Having disrupted almost every aspect of everyone's lives in one way or another, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a broad reach from personal matters to the business and economic climate. The challenges created have been particularly troublesome to employers and employees, as they seek for workers and work.
When I was our club's General Manager, it wasn't uncommon to have an interview with a prospective employee while standing over the counter of the pro-shop, discussing the newest drivers, putters, or technology that can help the game. Not so much anymore.
The changes in the job market are alarming at a minimum, and as many are stuck at home with families to tend to and the pandemic not showing any signs of easing up, the "new normal" has become virtual.
Repercussions to business across all industries are causing leaders to re-evaluate and adapt to ensure the continuity of their business operations amidst the downturn. This has resulted in many sectors that were once booming with hiring and job opportunities that have lost some luster due to the widespread impact of Covid-19.
HR leading the way
Some employees are now working their way through the murky waters of each passing day without much more than a clue of what is in store next. No longer are being able to head out to work, and having the means to get through the day for many is now more of an achievement than it used to be.
It will take some time to know if the days of frequenting prospective employers for evaluations and then following up with successive interviews are a thing of the past. As everything is now going virtual, thanks to the pandemic, job seekers will need to adjust. With remote meetings, digital recruitment, and virtual collaborations, things are done in today's environment.
The HR function across a number of industries has had to face the brunt of having to engage talent and source their company's needs amidst a never before seen type of disruption. There is a bit of good news in the modification of the process. With the need for ever-advancing technology, so does the need for IT professionals to adapt to the changes and implement new tools being used.
Employers have widely adopted these tools to source, engage, and hire new employees to ensure they have the optimum staffing across functions. The new virtual hiring is undoubtedly now playing an integral role in minimizing business disruptions and helping to make people dynamically adapt to the changing needs of today's business model.
For an organization to run experiences of both customers and employees successfully, it must be done seamlessly. To avoid any temporary closure of the usual path to recruiting talent, organizations are now taking the virtual path to accelerate their hiring processes. They have positive results as much of the workforce has adapted to working remotely as well.
Additional read: Hiring a diverse team remotely
Digital recruitment framework
With the norms in social distancing, recruiters turn toward virtual collaboration platforms that are now creating 100% mobile experiences. WIth multi-device UX tools redefining the recruiting process through their seamlessness and efficiency at each phase of the process, from screening and assessment to documentation and on-boarding, companies are successfully adapting to the new processes on the go.
Once candidates are sourced from various online sources and social media, communication between recruiters and candidates through new-age HR platforms are now used for screening and evaluation. The platforms follow along with data compliance norms and global security norms while integrating with existing HRMS applications. Then, the subsequent phases of the interview can occur via videoconferencing applications.
After a flurry of remote video profiling sessions has begun, the policy employers follow is the "trust but verify" method. With AI, Bots, NLP, and ML tools, existing applications can be augmented and offer behavioral insights, test proctoring, and web monitoring during the interview. With the implementation of various travel, restrictions result in the entire documentation phase occurring online.
Employers have the selected candidates sign specific clauses to verify their identity by providing them with the digital format of appointment letters. Events such as orientation, soft-skill, and technical training are being done virtually, along with the meet-the-leader sessions to ensure a sense of engagement and connectivity key for the millennial workforces.
This process allows for rapid processing, turnaround, and overall constant momentum that has helped to surge the number of new hires employers can process every month.
Organizations are frantically making strides to step up to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Still, all the new-age digital service providers are at the top of their utilization productivity, delivering service level agreements of staff. Some reports claim the pandemic has exposed many of the outsourcing landscape's frailties, but there is negligible truth to those claims.
The facts are that many firms are managing to brave the storm very well across the various global delivery centers by taking advantage of the robust frameworks built on AI, analytics, and automation. By automating many of the routine tasks, HR leaders have created more free time to focus on their enterprise's core strategic aspects.
Moving in the right direction
All in all, even with the doom and gloom surrounding the HR industry, they show a great deal of resiliency. There is plenty of hope and assurance for job seekers and employers, that the new-age hiring platforms bridge the gap and create the "new normal" in the hiring process, even in these uncertain times.
Employee hiring has adapted to the technology available to create a new, digitally transformed employee hiring experiences. With the lockdown periods lifting, and in some cases rearing their heads again, having the new hiring tools and techniques are sure to give employers and employees a sense of relief that the job can get done.
