Top candidates are still likely to have to sort through multiple job offers. This is going to put pressure on employers to identify and bag talented minds. Those who hesitate may end up being too late to land good candidates. So, when you identify good candidates, prioritize them and move faster between hiring stages. If the company you’re hiring for has a good rating on platforms such as Glassdoor, it will help you succeed in staying ahead of competitors.

The enormous number of people applying for jobs has put pressure on the candidates as the competition has increased multifold. 

Video CVs

So by far, we know that competition for a vacant position in the majority of the industries has skyrocketed and that the candidate would have to step up his or her game to stand out. And one way of doing so is by using video CVs to showcase relevant skills and talk about one’s experience and credentials. 

Video CVs may not replace traditional CVs anytime soon, but they make the applicant more memorable. They help the candidate give a gist of himself/herself in just 60 to 120 seconds while impressing the employers with presenting and communication skills.

A national workforce

Since remote working has become the new normal for many companies, it has also allowed the widening of the talent pool. If one doesn’t require to be in the same room to work in a team, living in the same city may not be a necessity. You can have a larger and more diverse database of potential candidates.

It is more accurate to think of a national talent pool rather than a global one because companies may limit hiring outside their country due to the complexity of tax, insurance, commute, and more. 

More applicants most probably would mean a better shortlist with more high-quality candidates.

Need for you to be an outstanding communicator

It’s crystal clear that at this time, clear communication and inclusion in company culture has to be maintained. In the context of hiring remotely, this means –

• Avoiding canned responses

Rejection is always a little disheartening and we usually use predetermined texts to let a candidate know the recruitment status, but these are bad times for many of us, and we can put an effort to create a personalized text to deliver this news.

• Value transparency

Anyone will understand that a hiring process can be lengthy and that results may be delayed due to the workload. But it is important to value transparency and not commit to announce the result in a day or two if you’re not sure you can manage it.

• No ghosting

This is a rule of recruiting that is often overlooked. But make sure that you don’t leave the candidate hanging and deliver the news, be it good or bad.

Transforming the hiring process 

Online recruiting has a few cons such as the absence of human touch and hindrance in body language reading, but it has some major benefits too. Virtual hiring cuts down on hiring costs and time. But because most companies are new to this, it is important to know how to proceed.

The most practical advantage of online hiring is that the selection process is not only faster but also cheaper. For a face to face interview, the company might be required to reimburse the candidate for the travel costs for the various rounds as per the hiring procedure, but in the virtual process, the best candidate is likely to get selected in just 2 rounds and no travel reimbursement is required.

To succeed in this era of smart hiring, it is essential to digitize all the aspects of recruitment. To do so, you need to focus on these key areas – 

• Sourcing

Sourcing refers to identifying, researching, and networking with potential candidates to have a talent pool from which to convert professionals into job applicants. Using social media platforms for sourcing is a very popular and effective means to do so. We had posted a blog in which we talked about the tools and techniques useful for sourcing that will come in handy to give you a quick head start in this area. 

• Screening

Now that applying for a job online is easier than ever, recruiters receive many more resumes for any position. Many of these applicants aren’t even qualified but think that sending a resume is ‘worth the shot’. As a result, recruiters have a huge number of profiles to screen. 

Application Tracking Systems ATS keeps all these resumes in one place and looks for keywords in them to display the best picks. So the final list of resumes a recruiter goes through contains those of only the qualified candidates. There are a bunch of free and effective ATS tools available.   Using ATS will allow you to allocate your time to other tasks.

• Interviewing

While online interviewing has become the new norm, many recruiters still struggle to be comfortable with conducting virtual interviews. Here are a few tips to guide you through the preceding – 

• Design a clear, ordered interview process 

Develop a structured process and keep the candidate informed from the start. 

•  Get familiar with the use of your video interviewing tool

Test and familiarize yourself with the software you’re going to use for conducting virtual interviews. Give the applicants a good first impression and prevent avoidable delays.

• Select a good spot for interviewing

An ideal choice would be a quiet, well-lit place with a strong Wi-Fi connection.

• Be quick to build a personal connection with the candidate.

Before starting an interview, designate some time for small talks. Smile and show interest in the candidate to seem friendly.

Recruitment in the post-COVID 19 era is set to differ drastically from the traditional method, but thanks to technology, it won’t be as hard to shift to virtual hiring techniques as one would think. 

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Ishani Singh

Ishani works as Manager – Social Media & Strategy Big Ideas HR Consulting Pvt. Ltd. and also as a Freelance Digital Marketer. She has a knack for problem-solving and also enjoys writing. She loves to share her views and knowledge with the readers by the medium of her blogs.  

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