Hiring tips that will come in handy beyond COVID-19

Over the last 18 months, companies received a rude awakening. The pandemic landed, and it sent industries into a panic; they had to adapt to survive and embrace digitisation, transforming how we work forever — who knew so many job functions could be performed from home?

Because of the pandemic, companies have taken this opportunity to overhaul the way their teams work. With leading tech companies, including Twitter and HubSpot, announcing that their workforce can choose a way of working that suits them best — whether that’s a fully remote or hybrid approach.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, said of the new approach, “If our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen.” And HubSpot says they recognise the “need to evolve”. 

Now we’re all accepting and adapting to the foreseeable working approach, how can our experience during COVID shape the hiring process in the future?

Cut to the chase and decrease anxiety with video interviews

Interviews are stressful, that’s obvious. But do you realise just how many people are affected by interview anxiety? 93% of applicants. With virtual interviews, you’re removing the need to commute, locate parking, and you’re side-stepping that first awkward meeting — to handshake or not to handshake? Argh! These are the kinds of micro-interactions we could all do without. 

It’s not just the candidates who benefit from this virtual approach; hiring managers spend 45 minutes interviewing one candidate, on average. Imagine the time you’ll save if you line up your video interviews, cutting out the waffle and getting straight to the point? Everyone’s time is precious, and it’s good to remember that.

You’re in good company, too — 60% of companies have vowed to continue with video interviews post-pandemic. Let’s be honest; if we’ve learnt anything during the pandemic, it’s how great it is to get straight to work without the commute or usual preparations — video for the win.

Use smart tech to overcome unconscious bias and improve everyone’s experience

The conversation that usually arises about smart tech’s role in other industries is that it can never replace humans because they don’t have the emotional capacity to understand sensitive situations. Agreed. But that’s actually why tech is pretty useful in the hiring process. Tech removes emotion, unconscious bias and treats people equally. No human can do that. Even if you’re trying your very best — we all make snap judgements.

What kind of tech are we talking about? From AI tech helping you source the best talent for your role like Pymetrics to conversational user AI helping candidates get the answers they need to their burning job role questions, like Paradox. There are all kinds out there. Because of COVID, job loss was left, right, and centre, so it’s not surprising that there are many more applications per job than there was pre-COVID. 

The use of smart tech helps hiring managers to free up some time to focus on the more important human elements you still need when hiring and find a better, more efficient way of sourcing and screening candidates.

Refine your remote onboarding process

As a direct result of global lockdowns, companies took the initiative to remotely onboard new staff members. And as the pandemic (hopefully) subsides, it seems this trend could continue with 71% of HR professionals said virtual onboarding saved them time. While remote onboarding comes with many highs, it’s also presented a few lows. 

You don’t get to orchestrate natural conversations between colleagues, and as a new member of the team, you’re not aware of everyone’s quirks, how they have their coffee etc. — there’s no chit-chat, no organic socialisation. So this is a process that needs to be refined if companies continue to offer it. You need to consider whether your tech infrastructure is up to scratch; what kind of project management tools have you invested in? Have you cut down your remote onboarding process to manageable bites (no one welcomes a three-hour Zoom meeting!). Have you got a plan to encourage team bonding? How will you foster a positive team culture? 

There’s a lot to think about, but trust us, if you can nail your remote onboarding process (here’s a guide, by the way), your staff will be just as engaged as any in-house team.

Hopefully, you’ve come away with a handful of tips to explore beyond COVID. But for now, keep safe and keep on hiring!

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