Assessing a candidate’s cultural fit with the business during the recruiting process can be difficult to achieve in the best of times, let alone through a virtual recruitment procedure during the pandemic. Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) play a vital role in directing the recruitment efforts for the organization, and as a result of the COVID-19, the CHRO has been forced into rethinking recruiting candidates.
Sam Palazzolo, Principal Officer @ The Javelin Institute
Other than being absolutely honest with potential hires concerning the environment they are expected to be part of, companies can design creative and innovative alternatives too. A unique approach by one organization we consult with was to develop a 15-second video program which permits applicants to showcase their personality. It’s a great way to have a peek into the candidate’s personality, comedy, presentation and communication skills/abilities.
Working — and Recruiting — From Home
A record 95 percent of American workers were made to accommodate stay-at-home orders for work because the virus started its last March. Almost 47 million US citizens since then have registered for unemployment since the virus wreaked havoc during the lockdown months. There’s nothing like a crisis to concentrate intelligence, or in this case decentralize it.
Despite the fact that the overall trend is to downsize at a recession caused by the outbreak, the chance to upsize is waiting to be seized. Businesses that utilize this time to produce tactical talent investments using an innovative focus will come away from the recession better placed than their counterparts. Ultimately, the recruiters and the hiring managers make the choice, and it’s the CHRO that is attempting to compress and progress the process and provide the very best recommendation to allow them to behave.
Today’s recruiting environment has never been harder. Because of this, recruiters are utilizing a number of methods and tactics to connect with prospective candidates. Many businesses like services and hospitality, airlines, start-ups, recreation and amusement businesses have been hard-hit as a result of the pandemic. So, now’s time for CHROs to double their efforts and have their top-line recruiting specialists scout for the most outstanding capability in key organizational roles.
Amidst the catastrophe, health care, eCommerce, logistics, telecom and technology are certain sectors which have been bursting with activity and seen a reverse-impact as a result of the pandemic. This reversal sent them on mass hiring sprees at a period when other businesses largely took to a more rigorous approach. The success of a business is dependent on selecting the right resources, and no resource is more important to success than people.
Though the pandemic has produced an unparalleled financial fallout with countless job losses throughout the globe, visionary CHROs should appear to capitalize and call this as a once-in-a-lifetime recruitment opportunity. So, it best not to be short-sighted in terms of crisis management that emerge because long-term thinkers who through strategic-targeting the type of talent that will help the organization not to only survive but flourish are available.
But with all the effects of coronavirus coming in, company CHROs are having to rethink their hiring practices by putting an immediate stop to face-to-face interviews and relevant talent acquisition methods. Seizing the Opportunity, hospitals and places of healthcare hired retired doctors, nurses or health care students to fulfill massive staff deficit created by COVID-19.
As more and more people switched to stock up their’ pandemic pantries’ — Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) — rather than popping into their local mom and pop shops for similar goods, the likes of Walmart, Amazon and others heavily recruited to meet the increasing demand of home deliveries at their fulfilment centers.
CHRO leaders will have to ensure that whatever adjustment they make to their policies and approaches now, does not stifle their organizations’ growth in the future. Consequently, the matter is ‘how will companies find their perfect candidate when conventional recruitment is removed from the equation?’
In times where labour cost efficiencies would be the focal point, some knee-jerk, short-term responses to recruiting can leave the business more vulnerable later on.
The Way Coronavirus Has Streamlined The Way Workers Are Recruited?
Safety over speed is what CHROs should be practicing as they move on with their recruiting strategies within an post-COVID world. 84 percent of recruiters are adapting to technologies as the hunt for next-level staff starts again. Virtual processes are the standard with 58% of hiring managers progressively based on using networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and even Instagram to connect with potential candidates or create virtual job fairs.
A machine learning service like Harqen offering live and on-demand pictures for job interviews has been increasing in popularity among recruiters in recent months. The platform uses its automation capabilities to assess applicant fit prior to interviews and yields a score and position ranking that contrasts comparable candidates from the hiring pool. In addition, asking candidates in their former or current employer’s response to the pandemic as well as their perspective on the area of the impact on this firm’s work culture is a reasonable question to assess cultural fit. This helps to evaluate the amount of support which the applicants anticipate of the new company when they begin in their respective roles.
What Role Recruiting Automation Plays?
There is also the opportunity to spend in automating touch-free recruiting solutions. Businesses with limited bandwidth could opt for readymade videoconferencing software solutions like Zoom, Skype or Google Hangouts to conduct their screening and interview processes. Others may choose more expert platforms to measure performance concerning recruiting and engagement when interviewing candidates (We have a battery of assessments that can additionally be leveraged for recruiting at Javelin).
SUMMARY
Regardless of the external economic climate, the very best CHRO leaders will utilize this chance to their advantage to onboard new candidates. Not only does this enable talent acquisition teams to evaluate and compare options from old to new, but helps to align their hiring goals with organizational goals and streamline it for improvement with the use of technology.