The entire employment market in the U.S. changed almost overnight in March 2020 with the arrival of COVID-19. Three particular areas of the recruiting lifecycle are primed for permanent change due to movement to a more virtual world, writes Shawn Tubman, vice president, enterprise talent acquisition at Liberty Mutual Insurance.
Change is difficult. Change is especially difficult when you are the only one making a change. But, is it difficult to change when an entire market moves at once?
The entire employment market in the U.S. changed almost overnight in March 2020 with the arrival of COVID-19. The country went from historically strong employment to historically weak unemployment in a matter of days as the economy reacted to the first modern-day, global pandemic.
In addition to the uncertainty created by disappearing jobs and the suddenness of so many workers laid off or furloughed, how these new entrants into the job seeker market will find new employment changed as well.
Recruiting has always been a relationship-driven business.
“Do you know anyone good for this job?â€
“My friend is looking for a new opportunity, will you speak with her?â€
“I used to work with him, and he would make a great addition to any team.â€
These are all commonly heard statements in the recruiting world, which have increased exponentially with today’s high unemployment. What has changed unequivocally since COVID-19 are recruiting activities, which have been forced to move to a more universally driven digital experience for the health and safety of all.
From the job site to the boardroom, there is no space for the traditional handshake when a hire is made in a virtual environment. Companies are now tasked with replacing the “feel†of an office when a candidate visits for an interview in an online experience. And determining a company’s culture for a prospective candidate is left to a verbal description rather than looking around, walking the floor, or bumping in a future co-worker by the water cooler.
Learn More: Top 3 Innovative Corporate Recruitment Strategies for 2020
3 Stages of the Recruitment Lifecycle That Are Now Ready for Change
Prior to COVID-19, digital elements existed in recruiting: online applications, text marketing, phone screens, and other means of electronic communication. Some industries had a higher prevalence of virtual recruitment, with some companies conducting their entire recruiting process electronically, but most industries were vested in some form of face-to-face interviewing during the selection process.
COVID-19 has eliminated the variation and forced many companies to fully adopt virtual recruiting processes. In addition to the safety aspect of going virtual for recruiting, other upsides include less reliance on expensive real estate, flexibility in locations of jobs that might have been previously constrained by reliance on brick and mortar, and, lastly, but very significant in the recruiting space, is access to new talent pools by broadening search geographies.
Three particular areas of the recruiting lifecycle are primed for permanent change due to the movement to a more virtual world:
Sourcing
Replicating the in-person experience is going to be a big part of the new, post-pandemic normal. More prospects can be processed through the hiring funnel at a lower cost due to efficiencies found in less travel, greater scale, and more access to company resources when virtual versus, for instance, attending a career fair or hosting a candidate at a company.
The tradeoff of these efficiencies is being able to represent to prospects and candidates the experienceOpens a new window of seeing a company in action. Several methods companies are using to replicate the experience for prospective candidates is adding virtual event management software to recreate the career fair experience online, providing 3D/virtual tours of work sites, and balancing the description of cultural markers such as company values alongside job responsibilities.
Learn More: What is Talent Sourcing? Definition, Process, Strategy with Examples
Selection
In a virtual environment, hiring decisions also will be driven less on eye contact, body language, and those other non-verbal cues that influence many managers’ decisions. The skill to interview over the phone or video is much different than in person. So many managers have had to upskill quickly to become comfortable in making critical talent selection decisions in this new environment.
Hiring managers have needed to become adept at assessing a candidate’s ability to be fully present during a virtual interview by accounting for a candidate’s ability to remain engaged in the conversation. Reliance on data points outside of interview questions such as technical assessments, referrals from former employers, and portfolios of prior work can help offset the risk some managers feel in making hiring decisions without interacting with their new team member in person.
Onboarding
Getting a new hire off to a welcoming, productive start are two equally balanced goals of most onboardingOpens a new window programs. Technical training can help with productivity – the challenge is how to make a new employee feel welcomed and part of the team when you can’t leverage the in-person experience of the physical office space, such as walking them around the floor to meet new co-workers.
One method to help achieve this connectivity virtually is to assign new hires onboarding “buddies†to help with the transition and to act as a mentor while the new hire comes up to proficiency in their role. These relationships exist outside of the regular conference calls and daily business to help guide new hires and answer those questions that oftentimes were asked during informal encounters while working in person.
Where Is Recruiting Headed From Here?
The change to moving to digitally enabled remote recruiting on a larger scale is here to stay for job seekers, hiring managers, and recruiters. The lower cost implications, increased access to a broader talent pipeline, and ease of switching to virtual will offset the reduction of in-person experiences and any needed investments in technology to make virtual recruiting a smart business decision.
How do you think going digital has changed the hiring process? Share your experience with us on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window .