COVID19 is here. Our life is disrupted. Business is traumatised. But it will all stand up again when this crisis is over. It may leave us with side effects and doubt rather than knowledge (in the beginning at least) but in the light of this experience, we have the opportunity to revise our priorities, rethink the way of working, as we know it, and run through our ambition for the future.
In the recruitment business, technology is the #1 ally in the new era. We have been already facing strong influence by digital disruption for the past five years due to changes with the use of digital tools and recruitment methodologies. Now, under the new conditions, technology turns out to be much more than just a way to run recruitment business...it is the only way to do it. Let's see in detail how the new conditions affect recruitment.
skill based interview:
Before this crisis, technology had already started to digitalise the traditional interview with the use of video interviewing tools. For many, this is more than just a technical change. With digital interviews, the recruitment process begins far beyond the interview itself: the way the recruiters communicate with the candidates during the stages of an interview is written; via email, social media, text or content, everything gives away the skills related with communication and agility before the moment of going live in a video interview.
interview seduction:
A classic challenge for recruiters that is getting more complex due to physical distance and the controlled information provided during video interviews with set questions. If you want to reduce the chance of falling with a charming chatterer rather than a qualified candidate, a specialised recruitment training and a good interview preparation is highly recommended.
candidate feedback:
The candidates themselves are getting more and more used to digital communication even for the “asking feedback” part of an interview. They ask for feedback via email, text or hangouts and the recruiter has to provide it. A recruiter must be, at all times, prepared and trained on what kind of information can be shared following an interview and the way this information should be communicated.
interview questions:
The questions used for the interview need to be strategically chosen in order to cover the areas that need to be assessed and reviewed, Time and deadlines are specific when using digital tools and recruiters may need to appeal to their sense of resilience in order to avoid losing a good candidate in the name of recruitment normas- which, by the way, are radically transforming based on candidates’ trends.
For sure we have more to learn from this disruption and much more to adapt.
“Crisis” originates from an ancient greek word used for the evaluation of a situation, the outcome of an event but also used in medicine for the sudden and severe appearance of a disease symptoms. What a combination, right?
Let’s take this momentum as an opportunity to declutter our minds, evaluate the situation and start the ‘pick & choose” process for the future. There are still people looking for jobs and companies that are hiring. When the current situation is sorted out, I am not sure if we go back to normal. But definitely technology will still be here to facilitate our daily challenges and refine our recruitment process. To also raise the bar? Maybe. That's why humans drive technology and not the opposite. At least for the moment ;) .