While the pandemic threw the business world into turmoil for much of the past year, it also taught us some important lessons – namely, that new approaches could be effective in raising productivity and generating results. The area of recruiting provides a perfect example.
Changes employers were forced to make in their hiring processes have created new efficiencies that should not be abandoned, even as the pandemic slowly begins to ease. The better solution is to create a hybrid approach to recruiting: taking what worked in the “old” days, a/k/a pre-pandemic, and combining that with newfound methods that have proven successful. Here are four ways to get a hybrid recruiting process off the ground.
- Revise your interview process. Remember all the time you used to spend coordinating schedules for candidates and your hiring team, reserving conference rooms, preparing materials for in-person interviews, and the like? Virtual interviews have been a godsend in enabling organizations to get visual impressions of a candidate, and see how they interact with technology, in a fraction of the time and with much less disruption to the work day.
The hybrid solution: Continue to do virtual interviews until you reach the final round. Those should be done in person.
- Cultivate your talent community. Compile a list of everyone that’s interacted with your organization: individuals who’ve previously applied for open positions; clients or customers that use your products or services; vendors that provide products or services to your company; and people you’ve connected with, whether on social media or through networking in business or community settings. In no time, you’ll generate a robust group of names, occupations and skill sets that can give you a tremendous head start when it comes to sourcing and attracting strong candidates.
The hybrid solution: Commit to growing and nurturing your talent community on an ongoing basis.
- Stay active on social media and through virtual networking. These are both excellent sources of potential candidates. Your social media followers are already expressing an interest in your organization, and that interest might translate to a great employee somewhere down the road. Meanwhile, those whom you’ve interacted with through virtual networking have given you a firsthand look at how they operate in a business setting – valuable information as you seek to fill roles in the future.
The hybrid solution: Stay active and engaged in these areas, which also help broaden your reach outside your immediate community.
- Keep building your brand. To paraphrase a line from the classic movie Glengarry Glen Ross, “Always be branding.” Your messaging is a vital element in letting potential employees know what your organization is all about. In an increasingly virtual world, it becomes even more important to share information widely and often. Fortunately, digital tools – including some of those mentioned earlier – are great ways to ensure you can keep your brand top of mind to aid in recruiting.
The hybrid solution: Continue to use pre-recorded messages and branding as part of your recruitment outreach.
The Alaant team is passionate about recruiting, and energized about finding new strategies to help your organization build a winning team in today’s evolving business environment. Contact us today and let’s get the conversation started!
