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How Technology Is Changing The Hiring Process In 2020

businessman hand working with modern technology and digital layer effect as business strategy concept-Jul-28-2020-04-42-31-32-PMIt’s fair to say that recent months haven’t been great for the world of employment; after all, they haven’t been great for the world in general. When the scope of the COVID-19 outbreak became apparent, efforts to slow it down saw lockdown restrictions put into place, leading immediately to the closure of offices everywhere. Businesses scrambled to adapt — some closed permanently.

With revenue throughout many industries being dramatically affected, and some positions unfit to be continued through remote working, thousands upon thousands of jobs were lost. Small businesses did their best to endure, hoping to hold out until normal operation could resume, but even furlough schemes couldn’t solve their problems.

It’s now past the middle of the year, and restrictions are steadily being relaxed or lifted entirely in numerous countries (particularly those in the Western world), which means that what’s left of 2020 will be fascinating. New startups will appear to fill the void, and they’ll be able to draw from a remarkable pool of talented professionals (many incredibly eager to get working).

Very notably in these odd circumstances, the hiring process will be somewhat different than what would previously have been expected — and it’s ultimately technology that will serve as the foundation. Here’s how technology is changing the hiring process in 2020:

 

how technology is Changing the Hiring Process

 

It’s making international hiring much more appealing

Perhaps the biggest overall change to the hiring process that stems from technological progress is the rising viability of hiring internationally. Companies have been taking advantage of the online world to outsource certain tasks for some time now (particularly to workers in countries with lower living costs), but the growth of the SaaS industry and the development of convenient payment go-betweens mean that full-time remote workers are no longer unusual. 

In addition, it’s making it significantly easier to onboard those new hires. Laptops keep getting thinner, lighter, and more powerful, making them markedly simpler to ship out to employees — and cheaper too when you factor in the option of renting or even buying refurbished machines.

Furthermore, Amazon and other huge retailers ensure that items can be quickly sourced from local fulfilment centers. Even with a large PC display or two, a full array of peripherals — mouse, keyboard, laptop dock (or Mac docking station if that would be more helpful), headphones, etc. — and a comfortable office chair. You can ship a new remote-working starter pack, everything they’ll need to be maximally productive within a day or two.

 

It’s sourcing candidates from many more channels

The old method of looking for talent involved putting up some generic job ads and fielding a lot of written applications with cover letters. That was tiresome and limiting, so it’s great that things have changed so massively — and this process of change is continuing. Just think about all the areas in which candidates can now be found through technology.

For example, social media puts you in touch with myriad distinct audiences, allowing you to connect with them through compelling posts, paid ads, or even influencer placements. Influencer marketing has been huge for ecommerce, but there’s no reason why it can’t be a successful way to find professionals with hyper-relevant skills and inclinations.

You can even take more interesting routes, like drawing upon the popularity of mobile games to create a game that serves as a recruitment tool by testing pertinent problem-solving skills. In addition to being an engaging way to cultivate a candidate’s interest, it can end up bringing in more prospects by sparking their desire for competition.

 

It’s radically changing the nature of the selection process

Let’s say you implement a comprehensive sourcing strategy and have leads coming in from all angles; what should you do with those leads? Well, the entire selection process is being made much smarter and more efficient by technology.

To begin with, those leads can be largely vetted through automation: vetting systems can check online histories to gauge sentiment, use natural language processing to pick out notable parts of applications, and apply other forms of analysis.

After this, the narrowing-down process is also getting smarter. Scheduling and managing interviews is made much easier through online systems, making things faster and simpler for both companies and their prospective employees (no more double-booking a meeting room or dealing with miscommunication about when or where an interview is taking place).

 

Furthermore, the interview process specifically is moving with the times through making video interviews standard practice — not only for candidates who would work remotely, but even for those who wouldn’t.

It’s all about necessity and convenience. If you don’t need to meet someone in person, and it’s possible to speak to them through something like Skype, then you should go with a remote interview. To do otherwise would be to waste time, fuel, and effort.

 

Artificial Intelligence, HRO, Webinar

 

About the Author: Stevie Nicks is Digital Editor at Just Another Magazine – a website that covers the topics you care about. You’ll find articles about lifestyle, travel, fashion, trends and relationships on our site – each of which is written in our unique style.

 

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