Recruitment in COVID-19

Have been in the Recruiting arena for the last 20 years plus managing Recruitment from both sides of the table i.e. my profession has given me the opportunity to work in Talent Acquisition team with Corporates and have worked for couple of years with renowned consultants in Recruitment space. Have always tried to search/fit an ideal candidate whose work experience matches the Job description and it has been rightly said that finding the right candidate for the job is the success mantra of recruitment.

Process of Recruitment

The Process of Recruitment typically used to have various sources for attracting the candidate which in the background would encompass the process of in depth analysis of the job requirement. Connecting with the candidate, Screening, Selecting and finally take the candidate through Compensation negotiation process and complete the Selection process by initiating the letter of intent or offer letter. Way back in 1990’s the Companies would advertise in newspapers, employment exchange boards and would also roll out employee referral scheme as an initiative of employee engagement scheme. Then came the era of job-portals paving the way for screening and selection of candidates online. By the time the system got accepted and was being used for right candidate for the right job, with the advent of technological interventions, Recruitment has entered into different arena with businesses able to cut through the global boundaries to attract and acquire talent.Mobility of candidates across geographies is possible in today’s scenario. The advancement in the technology has enabled HR fraternity to think of using the advanced technology for Recruiting purpose and the Internet is the main source of recruitment for many big organizations. The Companies advertise their vacancies online, the candidates, in turn, apply for these vacancies through company webpage. The major advantage this technique has is that it doesn't incur a high cost, and no intermediaries required and also there is a reduction of time for recruitment. In addition to this the Recruiting team also creates employer branding and thus the Recruitment initiative to aid the Marketing of the Company visibility.

In my discussions with various Marketing evangelists and professionals they say “Employer brand is the trend off late with lot of organisations investing time in understanding and analysis the candidate’s experience. As opposed to corporate brand reputation and value proposition employer brand has gained popularity.” The current mantra in Recruitment is “Candidate experience” which helps the Company to connect with past and potential future candidates ,to engage with the overall perception of company’s recruiting process makes it easier for the company to retain, attract and acquire the critical skill sets required for the business. The business in turn has recognised the Recruiting team’s contribution to the business and has earned respect and credibility. Candidate’s experience form on their very emotions, personality, feelings, behaviour and attitudes they experience during the entire hiring process, Candidates who had a positive response and experience in the recruitment process are more likely to accept a job offer, reapply in future and refer others to the company. Alternatively it could have an opposite impact, if the candidate experience is negative it can cost more than a few candidates to the company. Lot of us had become complacent and had slipped into a zone that the technology changes have been adopted by all of us however the advent of artificial intelligence has awaken us with lot of insecurities and worry about the future of losing what we were doing very comfortably and were secure in our own zones.

Having said so ,I was speaking to a friend of mine and she said “The AI has taken a step further in the process of screening bulk amounts of Candidates resumes has become easier. To ensure that no unsuitable candidates are screened, their job descriptions and resumes are matched by using AI. This way it is quicker and more efficient to screen a candidate.It also gives the recruiting team a sense of achievement of having the right cv for the right job…Their time now get utilized in connecting with the candidate and knowing the candidates other specifications and fitment into the Organisation’s setup.” In traditional recruitment, there were no marketing phenomena being used. recently, recruitment marketing is the word evolved that includes putting marketing efforts to recruitment. Another such phenomenon that has been used is inbound marketing, where the company uses the strategy to proactively and continually attract candidates with the goal to make the candidates choose the company as the next employer. It is said Change is the only Constant.Keeping this mantra in practice many companies who are embracing innovative ways to attract talent are the only once to succeed. Post Covid-19, the Recruitment could go a little slow as Industry in general and Companies in specific need time to revive. However,this impact in my opinion would be short term keeping in view the pace of growth initiatives and interventions that Government would infuse to revive the economy.

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