COVID-19 has abruptly changed the employment landscape and many organizations have been forced to adopt new ways of working for survival. Hiring isn’t the same anymore due to the global pandemic.
Are you looking to learn how to change your recruitment strategy post-COVID-19?
If so then you have stumbled onto the right page.
COVID-19 Lessons We Can’t Forget
The Coronavirus pandemic has brought about many unforgettable lessons in different sectors of our lives.
Companies in the travel and tourism sector have been hit hard and tens of thousands of employees in these sectors have been laid off.
As the effects of the pandemic are slightly starting to decrease and companies are starting to ride out the enduring restrictions, HR professionals who are conscious about the future need to put in strategies for post-COVID-19 challenges.
According to HR consultants at Best Dissertation, a company that offers thesis writing services, one of the biggest challenges some companies will face will be strategic recruitment and preparations for the new return-to-work situation.
Some will be finding ways of scaling up their workforce and speeding up the hiring process.
The Future is Still Uncertain
Even though technology has bridged the gap between work and home, it’s still too early to count the eggs before they are hatched. We can’t easily predict what the future has for us in store.
The big question: How do future-focused HRs handle uncertainty and act strategically? It’s high time to change their recruitment strategy to have a workforce that can withstand any storm.
The global pandemic has taught us how valuable and tactical the HR function is. Albeit the daily challenges we have been facing, timely communications have kept businesses and companies operating smoothly.
Virtual Recruiting Strategies for Post COVID-19
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way HRs hire employees there is a need to embrace virtual recruitment. The good news is that there are tons of tools for conducting virtual recruitment out there.
Use these tools to screen the tons of available candidates while providing them with a better experience.
Below are four virtual recruiting strategies for post-COVID-19.
Embrace Digital Marketing
The global pandemic forced organizations and companies to switch to remote business which solidified the significance of a powerful digital marketing strategy. Having a company website isn’t optional anymore. In fact, over the last couple of years, potential candidates have been using the web to learn more about potential employees and companies to work for before they apply for a job.
For that reason, organizations should work hand-in-hand with the HR department to create a great digital marketing strategy while enhancing the user experience on multiple platforms.
In summary, organizations both large and small should ensure their online presence- Social media accounts, websites, YouTube channels are done with effective marketing.
Make Use of Video Conferencing Tools
The global unemployment rate is at around 6.47%. This means that there are more unemployed people than available job opportunities. However, giving candidates a good experience isn’t optional. That’s why many recruiters have switched to video conferencing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom to conduct virtual interviews that were in the past conducted in person.
Even though most of the available video platforms are created for use by beginners and experts alike, there is a need for some thought and planning before transitioning to virtual recruitment.
Remember that the focus is on hiring the best suitable candidates and not filling slots with the first candidates to come along.
Find out a suitable video conferencing platform for virtual interviews that are suited for your type of business. Ensure the platform you choose is easily accessible and usable for the candidates.
Offer Potential Employees a Virtual Experience of Your Company
According to Rodgers Agrey, a professional recruiter and essay writer, giving employees an initial virtual workplace tour of your company can help to create a great experience and attract suitable hires.
Before the pandemic, many companies invited candidates to visit so they could tour the facility and feel the company’s culture.
Due to the social-distancing directives and the move to working remotely, inviting candidates isn’t possible. While videos aren’t a great replacement for in-person visits, providing a video tour of the facility to the candidates helps them get a feel of what it looks like to work in your company.
Use Online Tools for Technical Interviews
In some jobs, candidates are required to solve some technical problems during the interview process. If your organization or company includes these types of interviews during the recruitment process then you need to implement virtual sessions. In this case, you need to use tools like HackerRank that allow you to conduct whiteboard interviews online where candidates can handle assigned tasks at their own convenient time and send back the results to the hiring manager.
CoderPad is also another powerful online tool for technical interviews that allows recruiters to hold conversations with candidates during the recruitment process to see how they solve certain problems.
With that in mind, let’s see why you should change your recruitment strategy post the global pandemic, doing it in four steps.
Befriend Technology to Improve Hiring
Even though technology was invented many years ago, it’s still surprising that many organizations aren’t properly equipped for the technological demands of the future employment sector.
Technology has been advancing drastically over the years. The old habits of depending on time-consuming recruitment processes aren’t meeting the high expectations. HR teams and recruiters need to embrace digital hiring by first rewriting manual hiring rules. Only companies that have embraced the use of technology such as video interviewing, screening, and candidate video applications will have a huge advantage of hiring the best talent.
The good news is that there is an influx of tech to help companies to create a seamless experience for recruiters and hiring teams as well as candidates.
In the coming years, organizations that haven’t yet evolved with technology will struggle to find, engage and hire the best talent.
Choose an Effective, Suitable Applicant Tracking System
The rapid transition to remote work has hastened the adoption of technology hence companies are investing in tools that handle administrative tasks to automate their daily activities.
These tools have helped to free up time for recruiters to focus on finding the best talent.
Employers can take advantage of an effective applicant tracking system to hire the best talent.
An effective ATS will allow recruiters and hiring managers to access the information they need much faster to handle essential tasks. Hiring teams can make use of the data collected to rebuild their workforce post the pandemic.
Take Advantage of Recruitment Marketing Software to Provide a Good Candidate Experience
We have talked about the importance of giving candidates a better experience. As we expect the pace of recruitment to change over the next months and years, knowledgeable recruiters need to deploy automated recruitment software to build topnotch pipelines for talent.
Remember that when organizations start to upscale hiring again, competition for the best talent will become fiercer.
The good thing about employing recruitment marketing software is that it allows you to strategically win the best talent- by expanding your talent reach, maximizing quality talent applications, and engaging with potential candidates at all stages of their application by expanding your talent reach, maximizing quality talent applications, and engaging with candidates at all stages of the application process.
Once a candidate visits your company website, the software converts them into a candidate and sends them targeted massaging to build and nurture a positive relationship.
Re-evaluate Your Recruiting Strategy
Whether you’re hiring now or not, another strategy to change your recruitment strategy post COVID-19 is to re-evaluate your recruitment strategy and position yourself competitively in the recovering employment sector.
When the pandemic first hit, many organizations’ priority was crisis response and emphasizing health, safety as well as virtualization of work for their employees.
As organizations are recovering from the competitive job market, it’s high time to use this time to reevaluate your recruitment goals and adjust accordingly based on the current changes in the job market.
Look at the talent you already have. You may or may not need to keep the same type of talent.
For instance, if you’re a retailer that hired many floor staff before and have switched to online shopping then you might need to hire warehouse staff.
Remember that a strategy that worked before the pandemic might be ineffective post the pandemic. Your strategy should be informed by the shifts in labor markets and updates to regulations.
In other words, you should tailor your recruitment strategy based on your current audiences’ needs.
Focus on The Right Skills When Screening and Hire the Right Talent
Hiring the wrong employee isn’t only detrimental to your turnover costs but also delays your recovery and can make your business less competitive.
To stay competitive albeit being hit by the pandemic, companies need to rebuild their workforce strategically- by screening for the right skills that can facilitate faster and effective recovery.
In this case, recruiting teams need to reconsider the types of opportunities they are hiring for and readjust their requirements for the post COVID-19 business environment.
For instance, due to fast consumer behavior shifts, retailers have been forced to find different types of strategies to compensate for their decreased foot traffic. They are currently focusing on hiring digital skills that support their marketing channels.
The focus on the resume is declining as recruiters are focusing on behavioral interview
Multiple studies have shown a decline of the resume as recruiters and hiring teams are focusing beyond experience-based valuation to pick candidates suitable for the job.
Companies are slowly switching from manually scanning resumes to tech-enabled screening for behavioral qualities.
While the demand for physical and manual skills is decreasing, that of social and emotional skills is soon going to rise.
Interpersonal skills such as the ability to collaborate will be valuable post-COVID-19.
Provide a Great Candidate Experience
Recruiting is changing and employers have been forced to offer a great candidate experience to attract the right talent. As there will be more applicants and fewer job openings, employers need to focus on hiring high-quality talent. This can only be achieved by providing a great candidate experience.
Knowledgeable organizations and companies are keeping in touch with candidates at all times to focus on candidate care.
To know if you’re providing an excellent candidate experience, look at your offer acceptance rate.
If you’re successfully providing a great candidate experience, your offer acceptance rate will be high.
Determine Where You’re Lacking
To determine the gaps ask yourself a few questions like:
- What’s the state of my organization currently from a people viewpoint?
- What needs to be compensated and what are the new skills that can facilitate the compensation?
The global pandemic has solidified the importance of people in any organization.
Organizations are now aware that the skills, knowledge, and effectiveness of the employees play a significant role in their success.
How to identify and replenishing the gaps is simple. Follow the tips below:
Determine What Roles You Need to Replenish
Identify what roles you have lost that need replenishment in the short term and long term.
To determine this, start by determining the skills you already have and those that you need after COVID-19. This will help you determine the next step for building your recruitment strategy.
Determine Your Skills Gaps
The skills you were lacking before the pandemic might be different from that of post the pandemic. For instance, if you have changed from restaurant services to food delivery business, the skills gap will be different. In this case, you will not only need to focus on hard skills and previous experience but also on soft skills such as the ability to collaborate and more.
Employment of Internal Mobility Programs
Some organizations have increased internal mobility to replenish lost skills due to the pandemic.
With an effective internal mobility program, hiring teams can evaluate the scope of their current employees and improve lateral career development.
For instance, employees with transferable skills or qualities may not be able to move vertically but can be redeployed into different divisions in the organization.
Final Thoughts: Are You Ready?
There is no better time to prepare a future-oriented hiring strategy than now. Even though fewer sectors haven’t felt the COVID-19 heat, the pandemic has been felt at all levels of any organization. No matter the level of your current hiring, changing your recruitment strategy after the global pandemic isn’t optional if you want to get the right talent.
Happy recruiting on GrabJobs!
About the author:
Tiffany Harper is a training guru who’s been working in the corporate sector as a technology expert for several years now. She is a management graduate and loves to share her experience through blogs and expert articles with the best essay writing service. For her love of writing, she provided online consultations for one college essay writer while working with rushessay.com. Please do not hesitate to contact her on LinkedIn.
