Even as some businesses are looking at slashing headcount due to the coronavirus pandemic, some organizations are also recruiting staff. However, hiring patterns are going through a sea change that was unprecedented before. With the world economy collapsing and many businesses suffering a loss, quite a few organizations have put hiring on the backburner.
But the situation is not that grim for all industries. While some sectors like travel and tourism, aviation, are seeing the worst slump of the decade, others like eCommerce, online services, healthcare are witnessing a boom. This has also led to the demand for additional manpower across these sectors.
According to Manpower Group, 57% of organizations expect normal hiring levels to resume in early 2021.
The impact of COVID 19 on recruitment has been immense and unprecedented. The introduction of remote working globally has unleashed a new normal.
For generations, hiring has been done through a rote process, advertising for the post, scanning through the resumes manually, have multiple in-person interviews, confirm the employee for the role by extending an offer. Before the COVID 19 pandemic stuck, businesses had a chalked out plan for recruitment. But with the pandemic and the rise of remote working, organizations have to change their hiring strategies to stay relevant.
Virtual recruiting is the new norm
Many of the recruiting techniques widely used nowadays include:
- Use of social media channels
- Video interviews
- Use of automation tools for scheduling interviews like ATS
Recruitment today has done away with the archaic processes and is relying more on methods and tools that grant autonomy and increase efficiency. The proliferated use of technology to manage recruitment will continue post-COVID 19 due to the umpteen advantages it offers. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital techniques in recruitment with organizations more proactively leveraging the online platforms for sourcing, screening, hiring, and onboarding talent.
Companies are moving onboarding online with training and other auxiliary activities being conducted in a similar manner. New hires are being introduced via online meetings and the induction process is similarly conducted.
Certain sectors of the IT industry are witnessing a boom, especially for cybersecurity specialists, systems engineers, and .NET developers. The HR department is looking to hire people with a niche skill-set that meets its organizational goals. But in these turbulent times, additional trends that the HR management must keep in their minds while recruiting employees include:
- The increased need for remote opportunities for contractual or freelance workers
- Higher adoption of teleconferencing platforms like Skype, Zoom, Slack, Google Meet, etc
- Utilization of onboarding software to get new hires up to speed
- Organizing online training programs and other recreational activities for employees to keep them engaged
To put things into perspective – the unemployment rate rose higher in 3 months of COVID-19 than it did in 2 years of the Great Recession! This has led to a huge talent pool waiting to be discovered and re-engaged.
Some businesses have already started staggered services with a few employees returning back to the office. Though the transition will have to be carefully carried out in view of the current times, the HR staff do surely have their hands full. There will be a further push to digitalization methods in recruitment and higher adoption of automation tools. With many experts stating remote work to be the new norm even after the pandemic, HR staff and hiring managers have to gear up for this seismic change in the workplace. This means that in the near future, geography will no longer be a restraint when it comes to hiring the right candidate for the job.
This pandemic has further highlighted the need for HRMS in organizations of all sizes. The rise of remote work has led to the demand for attendance management systems that records and maintains attendance records of remote workers effortlessly.
94% of HR professionals say their using recruitment software has positively impacted their hiring process. Source: Capterra
A centralized system that maintains all the records and automates processes of attendance, payroll, leaves management, onboarding, employee self-service, is the need of the hour. Improving and expanding their efforts on candidate experience, workforce data, and recruiter productivity, are still overarching goals for HR teams and hiring managers. Managing payroll remotely and consolidating data has been a huge headache for the HR staff in this pandemic without the help of an HRMS. This can lead to erroneous data consequently leading to late processing of payroll. It can be an added woe for businesses already fighting to stay afloat in the midst of a pandemic. Businesses need to consider the benefits that an HRMS can add to their business and how seamlessly they can manage all processes like recruitment, onboarding, payroll, etc.
The coronavirus pandemic has definitely changed the recruitment industry, its processes, and the way the market functions. Most importantly, many of the changes are more than passing trends and here to stay. Organizations that fail to upgrade their strategies and continue to use archaic methods will be left behind by competitors.
About Paylite:
Paylite recruitment administration functionality is simple to use and enables users to manage the recruitment processes from end to end, effortlessly, taking the headache out of the day to day administration.
Users can quickly set-up vacancies and process the candidates efficiently through the recruitment administration process, helping you to standardize each stage of the recruitment process. Tasks such as a letter or email production, interview invites, reference tracking, and contract generation are quick and easy with the Paylte recruitment functionality. The ‘hired’ candidate is then passed seamlessly across to Paylite HR as an employee ready for the rest of the Paylite suite.
Paylite® Human Resource Management Software is an end-to-end HRMS system to meet the ever-growing needs of modern-day workplaces. To adopt Paylite HR management software for your business, Book a Demo here: https://www.paylitehr.com/request-demo.html