The pandemic has led to several challenges—from the simplest to the most complex—that are yet uneasy to overcome. Its impact has been felt by organizations of all sizes and across industries, pushing people to shift their perspectives and make tough decisions when it comes to layoffs, hiring, and even closing a business.
Crisis management is today more necessary than ever, and companies need to respond with the best practices of agility, flexibility, and innovation in the face of unprecedented changes.
One of these practices shows innovation and flexibility in the form of digital recruitment. Digital recruiting is the process of using tech and the internet to find, attract, select, and hire candidates. However, it doesn’t come without its own setbacks.
Read this article to learn about the difficulties of hiring during a crisis and creative ways to overcome them.
Challenges
The recruitment process during the pandemic suffers from no lack of difficulties, especially since many organizations are working remotely. Online interviews are not as efficient as in-person ones, but employers are doing everything they can to determine if a candidate is a good fit for the business.
Many employers are optimistic about hiring but also expect to encounter several hurdles in their new recruitment process. Moreover, people are still planning to work remotely in the coming months. As a result, interviews will still take place online, with the risk of facing difficulties when it comes to:
- Finding candidates with the right skills
- Effectively screening candidates pre-interview
- Assessing candidates during the interview
- Determining the candidate’s tech skills and potential to be productive while working remotely
The recruitment website, Monster, conducted an employer survey to gauge how companies feel about the state of the workplace. Despite layoffs driving unemployment to record levels, 82% of employers say they plan to hire this year while 93% say they feel confident that they’ll find the right candidates.
Getting creative
The pandemic has pushed HR personnel to find creative ways in which they can innovate hiring, recruiting and onboarding. Today, most of the recruiting and hiring processes happen digitally. For this reason, companies have accordingly shifted and changed to adapt to new requirements.
Conducting interviews through video conferences has cut out a number of steps from the traditional hiring process. New and various online communication tools have proven to be helpful as well. But this wasn’t enough. Some recruiters created videos to provide step-by-step guidance on how candidates can participate in the application process. Moreover, the signing process has become digital—electronic signatures are now a must.
On top of that, hiring managers and recruiters have started using non-traditional ways of reaching out to candidates, such as texting and social media, and the use of chatbots has grown during the past year.
When it comes to deciding whether you want to commit to new full-time employment—without meeting your candidates in person—it can be stressful for the majority of hiring managers. However, one solution to consider is contracting experienced freelancers.
Last but not least, it’s crucial to send a message to your candidates that they will be cared for in this uncertain time. Consider providing healthcare and COVID-19-related services to your employees.
Advantages
Before planning your digital recruitment strategy, you should also know more about its benefits, such as:
- Extensive reach—reaching more remote applicants, including international talent
- Greater efficiency—spending less time for sourcing, selecting, and hiring candidates
- Higher return on investment—better ROI than traditional recruitment methods
Ultimately, don’t forget that creating a digital recruitment strategy can drastically improve your recruitment process.
