The Covid19 pandemic has compelled organizations to embrace unprecedented changes that none ever imagined. Most companies hurriedly adopted the work from home model to maintain continuity of the business operations by allowing most employees to work from home. It was the most significant change that deeply impacted the work culture, and the second most crucial change saw recruiters and teams aggressively switching to the virtual recruiting mode.
Zoom and Google Meet became the chosen media for interactions within and outside the organizations besides the usual communication channels of emails and messaging. Keeping up with the trend of virtual business interactions the norm at the pandemic’s peak, the HR departments of organizations developed various virtual recruiting strategies to hire people. It helped organizations maintain the momentum of filling vacancies promptly by overcoming the disruptions due to the pandemic.
Most recruiting professionals agree that the change is permanent. Virtual recruitment or e-recruitment will dominate the recruitment process alongside the traditional method of conducting face-to-face interviews.
What the future holds will become clear on looking at some virtual recruiting ideas discussed here.
Virtual Open Houses for Virtual Recruiting
Many companies practiced the technique of Meet and Greet as part of the recruitment process. It was an elaborate arrangement for allowing the prospective candidates to meet the recruiting managers, have Q&A sessions, office and site tours. It allowed judging the candidates from various perspectives through intimate conversations and closer engagements while giving them a better understanding of the organization. Companies can continue with the concept of holding open houses but virtually. Hosting live video conferences help companies to simulate a live office environment for having interactions and achieve the desired level of engagement for choosing suitable candidates. The popularity of text recruiting platforms and SMS marketing software has risen in recent years, effectively bridging the gap between companies and applicants.
Video Interviews
Video interviews have become the chosen mode of interviewing candidates, and companies need to train their recruitment teams quickly to conduct video interviews with a feel of real-world interactions. As the candidates appear for video interviews from their homes, recruiters createget more opportunities of creating a more personalized experience. Candidates too can shrug off the shyness, nervousness, and inhibitions attached with physical interviews in a formal office setting and speak more candidly. Employers can get better insights about the candidates not possible during physical discussions.
Telephonic Interviews for Screening
The practice of screening candidates by holding telephonic interviews was already in place but has now become a part of the virtual recruiting strategies. All virtual recruitment processes start with telephonic interviews for short listing candidates for the video interviews. The preliminary information gathered from this stage helps organizations save time on video interviews because the candidates selected during telephonic interviews are the most prospective ones.
Remote Onboarding
On-boarding is also happening virtually that matches well with the remote working concept, although it might seem awkward to welcome new candidates to the organization effectively. Hiring companies must train their recruiting teams to adapt the techniques of holding the hands of new employees virtually and accept them to make them feel comfortable. It requires good preparation and planning to take the employees smoothly through the virtual sessions by deftly timing the sessions and arranging for seamless movement from one level to another while getting an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the organizational culture and practices.
Despite emphasizing the virtual recruiting strategies, talent scouting teams are not entirely giving up the traditional physical recruitment process. The recruitment process of the coming days will comprise hybrid recruiting, but the virtual methods could dominate.
Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds.
Combining the virtual and physical recruitment process will be the new order in the HR system that would be like enjoying the best of both worlds. The hybrid model will remove all recruitment barriers, and recruiters will get the right persons from a larger group of candidates. The diversification and quick access to a vast talent pool will ensure a better quality of recruits. Getting the right person for the right job will not be an issue anymore, provided the recruiters play their role well.
Employers will benefit from Virtual recruiting by staying prepared to meet changing circumstances and maintain business continuity.
