The war for talent in 2020 was expected to be more competitive than ever, with many industries and sectors forecasting a year of ambitious hiring and tremendous growth. There never was a propitious time for recruiters to prepare themselves for the increasing role of technology and automation, and especially AI, in making hiring faster and efficient.
While COVID-19 has changed the face of everything including hiring, technology has come yet again to save the day.
Despite the dark economic clouds, many companies are still hiring and gearing up for growth while working from home. If this is the new normal, businesses cannot afford to pause their hiring operations.
A great number of companies are finding ways to move forward and catch up with their competitors. Many employers are wondering if they can make hiring contactless without affecting the quality of their hires? The answer is yes!
Let’s see what contactless hiring looks likes and what talent acquisition managers need to do in this new normal:
• Attract candidates via social media and maintain a positive experience
To many employers, managing their candidate experience may not seem like a top priority at this time when a great number of companies have slowed down or frozen their hiring altogether.
However, how you treat candidates now will profoundly impact your employer brand down the road — and it definitely could make it more difficult to attract candidates when you decide to resume hiring later.
According to a LinkedIn survey, about 46% of hiring professionals said the pandemic has negatively affected the candidate experience at their company. Whether you are putting your recruitment on ice or crafting a totally remote candidate experience, it’s important to keep candidates updated in such a rapidly changing situation.
So, they know what to expect with the new socially distant contactless hiring and on-boarding process. Keep them in the loop using social media campaigns so you have candidates in your talent pipeline.
• Test candidates on multiple facets using gamified assessments
Recruiters can adopt a contactless hiring model in this era and recruit candidates virtually using AI-powered gamified assessments. A well-designed gamified assessment platform can equip recruiters with the data they need to hire top-tier talent as well as provide a fun experience to the job seekers — all while maintaining social distance.
Here’s what an ideal gamified assessment may be a combination of:
- Aptitude Assessments – to gauge one’s innate aptitudes and abilities.
- Psychometric Assessments – to assess attitude, values, behavioral preferences and the kind of the work environment a candidate prefers to work in.
- Situational Competency Based Assessments – to evaluate how a candidate responds to situations encountered in the workplace.
- Cognitive Ability Games – to measures a person’s cognitive traits, including focus, judgment, decision-making ability, memory and problem-solving skills.
Gamified assessment is a magic mirror that invariably helps talent acquisition mangers spot the most talented candidates. It also improves the odds that the unfit individuals are screened out before the interview stage. Not only does this improve hiring outcomes, it also saves an interviewer’s valuable time — something that recruiters will undoubtedly appreciate!
Read Blog: How to Leverage a Full Spectrum of Talent Assessments
• Replace in-person interviews with video interviews
The global pandemic ushered in an era of contactless hiring and transformed in-person interviews to virtual ones. Interviews have long been a vital part of the hiring process.
They are, in fact, often the point where a decision on the best candidate truly takes shape and where candidates realize whether a company really clicks for them.
Research from Brandon Hall Group reveals that 90% of employers consider interviewing critical to success. Video interviewing allows hiring teams to use digital technology to pick out the most talented candidates and prevent bad hires.
While most companies use video conferencing tools, large enterprises use purpose-built technologies to improve recruiter efficiency, gain hiring speed and engage candidates faster.
Regardless of the video interviewing tool you use, it’s important to encourage your recruiters to be as empathetic as possible. Your candidate may not be familiar to the videoconferencing platform and may thus be flustered.
A switch to video interviewing will not only help your company continue to fill up important roles, it will also work as a test of long-term viability of remote interviewing for your organization.
• Make a virtual job offer
With a new and improved contactless hiring process in place, you have discovered the ideal candidate. Well, it’s time to make the offer to the lucky person and organize welcome drinks. If only it was that easy!
Finding the perfect candidate is a wonderful feeling, but the candidate needs to actually accept your offer as well. Earlier, this used to be a manual and tedious process involving repeated visits to the office and getting the candidate to sign the document after haggling over it.
Now, finalizing a hire is much easier with a contactless recruiting model, which can be operated by leveraging technology. Thus, making an offer, issuing a contract, and responding to queries with a breeze. And all this can be done from home!
• Effectively onboard a new hire from home
While onboarding is an exciting event for a new hire, it is a crucial one for your company. The successful integration of the hire into the team will boost productivity and retention. So, convert your onboarding program into virtual experiences to hire effectively amid these uncertain times.
Stepping in the Right Direction with Contactless Hiring
As the coronavirus impacts the way we work, recruiters and talent acquisition managers also adapt to today’s rapidly changing environment on the fly. Hiring teams are quickly leveraging new-age tools to find, interview, evaluate and hire candidates in the virtual world. At the same time, they are recognizing the benefits of virtual recruiting for both the teams and the applicants while ensuring the health and safety of all.
Technology-driven virtual hiring tools are playing an integral role in minimizing business disruption in this age of contactless hiring. Not only are they accelerating the hiring process but also improving the candidate experience.
Organizations that embrace the new normal in talent acquisition will stay ahead of the curve and alleviate the impact of the outbreak, keeping their companies running smoothly now, and over the long term when COVID-19 subsides.
