Evolution of virtual recruitment and it’s future

Many companies are planning how their employees can safely return to the office. If the UK government’s roadmap out of lockdown is successful, restrictions on social contact could be removed by 21 June, which could indicate a good point in time where legally companies can ask their employees to return. But what will the future workplace look like?

Although remote working was an alien method to many corporations, some believe Covid-19 simply accelerated the move to flexible working trends that was helped by rapidly developing technology. In other words, the work from home style was always in our futures, Covid just fast tracked the process. 

The Majority of organisations are considering taking on a hybrid working objective, where some people are in the office and others at home. The hybrid method works out as 20% of staff being in the workplace at any one time. While at work employees would use ‘hot desks’ and of course interviews and meetings would continue virtually where needed. There are many pros to this way of working, employees would still have the flexibility and arguable a more balanced work/life ratio; but would still have the face-to-face interaction to boost moral that we have all missed over the past year. 

One aspect at work where virtual technology is proving to be a necessity is recruitment. For many industries (Hospitality, Performing Arts)  everyday working life was called to an abrupt halt however for others work had to carry on and adapt. Companies like Huboo and gigl expanded during this time and have benefitted from virtual recruitment due to the efficiency it gives in a rapidly growing industry. By implementing video applications and interviews, employers have access to more applications and have to take less time to review them. 

Businesses are following suit and adapting to the new normal and we are seeing demand grow for virtual talent acquisition solutions.

Moving part of the recruitment process into the virtual world can remove the resource intensive and costly stages of recruitment when candidates are screened and selected for the first interview. Often it can also benefit candidates who are more relaxed being interviewed from home.

With more people chasing jobs and employers seeing high volumes of applicants for each job role advertised this can be a real advantage. Technology can save companies hours of time and cost and ensure a more fair and objective selection process and we expect virtual recruitment will become the norm for many companies in the future.