Pandemic has brought changes to every industry. There has been a lack of IT professionals. Moreover, COVID-19 has also increased the need for developers along with support and cybersecurity professionals. Currently companies mostly search for developers who are creating new applications and software services, as well as to broaden the reach of new technologies, like virtual and mixed reality. Regarding the above mentioned facts, the need for DevOps engineers who “help companies provide and manage IT infrastructure and microservices architecture.”
Consequently, the need in improving the standards of hiring (the quality and efficiency) has increased. It has been included in top 5 recruiting priorities in 2021 (picture 1). Therefore, many new methods of attracting candidates have appeared. For instance, sign in bonuses, paid interview time, hiring days, where you can get an offer (probably from your dream job) are all real now! In general, all that helps to achieve better results and increase motivation.
Pic 1 Top 5 recruiting priorities in 2021 (Source: Finances Online)
Hereby you can find some trends which companies start following now:
Remote interviews and onboarding process
Because of the pandemic, most companies switched to remote work. Regarding that they changed hiring and onboarding processes to an online format. Regarding the statistics, at the lockdown, 51% of recruiters were interviewing candidates online and around 42 % extended the offer remotely. The gist of the interview is to be able to understand how you can access the best candidate. For that reason, a highly consistent hiring process is very important. The main goal of the companies is to make the interview the same way as the personal interview.
Thanks to modern technologies, like video conferencing services, remote interviews are being the right substitute for the in-person experience. Remote onboarding faces its own challenges. Companies usually rely on in-person onboarding, even for remote workers. Companies are attracting new employees to involve them in the companies’ culture. They always try to involve newcomers in the company’s culture and recruiters are getting more creative with remote hiring. It is crucial to make them feel part of the company and make them adjust for a new job position without much stress.
Remote working lets recruiters expand the scale of search for candidates. They may search them not only at the local market, since it is limited, but also beyond the local labor market, not being attached to any certain factor.
There has been a bias among the candidates that those who are recruited and work remotely are paid less. However, it is just a bias. Companies are interested in having the best candidates. Even if he/she is located on a different continent.
Remote work format
Remote working has been an advantage to the tech industry, however COVID-19 has forced organizations to reconsider their version of remote work. Now around 67% of companies are for a fully remote working (picture 3). Companies also got a chance to expand the talent pool, bypassing geographical constraints while searching for new candidates. Interviewing a remote professional is not particularly different from hiring any other employee. In case a specialist clearly expresses his thoughts in messages, there should be no problems with communicating remotely. Our company does not consider a high level of communication as a special professional skill, but as a regular corporate requirement and a certain culture.
Pic 2 Percentage of companies offering remote work (Source: Zenefits)
In fact, the remote work format brought lots of benefits not only to the recruiters, but also to the candidates and employees. In picture you can see which benefits employees got and how the situation has changed in comparison to 2020.
Pic 3 Benefits of the remote work (Source: statista)
Accelerating the hiring process
The pandemic (COVID-19) forced companies to speed up the hiring process and attract top talents better. 44% of top executives reported that they shortened the hiring process because of COVID-19 and made it more efficient. Regarding the feedback from many people, remote work increases personal effectiveness. Moreover, people are not wasting their time to reach the office and get back home.
By speeding up the hiring process, companies are not only hiring talent faster, but also reducing the chance that the candidate will be taken by competitors that also let recruiters schedule interviews faster. Candidates are not obliged anymore to travel to work for the interview and follow complicated schedules.
That way of interviewing works positively for both sides.
Focus on retention and overcoming burnout
More than 80% of managers in the U.S. are concerned by retaining valuable employees, and the top reasons for attrition include change of psychological condition (47%), higher workloads and frequent burnout (47%), pay cuts (39%), and general dissatisfaction (29%). It’s been a tough year for employees and management alike – Covid-19 has brought many unpredictable changes, and the effects are obvious across all industries and businesses.
The key to transforming such challenges is work-home balance. When hiring, we spell out routines and tools, establish routines, identifying the hours of high efficiency and communication with the team.
Soft skills are highly demanded
Even before the pandemic, “soft skills” were in trend, and that hasn’t changed since. As Robert Half mentioned in his report, skills like “adaptability to change” and communication skills are more important today than ever, especially as the job landscape changes. Skills like communication, collaboration, adaptability, and problem-solving – commonly called “soft” skills – are now so essential to achieve success in IT that some CIOs call them core skills.
A Rapid Change
In spite of the negative sides, there are some positive ones about COVID-19. From the companies surveyed, 38% said it led to “more frequent communication with management,” 37% said it improved collaboration, and 32% said it brought them more innovation. In addition, 31% said the changes brought about by COVID-19 “increased transparency among professionals,” and 30% said it made processes more efficient. The pandemic has certainly changed the way businesses are conducted, it also helped companies embrace change, gain flexibility and modernize hiring strategies. In general, it has shown the way of transformation and we can not say that many of them are bad.
Recruiters learn from Marketers
In 2020 it was considered that recruiting is the same as marketing. However, that is not totally correct, even though there are some common points, tools and approaches. Recruiters are no longer limited by publishing vacancies only on specialized resources. They also can promote the company’s offer through social media, targeted advertising. In fact, they can use all the tools of digital marketing (picture 4). Apart from advertising vacancies in social networks, it is also work on the brand of the employer. Vacancies can be published in authoritative sources, in online conferences.
Pic 4 Use of social media in recruiting (Source: infinitysocialmedia)
From marketing one concept was taken, such as “candidate funnel” (in our opinion, one of the brightest and most useful examples of “recruiting+marketing” symbiosis of marketing term “lead nurturing”).
Also recruiter-candidate communication is a very critical component of the hiring process. Communication with the poor quality may frustrate the candidate and he/she will refuse taking the job. Personalised candidate communication will make candidates more loyal.
Regarding the statistics from the previous years we managed to find out that:
- 58% of recruiters who succeeded in adapting their recruitment process because of the changes caused by COVID-19, mostly use social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Instagram to find potential hires (CNBC, 2020).
- 27% of employers do not hide information about salaries and pay ranges (LinkedIn, 2019).
- 52% of job hunters highlighted that a lack of response from employers is one of the biggest and common problems they face (Websolutions, 2020).
- 53% of job hunters wish the recruiters to explain in detail expectations in the job description, and not hiding some details (Career Builder, 2017).
There are some popular applicant tracking softwares exists.
- BambooHR. This is an HR software service for small and mid-sized businesses to keep track of their HR procedures and candidates.
- SmartRecruiters. This is the end-to-end hiring management and talent acquisition platform.
- Workday. It is an HR platform that combines the administrative functions of a business and provides support with real-time analytics.
- Submittable. This is a submissions management tool that can receive all kinds of submittable media, considering job applications.
- Greenhouse. This program can support the hiring process, from prospecting, scheduling, and interviewing.
Diversity
Equality in the workplace brings the individual the right to be different, which can result in better productivity. There is an individual approach to each employee, considering the equal aspects and dignity irrespective of gender, race, religion, ethnic background, sexuality, or disability. Then there is a space for identity to open up. Most of the time it brings outstanding results when appreciated.
In any workplace, equality is about having equal rights to every opportunity and any sort of discrimination must be excluded. People should not show unfairness or prejudice towards peers with different identities, especially race, gender, and age. At DNA325 we support the idea of diversity as it is.
Many companies have implemented laws to drive workplace equality. For example, the United States has the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It has laws to protect job applicants and employees from any kind of discrimination. Such laws make discrimination of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, disability illegal.
Glassdoor estimates that most top candidates are brought to recruiters by mobile traffic. That includes ads they’ve seen on mobile devices and job postings. It would seem that these are advanced millennials and Generation Z (those born after 1996), but no. 55% of mobile traffic comes from Generation X (1965-1979). And the professional level of such candidates is much higher than it may seem.
In general, there are some reasons why companies focus on diversity. Culture improvement, companies’ performance improvement, better customers representation are among them (picture 5). Speaking about diversity, for recruiters it is essential to consider important issues, take honest feedbacks from employees, make up communities where staff members feel seen and supported.
Pic 5 Top reasons why companies focus on diversity (Source: LinkedIn)
The boomerang effect
Many people have heard from their former boss when they quit their jobs: “Remember, I won’t take you back! For many companies and employees in Ukraine and the CIS this is still something strange. But in the world, and especially in IT, the concept of “boomerang” is really common, as we grow professionally, and upgrade our soft skills, review our methods and concepts, it all may benefit our performance in the future.
Based on the realities of today’s world, we understand that the market for IT professionals has changed: the opportunity to work remotely is not an extra advantage, it became one of the standard conditions offered by the employer.
Remote work has made the life of candidates easier too. They do not need to travel to work anymore, as everything can be done remotely: online interviews, onboarding processes, etc. Remote recruiting helps to catch the best candidates before competitors can do that.
While recruiting candidates, recruiters pay attention to the certain characteristics of the candidate, to be exact, on his/her “soft skills” or communication skills. In order to get the best candidates also the special recruitment sources must be considered. They help to increase the chances of finding the right person for the company. That’s the reality of the recruitment process for today. Let’s see what’s gonna be next?
