There’s no denying that the Coronavirus outbreak has impacted industries across the board and around the world. As companies have shifted from working in the office to working remotely, every aspect of business has changed, including recruitment.
Many companies are seeing a spike in applicants as people globally are quickly finding themselves out of a job. In fact, there are reports of a surge in job postings in certain industries over the last few weeks, including one week in March that had a 3x surge in U.S. job postings.
How are recruiters supposed to keep up with a flood of new job postings without being able to interact directly with candidates?
By using technology, of course. Fortunately for businesses, there’s an abundance of technology available to allow for tele-recruitment so that job candidates can still apply and interview for positions and recruiters can still talk to them face-to-face.
THE NEW NORMAL?
HOW THE CORONAVIRUS IS SHAPING A NEW BUSINESS MODEL
It’s normal to feel anxious or fearful when faced with a global pandemic. But it’s important not to waste time worrying and instead to focus efforts on adapting to the new normal.
The most successful businesses will figure out new, creative ways to continue doing business in the face of an unprecedented global event. For startups and growing businesses who are looking to scale quickly, that means figuring out how to stick to your hiring plan as closely as possible and finding ways to virtually recruit top talent.
TELE-RECRUITING – PRACUJ BEST CASE
For a lot of businesses, tele-recruiting is already the norm. That means that any business that puts forth an effort will be able to take part in this new way of recruiting.
Let’s take a look at a case study from our partner in Poland: Pracuj.pl
The first thing Pracuj.pl has done for clients and users is enable them to recruit and be recruited without ever leaving home, thanks to a mass campaign about online recruitment. This type of recruiting wasn’t popular in Poland until recently. As with other countries, businesses in Poland were hesitant to meet face-to-face and resisted technology that would allow for virtual meetings.
Today in Poland, most office workers are working from home. This has brought about the need for virtual meetings and has opened the door for online recruitment. Fortunately, Pracuj.pl is open and ready for business.
All businesses need to do is ask them to add information for a virtual meeting to the job posting. Then, the interviews are held online. They have created a guide for their clients to follow to successfully recruit online, since not all employers know how to do that. The guide includes best practices along with apps and tools that clients can use, including information on how to record an interview.
Pracuj.pl distributed this information to their internal clients using email, which is arguably the most efficient way to get a mass message across in this day and age. The company also created banner ads about online recruitment. Within less than a week, they saw traffic nearly triple, demonstrating the surging interest in online recruiting for all types of businesses.
STICKING TO A PLAN
Even though budgets for a lot of companies have been thrown off by the pandemic, many businesses are still sticking to their hiring plans. This is especially true for companies who have already adapted to the process of working remotely. In certain industries, including healthcare, retail, and government, companies are ramping up their recruiting efforts.
According to the UK-based recruitment company Movemeon, 88% of businesses plan to stick with their 2020 hiring plans. However, just because companies are interviewing candidates doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ready to hire.
THE CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE
Experts warn that job candidates may find themselves in a sort of limbo in the upcoming weeks as companies waver between having the business security to make an offer and waiting to see how things play out.
To prevent candidates from feeling ghosted, here are a few things recruiters can do during this time:
- Follow up
Let candidates know the timeline for hiring. This is especially important for candidates who have already gone through the interview process. Knowing exactly where they stand and what the company has planned can keep candidates interested.
- Nurture your pipeline
Recruiters may find that they have extra time on their hands. Use this time to nurture the candidate pipeline by managing relationships so that you’ll be ready to move when companies start hiring again.
- Embrace new technologies
This is the perfect time to learn how to use new technology to improve the recruitment process. From scheduling interviews to setting up onboarding, companies are turning to new, virtual ways of finding, hiring, and registering new employees. Recruiters worldwide are turning to video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams to conduct interviews with candidates. Understanding the best ways to find, recruit, and retain top talent using virtual platforms will benefit recruiters and businesses now and in the future.
A CHANGE THAT MATTERS
There’s no doubt that the workforce will never be the same, even after the global pandemic is under control. It will be interesting to see how the new models that businesses have put into place will affect the future of recruitment, especially once companies realize how much time they can save. For instance, London-based company Walters Peter has found that using a digital registration process to onboard new employees saves them over 10 hours.
Companies that can adapt quickly to the changes necessitated by the Coronavirus will succeed in recruiting and retaining talented new employees. If your recruitment force isn’t acclimated to new technology yet, now is the time to get on board so you can continue to build and grow a successful business.
