Covid Pandemic has influenced our lives. Maybe it’s time to change this statement to – Covid Pandemic has been influencing our lives. It’s been a year, an anniversary for all those struggles that have started in 2019. The pandemic has upended almost all the traditional business practices. When it comes to recruiting, there was a different angle. We have seen a period of steep unemployment, haunting the Indian economy. It has touched 23%, which means almost one-fourth of the Indian population has lost their employment. But soon later we started to revive, job openings have also been rising in recent months. With this, we understand that competition for top talent remains keen and in uncertain times, bringing on the right people is more important than ever.
However, shifts in the workforce landscape need to be examined properly by the job seekers and the recruiters to keep pace with the changing trends. The researchers have identified the three major trends that are rendering traditional recruitment tactics outdated.
Firstly, candidates are getting increasingly selective about whom they work for, and the current situation made them give importance to many other factors apart from just the salary packages, like the location convenience, WFH options, health, and hygiene factors. So firms need a compelling employee value proposition, which might involve anything from competitive compensation, benefits to career-development opportunities, and assuring their health safety. Talented candidates, particularly in high-level roles, are weighing opportunities completely in a different way. The freedom to work remotely and manage one’s own schedule has increased employees’ expectations. Especially during a period of high unemployment, when people are reluctant to leave a secure position and take a risk on a new one, companies need to offer employees a complete package of facilities that can create a true value.
Secondly, the skills required in many roles are of short shelf life, with the rapid changes in technology, the jobseekers must be updated with their skill set and the recruiters must be updated with their Job Descriptions for every new hiring process. A 2019 survey of 3,500 managers found that only 29% of new hires have all the skills required for their current roles. The major key functions of a firm such as finance, IT, and sales positions, today will require up to 10 new skills within a span of 18 months. So, we better stop profile mirroring when there is a vacancy. Start looking for some new requirements and skills to be in pace with growing technology. There is rising uncertainty about what skills will be needed in current and future jobs as the surge in remote work spark the redesign or automation of many tasks. It’s time for the Human Resources leaders to push the hiring managers to look beyond the immediate needs of their functioning units and start planning ahead what would be the skills that an organization must look for in a candidate to survive now and succeed in the future. First, go with “What do we need” and then comes “Who do we need”. In this way, there could be a reduction in the widening gap between the job role, and the skill set needed. We must always remember that we are not only aiming for a candidate who is prepared for yesterday, but also who can face the future.
Finally, the talent acquisition team has become more outmoded. They must come out of this stereotypical world that talent is found only in the top-grade colleges. We are living in a new era where highly talented candidates can now be found outside those traditional talent clusters. This is a digital world where we are fortunate to find knowledge everywhere, people are acquiring critical skills informally on the job/college—or even in their own basements. Work lulls and layoffs have driven a boom in virtual learning, giving workers new autonomy in developing skills outside their day job. So, there is a need to change the mindset – “ Hire for potential candidates rather than experienced ones”.
The present pandemic forced several companies to opt for technological advances in recruitment rather than sticking with the conventional ways. They succeeded in adopting the tools but failed in implementing them, the major problem lies with the understanding of the key elements and stereotypic mindset. It’s time to realize that as recruitment is changing and transforming with the digital advances, hiring the employees who have the right skills and the required knowledge has become necessary. So, as an HR head, it’s time to take responsibility to improve and strategize your approach and see the health outcome it brings to your organization.
Let’s face the new era with a new style and approach.
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