COVID-19 has brought a lot of changes to the talent acquisition strategies. Such things as remote recruiting staff, online interviews, electronic background checks, and virtual orientations are no longer unusual. But after the pandemic, how many of these changes will remain, and what will stay in the past? Let’s figure it out in our blog post.
Post-COVID hiring strategies
COVID-19 pushed companies and consumers to adopt new behaviors and trends in talent acquisition that are likely to stay with us for a long time.
Remote work and virtual meetings are likely to continue
According to McKinsey, more than 20% of the workforce could work remotely three to five days a week as effectively as possible if working from the office. Many companies already want to shift to flexible workspaces and bring fewer workers to the offices. That’s why companies need to be upfront with their position about remote or hybrid work.
Transparency is what workers value most nowadays, so your company should approach recruiting process with honesty. That’s why state the expectation for work from the start to avoid wasting time pursuing something that will not work for both the company and the employee.
Nowadays, such things as ultra-fancy workspaces are not relevant as they used to be. People want to work from anywhere, and it’s one of the many ways COVID-19 has influenced recruiting and hiring.
Talent acquisition sources of the past won’t necessarily stay the best
The normalization of remote work has proved that organizations no longer need to source candidates based on their headquarters or proximity to the office. Nowadays, organizations can source anywhere. It’s one of the talent acquisition trends affecting many industries.
Specific to recruiting, the ability to look beyond those traditional talent pools, to look at where the best talent is, again not just the talent that’s closest to an office, enables hiring managers to take a much broader view into what type of talent they would like, not just what talent is available
Lauren Smith, Vice President at Gartner in the Human Resources practice.
Nowadays, hiring managers can expand their view on what talent they are sourcing and concentrate on what they would like, not just those available. It opens new possibilities for recruiters and the ability to look beyond those traditional talent pools.
Candidates are increasingly selective about whom they work for
Nowadays, recruiters need to have a more humanized approach to sourcing in general to attract new candidates. They need to focus on candidates as people, not just employees and think about how this job and organization can improve their life, not just career.
According to ManpowerGroup, specialists are prioritizing balance and choice, and it’s non-negotiable. People want to choose where, when, and how they work, and that doesn’t mean millennials logging on in coffee shops. Employees with control over their schedules report greater job satisfaction and lower levels of burnout and stress. Companies need to think about how they will enable candidates, or employees, to have the flexibility to fit their work in life.
New talent acquisition trends affected by COVID-19
Today’s hiring market is very similar to the buyer market, where people who are being recruited have more power in that relationship. That’s why one of the other big recruiting industry trends is a deeper connection with employees.
Companies need to understand not only employees but also their families and community. As people are working from home together with their families and children, companies need to understand what their employees want and what the people around the employees need.
For example, companies can develop opportunities for an employee’s family or provide specific benefits specifically for parents.
The second rule is to build the workforce of the future, not just replace the workforce companies had before. The most important thing to do is not just to take the old job description when someone leaves your team but to think about the new, emerging, evolving, and expiring skills for this role.
The next trend is diversity. Recruiters need to restructure hiring processes to reduce bias, from creating diverse interview panels to processing data-driven reporting against diversity goals.
Recruiters have to be able to answer questions on culture. They have to be able to answer questions about the company’s stance on diversity. They have to teach leaders and managers how to think more broadly about their own choices and coach them to gravitate not toward who they ‘like’ but who adds to the organization
Lauren Gardner, Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at Microsoft
And, of course, recruiters need to adapt and learn new skills. Personal development, diversity, inclusion, and talent pipelining are the fastest-growing skills for recruiters in 2021. From hiring slowdowns to adapting to new business priorities, the one constant skill for recruiters will be the need for adaptability. Recruiters often bridge a company’s hiring needs and other HR initiatives. They need to rapidly add such skills as diversity and inclusion, decision-making, and HR strategy to their business strategy.
Virtual hiring and interviews
Virtual interviews are one of the trends in recruitment 2021 that has evolved immensely over the last few years. While some initially viewed them as a new recruitment trend, they became a necessity to keep hiring processes moving forward in recent months.
Moreover, according to Lever’s research, 50% of talent pros say diversity, equity, and inclusion are more of a priority than ever. Companies have to understand the role technology plays in their hiring process to ensure all candidates are being considered fairly. Video interviewing can be a useful tool in preventing discrimination by standardizing the interview process and allowing all candidates an equal opportunity to be seen and heard.
Creating the exact interview circumstances establishes a fair and consistent process across the board. Virtual meetings and hiring can also widen your talent pool.
"Job interviews will largely continue to be conducted virtually," said Candace Nicolls, SHRM-SCP, Senior Vice President of People and Workplace at Snagajob, a Glen Allen-based online staffing platform that specializes in matching candidates to hourly wage jobs.
Virtual recruiting has the following benefits:
- It can reduce the time and cost per hire. You don’t have to spend time preparing the office, offering a drink, interviewing, and escorting employees.
- You can conduct interviews without even having to leave your desk and conduct multiple video interviews in a shorter period.
- By reducing the time it takes to find your candidate, you also reduce the cost per hire, especially in healthcare recruiting.
Remote onboarding
Remote onboarding is another major one of the talent acquisition trends 2021. It entails all of the steps of the traditional onboarding process, facilitated by different digital tools (for example, video calls or other collaborative tools like shared documents, etc.).
The goal of remote onboarding is to offer an employee an exciting experience as part of your organization, even if they are not in a physical office location. Here’re a few rules on how to implement remote onboarding in your company:
- Give your new hire a personal welcome to the company with a virtual tour and introduction to their new team.
- Add your new team member to WhatsApp or Skype groups and schedule social video calls to introduce your new starter to the rest of the department
- Provide useful links to resources such as HR contacts, internal processes, training sessions, how to request leave, FAQs, and benefits information to avoid questions
- Send regular updates such as internal newsletters about what’s happening within the department with links to useful resources and updates on projects to keep your employees engaged.
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