COVID-19 has disrupted all the industries around the globe, and the HR sector is no exception either. It made a huge impact on many facets of HR, including recruiting. The same is evident from the shift to trends like remote interviewing and optimizing the candidate experience. But it is still not clear that what impact do these software products, which help in automating HR operations, make on the productivity of the sector.
To help you understand this, we have summarized some of the talent acquisition and recruitment trends that the world has seen to date, which are most likely to continue in the remaining year. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Remote Interviewing for Quick Hiring
Remote interviewing is one of the most recent trends that have emerged in the field of talent acquisition and recruitment. These days, it has become more of a necessity for hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic since work-from-home orders have been put in place. The candidates are unable or unwilling (let’s say) to travel by air for long-distance just for the interviews as going out in these times means putting your life in danger.
As per the process of remote interviewing, job interviews are conducted using video conferencing software, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, etc. All the concerned parties, i.e., the recruiter, their colleagues, and the candidate join a video call and start the interview as if it is a regular face-to-face interview.
Candidate Experience
2020 was the year of the employee experience. All thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic that accelerated the need for employee listening programs along with developing an experience that maintains the health and well-being of employees. It also made companies realise the value of giving the employees a positive experience during crucial times like the pandemic that will encourage them to stick to the company once it is all over.
There is no doubt that companies that invest time in building a positive experience for employees become more successful and profitable. The same goes for the candidate experience. Two prominent ways that employers use to improve their candidate experiences are upgrading career sites and using surveys to get feedback from candidates.
Diversity and Inclusion
Another area of growing focus for HR leaders is diversity and inclusion since it directly translates into the talent acquisition and recruitment process. Businesses having a diverse workforce and inclusive workplace are more likely to have better productivity and profitability. This is why the majority of organizations are trying their best to boost the diversity of their workforces in addition to making them more inclusive. Recruiters play a key role in identifying and bringing a wider diversity of candidates into the organization to widen the talent pool.
However, these goals can’t be achieved easily and they bring certain potential challenges. It can be racial or gender bias for or against certain candidates, inadvertently neglecting highly suitable, qualified, and experienced candidates, etc.
Making Use of Contingent Workers
Staffing the workforce is getting increasingly difficult since businesses around the globe are facing a prolonged period of disruption and uncertainty. Not only this, but the fluctuating needs and short-term operations require flexibility. All of these can be tackled with contingent labour that can help meet these demands.
We have seen an upward trend in using contingent workers and making a hiring process expressly for them. Organizations must understand that the talent acquisition process is different for contingent workers than it is for full-time employees, and they must set up to seek out, recruit and process these types of hires.
In such cases, a vendor management system can act as a saviour as it can be used to manage the procurement of contingent workers. In addition, companies can use their career sites to appeal to contingent workers. It will help them set up different interview methods and vendor approval processes.
Power of Analytics
HR is making a quick shift to analytics and it is using the power of analytics for organizations to define their talent acquisition strategies and recruit new talent. Analytics provide you with data-driven decision-making and insights and helps you identify areas of your strength and weakness.
In addition, analytics also help reduce the cost of talent acquisition practices and identify problems and blockages in the process while helping you fill vacant roles more quickly. Recruits are now using analytics to get their hands-on metrics including the source of hire, time to fill or hire, duration of the job, offer acceptance rate, cost per hire, quality of hire, vacancy cost, and diversity.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is helping the HR sector to find improved ways to source, identify and engage talent. The technology also offers smart talent platforms like Hyre, job-posting platforms, chatbots, and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities.
Another reason for the increased usage and popularity of AI is that it helps in doing a tremendous amount of heavy lifting at high speed while automating the talent acquisition processes. It can source, screen, sort, and rank candidates quickly based on the skills and potential gleaned from candidate profiles and resumes to create a pipeline of qualified candidates that are a great fit for the vacant position. Manually, the same will several days or weeks but with AI, it can be done within minutes.
