Virtual Hiring and On-boarding is not uncommon anymore. While most organisations have embraced it, how effective is it really?
We conducted a poll to understand this further and more than 80% of the respondents said that Virtual Hiring is time saving.
The respondents included professionals up to twenty years of experience, across industries from various domains.
While most agreed that virtual hiring is a time saving process, some highlighted certain red flags that might be worth considering especially in terms of its efficiency and effectiveness. Burn-out of the Hiring teams, attracting quality talent pool, leveraging on the talent pool are some of the concerns that were raised by some.
Here is my step by step take on the virtual hiring landscape and the proposed way forward.
How impactful is time saving?
Yes it is saving time but it would be interesting to understand whose time is it really saving and how? The candidate’s or the Hiring team’s?
- From a candidate’s perspective – they don’t have to wait for their turn for long hours
- A candidate saves time travelling and can opt for more than one interview in a day – which means they have more options to choose from
- With minimal or no chances of interaction with other candidates the chances of any unnecessary preconceived notion (The Horn or Halo effect) could be less
- From the hiring team’s perspective, it could mean faster turnaround in interviews
But that is still not the answer to the question ‘Is it efficient and effective?’. It is something we are all trying to work towards; therefore, it would not be wrong to say that virtual hiring definitely has the potential to be an efficient and effective way for organizations to attract the right talent.
The way forward – 7 things to watch out for
- The old ways of planning and scheduling need to be looked upon to build on efficiency as a lot of hiring teams are still trying to cope up with the revised hiring strategies and hiring need
- Virtual hiring is only as good as virtual on-boarding. A strong on-boarding plan spread across a month to three months will strengthen the employee experience which in turn will help not just in talent retention but also in talent attraction. In other words, if you are looking to hire virtually, a strong on-boarding experience has to be planned and put in place to ensure that hiring is effective.
- Alignment of the various stakeholders involved during hiring has become important more than ever. Bringing the business need along with the expectations of the candidate’s need in terms with each other is not easy and that’s where the Hiring Team is going to play a pivotal role
- Revisiting communication strategies that are aligned with the hiring need of the organisation as well as the candidate in the current situation would not only mean attracting the right talent but also would mean sending out the right message as a brand
- While virtual hiring may be time saving and can boost candidate’s experience, the opportunity to build the right brand experience or give them a glance of the work culture may be limited and that is where communication before the hiring and once on-boarded are crucial. Everything starting from branding to quality candidate hiring to candidates’ experience is now resting on limited opportunities of interaction – so, quality of interaction is important at every level
- The quality of the discussion during the interview has always been critical but in a virtual set up the weightage has increased massively. Ensuring that the interviewer is well prepared and understands virtual interview etiquette is imperative.
- Continuous calibration of the business managers and the hiring team will be important to minimise any chances of miscommunication. Navigating through this new contour would need empathy from both ends
Hiring and on-boarding are a crucial part of an employee’s life cycle. While we are adapting towards this new set up, it is important for us to revisit the processes and make it sustainable so that candidate experience, business need and brand credibility are able to come together and support each other.
The hiring team needs maximum support at this time but will also have to start refining their processes and make it feasible to operate in a virtual as well as no- virtual environment.
What are your thoughts about virtual hiring and it’s effectiveness?
Author : Samir Limbu
Director
I Train Consultants India Pvt. Ltd.
