Like so many other professions, hiring changed forever in 2020. People may have assumed hiring was slow, but that wasn’t the case for the whole year. While the unemployment rate spiked early in the pandemic at 14.7%, it was down to 6.1% a year later. In other words, after the initial freeze, there was a lot of hiring in the space of a year.
Companies adapted quickly: according to Gartner, 86% of organizations had already implemented virtual interviews by halfway through April 2020. That initial change was out of necessity though, and a more considered approach can be taken as we start to see a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Even as we move back to a world of face-to-face interaction, remote work – and remote hiring – are part of our new normal. For recruiters, this can be great news, though. Now is the time to consider how that can benefit us and what the future of hiring is in this hybrid world.
A Greater Talent Pool
One of the main benefits companies have found through hiring remotely is the talent pool has widened dramatically. Companies no longer need to find talent locally. This is a huge opportunity for many because the talent pool in specific industries – such as technology – is shallow in many regions.
The ability to hire from anywhere extends beyond finding certain skillsets though. It also presents the opportunity to hire more diversely and put together a team with a greater spectrum in backgrounds and ideas. Research has shown that gender-diverse and ethnically diverse businesses are more likely to outperform financial expectations by harnessing their unique perspectives, while those with less than average diversity are more likely to underperform.
To find this talent, hiring managers must change the ways they search for candidates. Simply expanding your job postings to national and checking “remote” isn’t going to get the job done. Find where the people you’re looking for reside online. It might be in groups on LinkedIn, on Facebook groups, on various location or interest-based subreddits, or on other forums. Then, if you can, remove unconscious bias and utilize tools to find the people that are the best fit. With the potential for the number of applicants to skyrocket, this sort of software is going to be vital in the future of hiring for more than just the biggest companies.
Recruiters Will Need to Cater to Top Candidates
While having deeper access to the best people is great, it can also be a disadvantage because the candidates have more choice too. Competition for the best talent is high, and suddenly you have your work cut out for you to secure the right candidates.
The culture of your company needs to be top notch if you’re going to attract talent, because word will spread if it’s not. Even if you somehow get the person through the door, if they find out the work environment is toxic, they can just as suddenly find a new job and leave.
Additionally, a seamless hiring process will set you up for success. Recruiters need to be as upfront as possible with the people they’re interested. Tell them about the interview process, tell them the salary range, and tell them the benefits. Hiding these things just gives them the opportunity to turn elsewhere if someone else offers something they think is better. If your offer was never going to interest them, then you’ve saved both parties time by being upfront.
Another thing you can do is make the early interviews work as best as possible with their schedule. Zoom interviews have made that easier because the travel is eliminated, but if you’re in another time zone, try to avoid times they may be at work. Even better, if you can, set up a way for people to answer the basic questions you need answers to without having to jump on a call. Then you can schedule Zoom calls when there’s a greater level of mutual interest. The key is to work with candidates to make the process easy for them, and we have the technology now to make that possible.
More Companies Will Work With Staffing Partners
The greater access to talent and diversity is valuable but challenging to actually access without the right resources. The ideas above are all very time consuming and costly, and only the biggest businesses have the money to spend.
This is where a staffing partner can help.
Many staffing companies have experience recruiting for niche roles and can help you find the best talent. Others have a greater knowledge of locations that you may know are rich for the type of talent you’re looking for, a specialty in certain jobs, or the latest hiring software.
For example, at ATR, we are a proud women-led, minority-owned business that specializes in helping our partners as a diverse supplier of choice. We focus on being able to find the right candidates for the right team in the right company, and subsequently enable both our partners and communities to thrive. We’ve also long believed in putting technology at the forefront of recruiting, which has helped us reach candidates where they are.
Do you need help finding top candidates? Learn more about what drives us at ATR and reach out if we can help with any of your staffing needs!
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