Remote hiring is becoming the new norm for companies around the world, bringing with it a new set of challenges and changes that must be met. There is a major shift happening in how we work, interact, and connect with people.
Our report on the current state of hiring from home provides a snapshot of the status of remote hiring in 2020 and offers valuable insights on how to better adapt during any remote circumstances. We believe it’s important for recruitment professionals and stakeholders to stop and evaluate the impact of this pandemic on hiring processes and to better prepare for the future state of hiring.
Who was surveyed?
- Active recruiters
- Executives
- Managers
- HR professionals
What’s in the report?
This report serves as a resource for recruiters and business professionals who want a benchmark of what is happening in the hiring sector and what their peers are doing to overcome new challenges. "The current state of hiring report” provides a deep dive into the realities, challenges, and ways of adapting to unforeseen circumstances, including:
- Insights from your peers on what they experienced during the pandemic;
- An overview of the effectiveness of current remote hiring practices;
- Tips on how to adapt to remote hiring during emergency situations, and more.
5 key takeaways from the report
The prevailing message of this report is that this most recent pandemic has fundamentally changed how recruiters work and interact. But, while our respondents acknowledged that change and disruption have impacted their business, many offered a positive outlook and a willingness to lean into new ways of working and hiring.
Here are five of the key takeaways from this report:
1. Uncertainty is the new certainty
Uncertainty is a major theme throughout this report, due to the unprecedented scope of the pandemic and the measures taken to combat it. COVID-19 has affected some industries more than others, which has created a divide in how well certain companies have been able to adapt to this unforeseen situation. To illustrate that divide, consider these two statistics:
The fact that just under one third (32%) of respondents felt sufficiently on edge about the global economy that they have stopped all hiring is telling. However, it’s encouraging to see that many companies are still in a position to continue growing their talent pools.
2. Most people are hiring remotely without proper support
Remote work and hiring have rapidly become the dominant manner of operations for companies in a position to do so.
In fact, 94.6% of survey respondents say their company is currently working from home. Despite these statistics, however, more than half of the survey respondents indicated that they do not have a remote hiring policy (52%) or a remote onboarding policy (54%) in place.
In other words, most people surveyed are actively working and hiring without the proper policies and processes in place to effectively manage the differences between remote and in-person recruitment.
3. Time to hire when remote has taken a hit
As a result of this lack of processes and policies, 50% of survey respondents reported that their times to hire have been affected since the start of the pandemic. In fact, 23% of people report an average time to hire an increase of one month.
This can have a range of negative impacts on recruitment outcomes, including:
- Waste of time and resources
- Poor candidate experience and employer branding
- Talent drop off
- Rushed decision-making on candidate selection
A lack of resources seems to be a common factor in this increased time to hire for many respondents. Despite that, 90% of respondents said they haven’t acquired any new software to make their processes more efficient.
4. Remote hiring interviews are becoming shorter
As you would expect, most respondents are relying more heavily on remote hiring tech like video interviews to keep their recruitment going. While video interviews are on the rise, the length of each call is dramatically shorter than before.
Shorter interactions with candidates raise new concerns that recruiters will need to address when hiring remotely. These include:
- How can recruiters and hiring managers connect with candidates in such a short timeframe?
- Are candidates being given ample time to showcase their skills, personality, and cultural fit?
- Are recruiters able to ask all of the screening questions needed to make an informed decision?
What’s clear from this research is that recruiters must find ways to adapt quickly and find tools, techniques, and processes that will help them maintain their required output and efficiency.
5. Current remote hiring challenges should inform your future hiring strategies
While there are real challenges facing the recruitment sector at the moment, many survey respondents reported a generally positive outlook about the future of their companies and hiring. Up to 28% of people expressed optimism about the future and 24% have already seen an improvement in their hiring. Those who have been successful are the ones who are leaning into new tools, processes, and mentalities that embrace remote work and hiring as an opportunity, rather than a setback.
These are the people who are using tools and processes like:
- An Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
- Remote hiring and onboarding policies
- Video interviewing processes and training
- Efficiency audits to improve time to hire
Download the industry report for a deep dive into how each of the above tools and processes can help you lean into remote hiring more effectively.
This report shows that people are incredibly resilient when faced with unexpected challenges. We hope that it will prompt you to reflect on how you currently work and provide a strategy for how to adapt your remote hiring for the future.
