Recruitment and onboarding in the era of the pandemic – how do new technologies help streamline key processes in the HR industry?
The coronavirus has completely changed our lives, both privately and professionally. The long-term effects of the pandemic will sooner or later affect every branch of the economy, and the need to adapt to new conditions brings with it a great many challenges. The situation we are already facing forces companies to be far more flexible and creative in many areas. One of them is hiring and onboarding new employees. Magdalena Kamińska, Finance & Professional Services Recruitment Manager at People, explains what the recruitment process looks like in the times of the coronavirus.
Reorganisation of processes in companies
Although experts had been heralding a slowdown in the employee market for many months, due to the restrictions currently in place the situation on the labour market changed practically overnight.
– It comes as no surprise that many companies, as a result of the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, decided to completely halt hiring new people. However, organisations that could not or did not want to do so quickly had to adapt to the new reality – explains Magdalena Kamińska, Finance & Professional Services Recruitment Manager at People. – The key challenge for many organisations, especially the smaller ones, which do not have an extensive HR department or operate on the basis of traditional tools, was the rapid implementation of innovations and the modernisation of processes – adds Magdalena Kamińska.
Despite the dynamic development of new technologies, we are still accustomed to holding job interviews in person. Until now, remote recruitment was something unusual on the Polish market, encountered only in industries such as IT or media, as well as in large international corporations. The current situation therefore requires enormous flexibility and openness to change from both employers and candidates.
Remote recruitment – a challenge for both sides
Caution on the part of candidates
As with employers, on the part of candidates too, much greater caution can currently be observed when it comes to deciding to change jobs. Employees, and especially specialists who are aware of their value, prefer to stay in their current positions, which guarantee a kind of stability in these rather uncertain times. At the same time, it is precisely for the best candidates that the battle on the market will be fought, which is why recruiters must be prepared for even greater flexibility and an individual approach than before.
– The most important thing in the whole process is skilfully responding to the needs of the person being recruited – explains Magdalena Kamińska, Finance & Professional Services Recruitment Manager at People. – We can encourage someone to decide to change jobs, for example, with the guarantee of an indefinite-term employment contract or by signing a preliminary agreement instead of a letter of intent. It should be remembered that candidates value honesty and transparency in the recruitment process above all – advises Magdalena Kamińska.
New tools, a similar pattern
The structure of an online interview
Once a candidate whose CV matches the employer's requirements appears, the time comes for the next stage – the interview, in this case conducted via an internet communicator. Its course is very similar to a face-to-face meeting, for example at the company's headquarters, and the issues raised during such a recruitment process are analogous to those in a face-to-face meeting and include questions about experience, a behavioural interview, a competency-based interview, etc. Remote recruitment, like traditional recruitment, consists of several stages and includes interviews with several people in the organisation, at various levels of the hierarchy.
– Online recruitment interviews are a truly convenient and effective solution. By asking the right questions, we are able to not only assess a candidate's competences, but also verify their motivations, values and fit with the culture of the company or team – explains Magdalena Kamińska – By involving more people in the conversation, we save time and can look at the candidate from many perspectives at once. It is easier for us to catch the nuances and assess whether the candidate will be a good fit for a given position. And perhaps their competences will prove more useful in another team?
It is increasingly common for interviews to be recorded and used by recruiters at later stages. Thanks to this, the candidate does not have to answer the same questions repeatedly during interviews, and after the whole process is finished, they can watch their own performance, check how they came across and assess the course of a given interview. The recordings also help the HR team prepare detailed feedback, which is an additional benefit for the candidate.
The first day at a new job
Onboarding without an office
An equally important process, which in the current situation is carried out remotely by many HR departments, is the onboarding of new employees. Conducted at a distance and outside the company's headquarters, it can pose a major challenge, especially for those organisations that had not previously used new technologies in this area.
– Onboarding has been gaining in importance for HR industry experts year after year. Many of them had already been paying attention to innovations and technological novelties as an interesting way of diversifying the process of bringing new employees on board. However, until now this had been merely an attractive addition to traditional methods of transferring knowledge – says Magdalena Kamińska. – It could therefore be said that only the current situation will allow us to popularise the use of new technologies in onboarding on a wide scale – adds Magdalena Kamińska.
The spread of tools that help onboard an employee remotely may have a positive impact on the entire process, which until now was either not treated as a priority by companies or was conducted using rather traditional methods. Thanks to modern solutions, such as internet communicators, interactive instructional recordings or the use of gamification elements, the whole process becomes more interesting for the employee and has a beneficial effect on their motivation. A knowledge test, which can crown the entire onboarding process, is also not insignificant for the participant's engagement in the training. What is more, onboarding can be easily improved thanks to evaluation surveys filled in by new employees after completing the training. The current situation means that online onboarding may soon completely replace the methods used so far for introducing employees to their new duties, which in consequence may lead to even greater creativity and more frequent use of increasingly technologically advanced tools in other business areas as well.
Dorota Wójtowicz talks about what the first days at a new job look like during the pandemic, an experience she has already been through: – I started work entirely remotely. A courier brought me the contract, the necessary documents and a work phone. I completed my induction into my new duties and health and safety training online. I met the team on a video call on Messenger, and I am in constant contact with my boss by phone and on Slack, where she explains everything to me and discusses it in detail, offering great support. I think that despite these unusual circumstances, we are able to communicate efficiently and the quality of my work does not suffer. And the downsides? Well, it is certainly harder for me to integrate with the whole team remotely. However, I hope that this will change soon too.
Everything indicates that the coronavirus will not go away as quickly as we would like. Experts are of the opinion that the current situation will permanently change our reality, and the pre-pandemic world will fade into oblivion forever. This also applies to the entire HR industry and the labour market, including the ways in which recruitment and onboarding are carried out, which is why companies should learn the rules of the new tomorrow as quickly as possible and introduce new solutions.
Tools useful in remote recruitment and onboarding recommended by Magdalena Kamińska, Finance & Professional Services Recruitment Manager at People:
- Skype, WhatsApp, Zoom, Clickmeeting, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, Viber Messenger and Microsoft Teams
- Confluence, Google Suite, Slack, Mattermost
- Screencast
Summary
The article shows how the pandemic forced companies and candidates to switch to remote recruitment and onboarding. Magdalena Kamińska of People emphasises that the process of online meetings does not differ in substance from the traditional one, and additionally makes it possible to record interviews and provide better feedback. Modern tools, such as communicators, knowledge tests and gamification, make onboarding more engaging. Dorota Wójtowicz's practical experience shows that the first days at a new job remotely are possible, although integrating with the team can be a challenge. Experts predict that these changes will permanently shape the face of the HR industry.
