A major recruitment-related obstacle being faced by companies post COVID-19, that has disrupted their business continuity plans, is their inability to conduct effective hiring on account of the pandemic-led strangulation of mobility. Since recruiters are unable to fill-in positions as candidates can’t appear for face-to-face interviews because of social distancing, companies are at risk of losing out on the best talent.

Against this backdrop, employers are increasingly turning towards cutting-edge virtual hiring solutions to minimize the loss of potential candidates. Such solutions tap into the power of the online ecosystem to eliminate locational restraints, enabling organizations to seamlessly conduct talent recruitment and management no matter wherever they are.

How virtual hiring solutions are helping employers to bridge the talent-gap

By leveraging tech-based virtual hiring tools, organizations can conduct all kinds of recruitment drives in real-time without violating the social distancing protocols. These include both campus hiring and lateral hiring – be it internal (from within the organization) or external (recruitment from different organizations).

Besides enabling all the steps of a traditional hiring process – from sourcing to onboarding – virtual tools provide the added benefit of speed and scale. Let us take a brief look at how the online ecosystem can help employers seamlessly drive all the steps of traditional recruitment without compromising the quality, as well as health, of the talent:

Sourcing

Since the onset of the pandemic, various public events, contests, games, conferences, job fairs, hackathons, etc. have either been postponed or canceled. However, employers can now instead leverage the online ecosystem to shift the playing field of traditional recruitment-related events to the virtual domain. Online hackathons and social sourcing solutions come equipped with the necessary features tailored as per the recruiter’s needs. A number of employees can be called online to attempt business challenges and provide solutions from the comforts of their homes in an online hackathon. They also enable candidates to engage in a virtual environment and submit their entries in a hassle-free manner securely.  Moreover, hackathons can give insightful details to employers to source the right candidates while also facilitating seamless collaboration, submission management, and quick scheduling for employers. 

Screening

The initial screening could be smoothed out with screening bots that source candidate information 24 by 7.  Screening bots drastically reduce the number of hours consumed in filling out general candidate information and answering basic candidates’ questions like interview timings, availability, and other details- automating the shortlisting process. Recruiters can use tech-enabled online assessments and choose from a wide array of psychometric, domain and aptitude tests and customize them as per the job requirements and cultural fitment. The online assessments also have coding and technical simulations for IT and Non- IT candidates. New-age virtual platforms also offer customized solutions for enabling coding interviews to test candidates on specific coding skills and competencies. These include Java, R, Python, MySQL, front, and back-end software developer, and full-stack developer, among others.

When candidates are undergoing these assessments, they could be easily remote-proctored by way of auto or manual proctors and such assessments can be attempted from anywhere anytime. Employers can evaluate the fair practices of candidates while sitting in the comforts of their living room.

Selecting

The online ecosystem can facilitate structured video interviews (pre-recorded, live, and coding interviews) between recruiters and candidates. Advanced virtual platforms can also bolster the traditional selection routine by enabling robust decision-making by minimizing the first-impression bias. Further, recruiters can evaluate candidates based on skills and competencies on the back of tech-enabled collaborative interviews and generate competency-based reports. This evaluation method can help employers track the on-job performance of the candidates by using various tools such as integrated coding simulators. With such interviews, even those specific competencies can be measured which assessments might find it difficult to portray to the employers. It comes inclusive of integrated applicant reports offering a detailed understanding of the candidate's strengths and the role it can play in a company's business success and recruitment RoI.

Offering job

Since the entirety of the hiring process happens virtually, volumes of data are generated in each roundabout each candidate. The analytics-powered virtual platform not only records the data but also generates valuable insights, thereby enabling recruiters and stakeholders to make data-based hiring decisions. Employers are making decisions based on analytics and numbers and resorting to biases and guts- providing a huge degree of effectiveness to the entire process. 

Onboarding

The final stage of the hiring process and the subsequent talent management programs can also be delivered seamlessly using digital platforms. Recruiters and HR leaders can drive the onboarding, training, orientation, and engagement of the selected candidates through virtual solutions such as online hackathons, be it individually or with the team.

Virtual Solutions for Campus Hiring

These virtual hiring solutions also come handy for employers to conduct virtual campus hiring. How? Using state-of-the-art virtual solutions, employers can, for instance, collate the data from various annual reports available with industry leaders to build campus intelligence. Based on these reports, companies can also leverage the information to connect with the right campus and deliver pre-assessment presentations and hackathons. All of these measures will only serve to enhance the brand recall value not only among the candidates but also among their acquaintances. 

Using screening and selecting tools as stated above like assessments (simulators, case studies, coding, and psychometric tests) and structured video interviews, respectively, right-fit candidates can be hired effectively without losing crucial time. Hired candidates can be excellently engaged via hackathons and online training- without the candidates or the employers stepping out. Setting-up a physical campus hiring process turns out to be a lengthy and demanding business process and with a streamlined virtual campus hiring process, a huge deal of time and logistical costs could be saved.   

Hence, while it is true that virtual solutions can enable recruiters to continue their activities amid the lockdown seamlessly, it is clear that they will continue to become a mainstay in the post-pandemic world as well.