As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “the only constant is change”, and change—whether abrupt, welcome, or disruptive (or all three)—has been quite constant this past year.
The workplace has changed, with remote work becoming the norm for many organizations, and so this means that the overall recruitment strategy also has to change. Recruitment is a dynamic process, in constant flux with employment trends. Even pre-pandemic, hiring managers were having a tough time keeping up with changes, with only 29% of hiring managers surveyed saying that their new hires were “highly prepared with the skills needed to do their current role, let alone that role as it evolves into the future”.
A post-pandemic recruitment strategy has to be agile and able to adjust to the needs of ever changing industries, workplaces, and candidates.
Skills-based hiring is increasingly important, with employers needing employees who are adaptable.
The way we work has evolved at a rapid pace over the last few years. Organizations now need employees who are able to change with them and their industry.
To hire successfully, job descriptions must be focused on the skills necessary to perform the role effectively. This also means focusing more on the future of the role, rather than what has or hasn’t worked previously. And it’s not just the recruitment strategy that needs to be flexible—hiring managers and recruiters must be too and shift their thinking as the ever-evolving workforce demands.
Your recruitment efforts may not be bound to one location anymore.
With many organizations planning to continue remote work at least part-time, it opens up the possibility for employees to work from anywhere. Not limiting the talent pool to one specific locale is a huge advantage for many organizations’ recruitment strategy. Positions can be filled with the best possible candidates instead of just the best local candidates.
Of course, a decentralized workforce means that hiring managers are increasingly reliant on technology such as an applicant tracking system (ATS) and applications like Zoom or Meet to complete interviews. HR and managers need to be in the loop and up to date on how to use any software to avoid any hiccups in the hiring and interview process.
Building a strong workplace culture needs to happen outside the building.
Harvard Business Review writes that, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, “talent literally left the building, and we’re now realizing that in many places, it is unlikely to come back”. This means that organizations need to modify the ways they used to attract talent.
As Gartner Research found, organizations that are most attractive to top talent are those that “offer a more humanized deal focusing on candidates as people, not just workers, and talking to them about how working for their organization can improve their life, not just employee experience”. To compete for talent, employers need to have an employment value proposition that clearly states the value that their company and culture will bring to potential employees’ lives.
Candidate expectations have shifted in as many, if not more, ways as work has. As work and life have become increasingly integrated, employees are far less likely to want to compromise when it comes to their careers. To succeed, employers need to do more than offer competitive salaries and benefits packages. They must also create a compelling employee experience that is evident in the hiring process and integrated into the recruitment strategy.
