COVID-19 has forced businesses of all sizes to re-examine their operations and long-term plans.
In particular, executives and managers are re-assessing how they are recruiting new talent amid a gloomy global economy.
If you manage a business yourself, you might be looking for some pointers on how you can refresh your hiring strategy. Below are a few suggestions.
Identify the gaps in your organization
It’s the people that drive any business towards its goals. COVID-19 has further underscored this, as an unprecedented number of people are laid off and furloughed.
Take a look at your entire organization and see if there are any positions vacant positions as a result of the pandemic.
Are there a few critical senior management positions that need to be filled? If so, this should be considered in your refreshed recruitment strategy. Do you have a good mix of skills and experiences in your talent pool, or have recent events made that problematic? Then your new recruitment strategy should ensure a good balance of diverse candidates.
Next, which of these positions need to be filled up in the short and long term. This will help you prioritize the urgent ones that need your full attention.
Use technology to your advantage
Technological improvements and the few decades have given rise to remote work. This has also highlighted the inefficiencies of manual processes in the realm of human resource management.
To keep up with the competition, businesses must seriously consider adopting online recruitment management software and other complementary digital tools. If you haven’t already, then you might be missing out on the best candidates. There are several benefits to these platforms.
For instance, you can streamline the process of vetting CVs and profiles, making it easy to weed out the applicants that don’t qualify for a particular position. You can also accurately track the progress of each candidate along the hiring process. Additionally, several platforms offer remote interviewing features.
And with social distancing protocols not going away anytime soon, these digital benefits will come in handy as most of your staff will be engaging in remote work.
Rely less on the resume and lean in on soft skills
If you expect to be working remotely, for the most part, ensure that recruits exhibit the essential skills that will make them successful in this type of environment. Soft skills like communication, openness to feedback, and collaboration are crucial.
However, the skills, awards, and companies that you see on paper isn’t exactly the best way to gauge the presence of interpersonal skills. To do so, your hiring managers should give more weight to the interview and other areas where interaction is high.
Initiate a remote video interview early on in the hiring process. Seeing and hearing how candidates articulate their thoughts will give you a better glimpse of how they can add value to the business.
And if you’re willing to go the extra mile, you can also implement machine learning and psychometric testing. These tech solutions can help screen accurately for competency and remove the aspect of human bias.
