As we all know, the pandemic forced a massive remote work experiment.
Now that the pandemic remote work experiment has proven to be a remarkable success, we’ve reached a pivotal moment in shaping the future of work.
To ensure a successful transition to remote work, it is essential to revamp your hiring process so it can be in tune with the changing times.
Let’s talk about how your business can shake up its hiring strategy to tackle the modern talent challenge, inspire engagement, and find the right people.
Tale of contents:
1. Why Traditional Hiring Practices Just Don’t Work Anymore
As we mentioned before, traditional recruitment processes no longer cut it – and we’re not just talking about the shift to remote work due to the pandemic.
Considering the changes in the economy and the increased demand for specific skills, we can say with confidence that we’re in a radically different talent market that is constantly evolving at a rapid pace.
However, despite remote trends changing work culture, some businesses still have it all wrong when they hire.
So why is that?
They often try to apply traditional recruiting tactics to remote hiring.
This can ultimately lead to bad hires that result in lost productivity, decreased teamwork, and extra money they have to spend to find a replacement.
Let’s look at the key problems with traditional recruitment and why outdated recruitment methods don’t work for Gen Zers and Millennials.
- Relying on passive sourcing
Passive sourcing is when you wait for the candidate to come to you. In brief, you post a job description and then wait for people to apply.
This recruitment method might have worked in the past, but in times of skill shortages and the like, your business must actively look for talented individuals and encourage them to apply.
Remember that highly qualified people are not actively job-hunting because they’re already gainfully employed.
That’s why it is essential to get in touch with top talent using methods such as job boards, social media, LinkedIn, networking events, and referrals.
- Focusing too much on applicants’ technical expertise
According to a Forbes report, 62% of businesses view experience and technical skills as the key factors influencing their hiring decisions.
Sure, reviewing a candidate’s skills is critical in the recruitment process. However, you must dig much deeper to ensure you’re finding a good “cultural fit”.
Remote working places a greater emphasis on soft skills than on-site work because the social and cultural cues that result from face-to-face interactions are diminished in a remote setting.
While technical expertise can be acquired through on-the-job training, evaluating soft skills require a different approach to hiring that leans on emotional intelligence, self-awareness, time management, and cultural literacy.
If you want to make remote hires that thrive for the long haul, your hiring process must shift its focus toward these soft skills.
- Tracking the wrong metrics
Another issue with traditional recruitment is that it is heavily relying on metrics that haven’t changed in decades, such as time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and attrition rate – just to name a few.
The problem with these outdated metrics is that they only focus on filling the position faster and cheaper.
Not to mention that they don’t account for the various nuances of filling different positions. For example, hiring a software developer may take a longer time and cost more than hiring a virtual assistant.
Instead, your business should consider implementing “quality of hire” metrics that measure the ability to deliver the right quality of talent and the value that new hires bring to the company.
Such metrics include job performance, time to productivity, employee engagement, training time, and retention rate.
2. Hiring Trends That Are Here to Stay
So how can your business succeed in the war for talent?
First and foremost, it’s important to ditch the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality.
If the traditional recruitment process worked well in the past, it doesn’t mean you should stick to old hiring processes to find remote talent.
Below we’ve put together the latest recruiting trends to help you revamp your hiring process.
Some of these trends are old-school tactics that have been underutilised, while others are modern and innovative.
- Building a global pool of talent – Businesses are now recognising the geographical barriers in hiring, and are turning to a global talent pool as a solution. This allows them to recruit top talent from around the world without the extra budget for relocation.
- Using AI to streamline processes – AI is revolutionising the talent acquisition software landscape by facilitating more efficient sourcing, identification, and engagement of top talent. For example, smart talent platforms such as Eightfold AI have dramatically transformed the way companies hire, retain, and grow a global workforce.
- Using a virtual office as a recruiting tool – As more and more businesses are allowing their employees to work remotely, virtual office spaces serve as an effective tool for remote recruitment. With a virtual office, your business can have a professional business address and maintain a sense of prestige without the need to meet candidates face-to-face.
- Engaging with candidates on social media – According to a Paw Research Study, 79% of applicants use social media in their job search. There are many ways you can grab candidates’ attention on social media, such as responding to inquiries, publishing relevant industry articles, making a “day-in-the-life” video, or posting behind-the-scenes photos.
- Learning the art of compromise – Somo hiring processes take months because businesses refuse to compromise on any required skills. But the truth is, it’s unrealistic that you’ll find the perfect candidate for your job opening. Instead of wasting time and money looking for the perfect fit, you can hire someone who has the right soft skills and potential for growth. Even if they have 75% of the technical expertise you’re looking for, hard skills can be taught much more easily than soft skills.
- Using predictive analytics – Predictive analytics in recruitment is the process of using historic and current data to make predictions about the future. Especially in high turnover roles, collecting and analysing data using machine learning and statistics can help you find trends in what types of applicants are more likely to be hired and stick around.
- Committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – Diversity, equity, and inclusion are three values held by many modern businesses. They are designed to make people of various backgrounds feel welcome and provide them with the same opportunities. Considering that 86% of job seekers are inquiring about DEI, sending the right message to potential employees is key to attracting and retaining top talent.
The Bottom Line
In a remote work world, the recruitment process is changing.
The hiring process has been greatly impacted by new and innovative recruiting trends that are bringing out new methods to attract and hire the best candidates.
Now that you know how to level up your recruitment strategy, all you need to do is advertise your open positions to attract top talent to your company.
Ready to take your hiring strategy to the next level? It’s time to break the geographical barrier in recruitment and experience the future of hiring with a virtual office. By transitioning from onsite to remote hiring, you can provide the flexibility that today’s job seekers crave and attract top talent from anywhere in the world. Contact us today to learn how you can take your business to new heights.
