2022: General Challenges Faced by Hiring Managers Post COVID-19

Author: Jyoti Moktali

Categories:Recruitment Services

2022: General Challenges Faced by Hiring Managers Post COVID-19

As a leader of a young team, it's important to recognize that your team members are just starting in their careers and may need extra support and encouragement to help them achieve their goals. Here are three simple ways to motivate and encourage your young team to achieve their full potential:

At the beginning of 2020, just before the outbreak of COVID-19, who would have thought that the corporate world would become accustomed to working from home in the future? Everything changed post-March 2020, from the way we worked to how we socialized with family and friends.

The world faced innumerable challenges – how to work without actually going to the office, how to run the clerical functions of factories from the comfort of our homes, how to stay put in the middle of the whole pandemic, and much more. The Human Resources Department (HRD) faced an unprecedented challenge in the corporate world.

From teaching employees about how to attend virtual meetings to motivating them while they stayed at home, HR professionals did it all. One such strenuous task was conducting the recruitment process.

When hiring an employee for an organization, it is paramount to ensure that they are the best talent fit for the respective role. In the pre-COVID era, recruitment was relatively less complex because face-to-face meetings with aspiring candidates were easily possible. This helped hiring managers better evaluate candidates on areas such as personality, grooming standards, conduct, energy levels, etc.

However, when the same process is done online, it isn't easy to assess someone on the above parameters. After finding a job opening, 64 percent of candidates said they researched a company online, and 37 percent said they would move on to another job opening if they couldn't find information on the company. The number one reason why employees quit is a lack of appreciation for their current job. 79 percent of employees who quit, claimed this was a major reason for leaving. (Source: Indian Hiring Statistics)

The majority of prospective job seekers become much less motivated within a few months of joining a new job, especially when they've joined the organization through online recruitment campaigns.

That is why hiring managers must be exceptionally precise while validating candidates online. Hiring managers must be extraordinarily vigilant, from background verification to evaluating the candidate's commitment to their company.

As we step into the post-COVID era, we will forever leave behind the normalcy of "traditional recruitment" processes. But there are several challenges faced by most hiring managers post-COVID era, such as:

Virtual Interviewing: As mentioned earlier, it is quite easy to understand a job seeker's requirements and what they can offer to the company while they're right in front of you. Online interviewing and screening processes are substantial because these are the things that helped us survive the pandemic. But looking from a recruiter's point of view, in-office interviews and screening methods are preferable to the prior.

Increased Demands for Remote Jobs: The COVID-19 Pandemic made the majority of the working population quite used to operating from the comfort of their homes. Now, most applicants expect employers to provide them with "Work From Home" opportunities instead of full-time "In-Office" jobs. This has happened because employees have discovered the fact that working from home is much more convenient and cost-effective as compared to traveling to the office daily, both for themselves and for the company. In the new scenario, recruiters are expected to provide job seekers with either remote opportunities or hybrid working arrangements.

Talent Shortages: Since the majority of the workforce in India has had their share of experience working from home, they've understood the fact that a series of hard skills and soft skills are required to complete various tasks. Today’s fast-growing economy calls for the continuous upskilling of every employee. Therefore, hiring managers expect candidates to keep up with technological advancements and industry-specific demands. A plus point of employing upskilled employees is that their performance levels are top-notch from the very beginning of their employment. The latest ISR report states that less than half of Indian graduates are employable as they lack the skills that are in demand today. Additionally, only 45 percent of 2021 graduates were prepared for jobs.

Higher Retention Efforts By Employers: The pandemic has taken away a lot more than it has offered us. But fortunately, for some aspirants, it has opened up a sequence of job openings. For the past two years, it has taken less than six months for fresh joiners to start looking for a new job if they're not fully satisfied with the work environment or the compensation. To increase the retention rate of any organization, the employer has to keep their staff motivated and committed to their organization. As we step into the new normal, it is important to note that the previous normalcy of how the world functions will never come back to us. With some magical powers, we cannot eradicate all these challenges in one go. Adapting to change is difficult, especially when the changes are so unexpected. The most superlative way to face these challenges is to be alert, resilient, and in line with the workforce's requirements. To do that, we need to train our HR business partners to face these challenges impeccably. At Temp-Let (www.temp-let.com), we take immense pride in stating that our recruitment associates are well-trained to overcome the above and many other challenges that they face in their daily recruitment operations.