This new decade has started on a compromising note owing to the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. 2020 has not only revamped our perceptions about communal health or global economy but has also exerted a greater impact on our future, collectively. We, as a community has fostered instantaneous adaptation of new technologies and have become inquisitive about the entire remote working module. This initiative has been eagerly sought after amidst varied corporates as well as other arenas since it compromises neither on the Workfront nor on the health and safety of the employees. Shedding further light on this has made us realize that COVID-19 has also revolutionized the global hiring trends to deviate from the legacy recruitment pattern.
Remote working
This shift from sharing a common workspace to a remote working environment has altered the business and labour market exponentially. This transition has also amended the entire hiring culture on a global scale which are enlisted as follows,
Opened avenues for Global Recruiting
Although hiring overseas employees or contractors could be a cost-effective measure for many firms, it was still not yearned for, due to the paperwork and legal complications involved. However, this new remote working trend has overcome these barriers besides making it relatively possible to hire top talents on a global scale. This proves to be a mutually beneficial measure, as it results in providing the companies with access to a wider pool of professionals while also increasing the PayScale ratio. This initiative could be achieved by creating global compensation plans and identifying efficient global payroll solution.
Beneficial for excluded professionals
This amendment has revamped the global recruiting trends to make the recruitment process extensive and accessible. Specifically focussing on professionals who were excluded from being considered as potential candidates. This seclusion was predominantly common with,
- Primary caretakers, mostly women who had taken a break from the corporate work to manage their household. They were excluded due to their need for flexible schedules owing to the inability to work within a stipulated timeframe.
- Differently abled individuals who do not have the liberty of commuting to their workplace on a daily basis.
- Economically indigent professionals who cannot afford transportation expenses.
- Introverts who encounter difficulties around coping-up with on-premise working environments.
Reconfiguring the recruitment process
The process of adopting a remote working environment has not only influenced the decision about the individuals who are hired but has also streamlined the entire hiring process. Prior to COVID-19, the employers would require an average of 60 to 90 days to hire a new employee. This was due to the manual recruitment process involved within each hiring framework. With the current global hiring trends, the organizations were able to wrap-up the hiring process within 30 days since it does not involve on-premise interviews and assessments. This change in the hiring procedure has secured more focus on functional assessment and work-based simulation as the most efficient methods to determine the competencies of an applicant. On a larger picture, this means that the functional assessment is considered as the ultimate screening stage hence, the recruiters had to be inclusive while creating job-specific assessments.
The rise of Contract workers
Until 2019, the recruiters were determined to hire only full-time or part-time employees who could contribute consistently to the growth of the firm. This pandemic has placed a reality check on the financial imbalance of the firms resulting in innumerable layoffs of employees. This is most common amidst the employees who do not contribute directly to the revenue generation wing of the firm. Post-COVID scenario has opened the avenues for recruiting contractors or freelancers which proves to be highly beneficial for the organization both on economic as well as professional fronts. Hiring contractors has been a major enhancement performed to the global talent acquisition trends as it contributes towards reducing the transactional costs associated with hiring direct employees. This shift in the hiring process also provided an incentive for the organizations to rely more on contractors or freelancers thereby, reducing the size of their workforce. The changes set forth in 2020 is expected to shape the hiring trends to be followed in the upcoming years. Have an opinion about recruiting contractors or how hiring contractors would shape your business on the global horizon?
Dive in deeper with Multiplier to know more about how we help firms to hire and manage contractors on a global scale.
Better focus on engaging with talent communities
With the altering global hiring trends, there is a noticeable increase in project-based hiring which targets professionals with a specific skillset. In such instances, the hiring managers or recruiters would likely devote more attention towards building and maintaining seamless relationships with potential employees, company alumni and other subject matter experts. To establish this network, the organizations usually follow open source communities. This increases communication and collaboration with external contacts.
Disadvantages of Remote working:
This new adaptation of the global hiring trends has proved to be extremely positive for the organizations and professionals. Especially, in terms of creating exciting opportunities internationally or building diverse, inclusive and innovative teams. However, the entire shift to remote working culture has also created significantly challenges through new forms of exclusion which are enlisted below,
- Professionals with economic constrains who do not have the access to the required devices and a stable internet connection to work from home or to appear for remote interviews. These people tend to encounter limitations with the audio-visual quality, or the software used for a technical interview. At such instances, the recruiters would have to reassess the value of the video interview on a professional basis apart from just evaluating the quality of the presentation.
- Professionals especially senior associates who are not fluent with the current digital adaptations.
- Extroverts are restricted from displaying their actual personality over digital interviews or, are not very effective on remote working environments wherein they don’t get to interact with the team.
Remote recruiting
Although remote hiring may seem like an effortless procedure, it takes the same amount of thought and planning as the real-time hiring process. Nevertheless, it does have its own advantages ranging from reducing the time incurred on hiring to the operational overheads besides providing a vivid talent-based to hire the most promising candidate.
Multiplier has been the pioneer in terms of remote hiring and set a distinct standard on this front. Remote recruiting has helped us hire top talent whom we wouldn’t be able to work with otherwise, including contractors or even full-time employees from all over the world. Based on our insights we would like to enlist the most essential steps to be followed during the remote recruitment process.
Specify accurate job description
New hires, especially the ones acquired through remote hiring, tend to quit the job if the actual workflow does not resonate to the job description stated. This is mostly because the employees do not tend to develop a personal bonding with the recruiters during a remote interview. In order to prevent this, hiring managers are expected to set transparent expectations in the job listing. Besides this, it would also be advisable to brief about the challenges and opportunities that the candidate may encounter. This effort may attract only the right set of candidates thereby, saving a significant amount of time spent on hiring. Finally, it is also essential to introduce the candidates to the culture and values fostered by the company since applying online to an organization takes a giant leap of faith.
Source professionals online
In terms of remote recruiting, referrals work miraculously with identifying the perfect candidate for an existing vacancy. This is because the professional appearing for an interview with your firm would be referred by an existing employee of the organization which increases credibility about the company. Furthermore, the employee would’ve also elaborated the interviewee about the company’s standards, the growth perspective and the job role to the applicant beforehand.
Evaluate knowledge, not portfolios
During a remote hiring process, it would be unfair to evaluate a candidate on the basis of their portfolio or covering letter. Instead, the hiring managers should start assessing professionals based on their skillset observed during the simulation exercise of the recruitment lifecycle. Implementing this measure could also improve the recruitment metrics of an employee drastically. This process could appear tedious hence, it is advisable to use a recruitment technology or a recruitment partner like Multiplier to stay organized during the hiring process.
Interview shortlisted applicants on video
Video calls are equally effective as real-time interviews and are a crucial step with the remote recruitment process since it provides an overall assessment about the candidate. An inclusive recruitment process would commence with a structured video interview defining the questions to be asked and suggestions that could be made to resonate with the job role. Post this session, the top-performing candidates could be assigned to shadow an existing employee with an admin project. This would help the hiring managers to evaluate the inter-personal skills of the professional.
Verify references and onboard
It is imperative to document the references during the hiring process since, it builds credibility on the professional. This could be addressed in the last stage of the recruitment process. The hiring managers also use various reference checking softwares to acquire anonymous feedbacks about the candidate.
Therefore, remote hiring is considered as a highly beneficial yet cost-effective measure that has been adopted recently to improve the global employment trends. As mentioned earlier, Multiplier has already set distinct yet, promising standards with the remote hiring process. Visit us to know more about the remote hiring process and other support that Multiplier can render to your company.
