Lekshmi P

How Talent Acquisition Has Transformed into the Post-COVID World

By | Lekshmi S P | Marketing Intern at Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd.

The change may be uncomfortable at first, but talent acquisition professionals are up for the task. Primary phone screenings remain the same, but the face-to-face interview has moved online. To fasten time-to-hire, many companies are offering candidates the option of video interviewing as soon as possible. While some are waiting until an in-person interview is possible, many fear losing candidates to a competitor during the waiting period.

As business moves to online interviews, they reap many benefits beyond safety for their recruiters and job seekers and this may be the kick many companies needed to augment their existing strategies with a virtual component.

Video recruitment is a must-have for companies even in optimal and most feasible hiring conditions. Individual recruiters and teams leverage the ability to interview essentially on-demand, without puzzling interview scheduling. And those who are already using recruitment technology are more likely to speed up time-to-hire —pandemic or not.

Other workplace shifts that may become long-term

The Augmented Recruiter

Remote work

Remote work may have been on employee wishlists long before COVID-19, but many companies are finding the option not only workable but beneficial. As the virus subsides, some suggest a permanent shift toward working from home may be in the cards.

Employee rights

A new appreciation for workers may also be adequate: as the government mandates paid sick and family leave during the outbreak, many companies are shifting their focus to hourly workers, formerly excluded from such perks. State and local governments have been developing sick leave insurance and coverage for hourly workers; the virus may accelerate the spread of these laws and policies. As the business continues to meet demand and maintain productivity during these difficult times, there are many resources available to help navigate the changes COVID-19 is requiring. Companies will need to comply with every option available to keep their workforce, their partners, and their customers as safe as possible.

KPMG’s survey report shows that organizations that were not prepared with an adequate IT infrastructure to enable remote working were caught off guard during this pandemic. The report revealed that 32% of the firms lacked facilities to offer a work-from-home option, while only 25% of all the organizations had an IT infrastructure already in place which helped them to face the challenge.

The inference is obvious, there is a strong emphasis on digitalizing all aspects of recruitment to usher in the era of smart hiring. To establish a digitally and a virtually enabled recruitment process, addressing these key areas is vital:

Sourcing & Screening: Businesses need to upgrade their arsenal with online assessment tools to fast reduce dependencies on offline set-ups.

Interviewing: Certain businesses are already ahead of the curve as they were quick to adopt and update teleconferencing technologies, a critical step to ensure business continuity. All other organizations must also follow suit to enable virtual interactions.

Onboarding: Post hiring, conventional onboarding methods should also be replaced by virtual onboarding and engagement strategies which are riding on digitalization. Organizations are also adopting AI/chat bot-driven processes to improve their efficiency.

While the pre-COVID-19 era saw digitalization as a forward-looking priority for organizations and businesses, it is now an imperative measure that is essential to sling businesses towards the new normal.

In addition, hiring processes will have to be more inclusive and include various elements such as flexibility in work schedule, developing skills, along with building an attitude and ability among employees towards crisis management. This way, employees will be enabled to contribute positively towards the business and reinforce and grow in their roles in the organization.

It is also important to note that the impact of the situation has resonated with the hiring strategies that got abruptly stalled, and in some cases, have resulted in layoffs. This also calls for a strong focus on retention of employees, especially those who have impacted the business positively in the past and in difficult times that we are navigating currently. Agile hiring is the new resort for talent acquisition.

First published on LinkedIn by Lekshmi

 
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