How Hybrid Work Changed the Hiring Process

Companies across multiple industries around the globe have been forced to come up with strategies that could push their businesses forward while providing safety to the workforce in the past couple of years.

Increased digitization at the peak of the recent health crisis from COVID-19, coupled with the fast evolution of technology, opened up all kinds of possibilities for organizations worldwide to continue operations remotely. 

A study by Gallup showed that four out of 10 workers from a study group of 12,000 employees in the United States are now either working hybrid or completely operating remotely. Moreover, as they move forward into the post-pandemic era, almost seven out of 10 workers from the study group prefer to remain hybrid or fully remote.   

Employers responding to this surge of new expectations from job-seekers and employees - especially for greater flexibility in their work life - have tried to work around establishing hybrid and remote work arrangements as part of their long-term working strategy. However, this has also come with its own teething issues, especially for recruiters and hiring managers. 

Therefore, recruiters, HR professionals, and companies must learn to shift their mindset around the hiring process, post-pandemic. 

To help you get a better start at winning a recruitment game within hybrid work rules, let’s take a look at how hybrid work has affected the recruitment industry, and how a tool like an Applicant Tracking System can help you handle challenges and ensure the success of your talent acquisition strategy.

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Hybrid Work in the Recruitment Field

Employers and recruiters have embraced a variety of hiring processes that are built off cloud technology in order to help them attract the right talent and establish relationships with those who have potential. Post-pandemic, hybrid recruitment - a combination of both  in-person and virtual recruitment  - has become commonplace, allowing recruiters and HR professionals to accomplish their goals without excessive rigidity.

The goal for recruiters however, is to not merely execute hybrid recruitment for the sake of doing it. Especially not because it is perceived to be trendy. 

Keep the long-term in mind and outline the value that comes with in-person and virtual meetings when engaging with the workforce of the future. 

For forward thinking recruitment professionals, this is a prime opportunity to combine the power of technology - particularly intelligent software - with human decision-making to push the hiring process towards efficiency. 

Recruitment tools with Artificial Intelligence, for instance, automate the process of screening CVs, easing the tedious day-to-day tasks of a recruiter, while minimizing human errors that could occur as a result of fatigue or oversight. 

With AI implemented at the core of the remote hiring process, recruiters and HR professionals can reduce the cost of hiring while eliminating bias and human errors, unlocking the potential to increase diversity in their talent pool.

The benefit is two-fold. Candidates would naturally also benefit from the contributions of an AI-powered tool in the hiring process, as it drives faster and more seamless communication.  The end result is what every recruiter aspires to achieve: a better candidate experience. 

With these two methods, recruiters are presented with more opportunities to discover candidates from any part of the world, and in any time zone. The possibilities are endless in the search for talent. 

How Hybrid Work Changed The Recruitment Process  

However, hybrid work is also tailgated by some challenges that could slow down the hiring process. Let’s take a look at the challenges of hybrid recruitment and how an ATS can help you overcome them. 

Team Members Are Separated, Sometimes

The most obvious perk of remote and hybrid work is that you can complete your tasks from anywhere you like. 

However, when it comes to a job that calls for close collaboration between team members, such as recruitment, this perk can potentially become one of the worst downsides. Getting everyone from the team on the same page - especially when one colleague may be working from a different timezone - can become a particularly frustrating part of the hybrid recruitment hiring process. 

Without clear and timely communication, one of your team members might, for instance, end up repeating the work that you’ve already done. At the same time, it could be risky to execute a wde virtual recruitment strategy alongside in-person ones without a tool that can help organize and manage the pipeline in a timely and efficient way - the best profiles could fall through the cracks.

Also while working apart, it might seem like a good idea to work independently when someone is not available, and let your ‘recruiters’ instinct’ guide you when it comes to selecting the right profiles. 

In today’s competitive talent landscape, the need to find the right talent with the correct skills is more pressing than ever. Your unconscious bias might remove the right talents - individuals who can perform best at their capabilities in your positions - from the candidate shortlist. 

In the worst-case scenario, you might already have the perfect candidates for the roles in your talent pool, but human error kicks in just in time to make you forget about these individuals. Without a proper tool that helps manage your database, there is a high chance that profiles of the right candidates may be lost or damaged.  

It takes a second opinion from your teammates to reassure individuals you’ve selected are the right fit for the roles. They may be able to see some certain qualities of the candidates that you’ve missed.   

Working remotely, it is important to have a communication portal that allows all team members to stay up on the progress. Without it, by the time your teammates’ comments arrive on your desk, it might be too late as unqualified candidates made it to the shortlist instead of the qualified ones.         

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Gaps in Communication and Trust-Building

Virtual recruitment may provide the benefit of speed and allow recruiters to search for hidden talents across the globe. However, contacting, communicating, and relationship building will all be done virtually without an in-person experience which could serve as a stronger trust-building method. 

Successful recruitment is based on trust and close relationships between recruiters and candidates. Setting two parties apart, it will be hard to cultivate the bond needed to sustain long-lasting relationships.

Moreover, without a proper tool to help recruiters manage their hiring process, conducting recruitment remotely might bring more hurdles than you had initially anticipated. 

First of all, communication. Recruiters will never be able to respond to all of the candidates’ messages and emails while handling multiple projects simultaneously. At the same time, overlapping appointments are inevitable. Without a tool to manage your calendar, clashing job interviews are almost a certain result. This will set the hiring process backward, as you will have to reschedule and manage your appointments all over again. And there’s no guarantee that the same issue will not occur again.  

All in all, it provides nothing but a bad candidate experience which hurts your brand as well as leaving candidates no interest in reapplying for jobs and collaborating with you again.  

How ATS Smoothen the Hybrid Recruitment 

Brings the Team Together from Wherever They Are

ATS comes with the ability to connect all team members closely throughout the hiring process. ATS like Manatal ensures a smooth collaboration amongst the team with an easy-to-read dashboard that consolidates all of the progress into a single platform.

At the same time, the messaging feature enables all team members to communicate and collaborate in real-time, 24/7. With Manatal as your solution, team members can come in and update on each progress in the pipeline within a few clicks.  

Everyone on the team can chime in and leave their comments on each candidate, allowing team members to consider candidates from more perspectives and ensuring that every candidate on the shortlist is packed with the right qualities.

Close the Gap Between Talents and Recruiters 

An efficient ATS such as Manatal’s ATS is specifically designed to close the gap while connecting candidates and recruiters as close as possible. With the social media enrichment feature, recruiters will be able to get to know candidates on a much deeper level. Manatal ATS browses the web and extracts candidates’ information from their available social media profiles into a single platform. 

This allows recruiters to look at candidates from other angles beyond their CVs. Knowing their personal goals and learning what drives them will help recruiters evaluate candidates more efficiently and precisely place them in a spot they fit the best. 

At the same time, the ability to integrate users’ emails into the platform allows recruiters to efficiently manage their communication with candidates, ensuring that all messages are properly received and replied.  

Moreover, the calendar feature helps users eliminate the overlap of appointments and clashing interviews. As a result, a smoother ride and a better experience will be provided to candidates, leaving them with a good impression and inspiring them to reapply with you again if the opportunity arises in the future.   

Everyone is Always in the Loop 

ATS like Manatal allows users to effortlessly manage each progress in the hiring process. Within a few clicks, recruiters can grant permission to hiring managers, allowing them to keep track of the progress. 

Hiring managers will also be able to drop messages and comments on each candidate on the list, letting recruiters know which talent their customers are interested in getting to know more or developing stronger relationships. 

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The Future of Hybrid Work 

Trends come and go. Everytime trends emerge, they naturally change the flow of industry for the better. Unlike other trends that are naturally pushed out by the next movement in no time, hybrid work is not going anywhere soon. It has proven to be a solution that results in higher productivity and gives employees a greater sense of autonomy over their work environments.

According to Gallup, there are 125 million full-time jobs in the United States, and it is reported that about 60 million of those jobs can be operated remotely. In the group of potential remote workers, 30% of them prefer to NEVER work in the office, while only 10% of them are comfortable with the idea of working at the office from Mondays to Fridays.

The remaining 60% of workers in a study group desire to combine both on-site and remote work and expect to see a result that allows them to show up at the office one to three days a week. So, It’s safe to say that 37% of office desks will likely be empty in the foreseeable future. 

When recruiters - and the industry as a whole - run alongside a trend like hybrid work that is quickly becoming a viable alternative to traditional work, the hiring process will flow faster. However, embracing the remote practice without making preparations will leave you dealing with more trouble than receiving benefits. 

The process could wind up running slower and seeing more hiccups than before. An efficient tool like ATS is a solution that can help you stay ahead of the trends while ensuring that you will get the most productivity from hybrid work.  

ATS like Manatal is packed with many features that ensure the efficiency of your remote recruitment. Manatal’s messaging feature makes sure that all team members are connected from wherever they are, 24/7. 

Our social media enrichment helps recruiters get to know candidates beyond their CVs and build stronger relationships with them. At the same time, recruiters have the ability to keep hiring managers up to date and be in the same loop throughout the hiring process with Manatal.   

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Join Manatal’s 14-day free trial now to discover more features specifically designed to eliminate errors and issues that could arise during the hiring process while ensuring your remote recruitment will be conducted quickly and efficiently.