With the onset of the pandemic, and the ensuing lockdown, ‘online’ has become the new normal, as far as the way businesses conduct their day-to-day affairs. The pandemic and the forced enforcement of work from home has changed the functioning of the workplace forever. Whether it is meetings, or deals or even mergers and acquisitions, today almost all of them happen online. When mega deals are being discussed and closed online, could virtual hiring be far behind? Several large and medium sized companies today are scouting for talent and yes, geographies do not matter. Gone are the days, when one needed to be physically present in a particular location to be able to contribute his or her talent to an organisation. Organisations are strengthening their talent pool by hiring individuals based purely on how they will contribute to make a difference. It has nothing to do with where they are based.

With the growing number of people working remotely, companies are also looking at opening regional hubs that could be in the form of co-working spaces, wherever their employees are located rather than concentrating on one main office. Therefore, a scattered workforce, connected online is the new normal. Increased adaptability to constantly changing environment and professional dynamics have proved to be more productive. Readjusting to remote working conditions has ensured increased accountability among staff to deliver desired results. The pandemic has been a technology equalizer. People who were not that tech savvy earlier are now forced to adapt in order to stay in the race.

Virtual recruitment, which was necessitated due to the pandemic, is slowly becoming the go to method for hiring talent. This means that the talent acquisition process is no longer geographic centric. A candidate can be anywhere in the world. With no boundaries, recruiters can look virtually anywhere for the right kind of talent that suits their organisation. Virtual recruitment keeps the hiring process moving and at the same time protects the recruiters and the potential candidates. One of the main advantages that virtual recruitment brings with it is the fact that a company need not worry about relocation of a candidate, if the person is not locally present. It also negates the need for a candidate to be physically present at the employer’s office and wait his turn to be interviewed, accelerating timelines. Virtual recruitment also enables a large number of interviewers within an organisation to conduct an interview simultaneously. Recruitment therefore becomes more centralized rather than branch specific.

Video interviewing is one of the most sought-after techniques for recruiters. Both recruiters and candidates alike can assess things like body language, gestures etc. to gauge as to how the interview is progressing. It is imperative for recruiters to have reliable technology, as it doubles up as the company’s first impression for the candidate. Apart from video interviews, there are a number of customised recruiting software packages that companies can use, which gives multiple people within the organisation access to the progress of the interview with a particular candidate. These software packages also help remove any bias. Most of these software packages work on AI and Automation platforms and provide solutions for screening, assessments, simulators, case studies, psychometric tests, all in a virtual mode. Machine Learning algorithms can save recruiters a lot of time by picking out the highest quality matches for open positions. These tools offer greater speed, efficiency, better quality recruiting and an enhanced experience for hiring managers and candidates alike.

More than fifty percent of employers from large and medium sized companies strongly believe that virtual recruiting is a function that is fast evolving and is here to stay.  Going forward, as and when things get back to normal, in-person interviews could return but maybe only in the final stages. Most of the preliminary rounds will be conducted virtually. Virtual recruiting is a disruptive approach and now is the right time for organisations to adopt the digital approach and adopt innovative virtual recruitment strategies if they are to find the right talent that will add value to the organisation and its growth.  

The world is the new talent landscape. With work from home expected to stay in place even after the pandemic, companies are adopting distributed services like cloud tools and SaaS platforms to enable their workforce to work from practically anywhere in the world. This effectively means that the right talent for a company need not specifically be located at site but can work from home, anywhere in the world. It widens that net that much more and opens up innumerable possibilities for recruiters to locate and groom the right talent for their companies. It allows passionate candidates pursue their dreams and become cohesive parts of teams that chase their dreams. They often create highly accountable and motivated teams with super productivity. The added advantage from an environmental point of view is that being in a remote location and working from home, that employee is contributing towards reducing the carbon footprint, since there is no commute involved. Work from home also means happier people as they have a better work-life balance. It also could result in lesser attrition.