Before pandemic, most of our recruitment process were done offline. Based in survey by Workest, 58% interview done in-person, and 28% done both in-person & virtual. Now that economy and businesses are starting to bounce back, and a lot of offices are calling their employee back to office, recruitment process are also getting back to how it used to be. So, should we go back to in-person recruitment process? Keep doing virtual hiring? Or implement hybrid model?
First, let’s discuss the good and bad of both virtual and in-person recruitment process.
Virtual
- Reducing cost and effort. One obvious advantage with remote recruitment is that it’s very cost efficient. There are a lot of widely available, accessible, (and not to mention some of them are even free) video conferencing platform. As long as you and your candidate have internet connection and supporting device, you can basically do interview from anywhere.
- Expanding Talent Market. Now that we can recruit from anywhere, we can recruit talent regardless of their location. It means we can look and get more potential talent for our business. Though, this advantage might also mean we have to compete with other or local employers who are looking for talents.
- Communication Barrier & Candidate’s Confidence. Unfortunately, one of the biggest let down of recruiting virtually is communication barrier. Even with video calls, there are still some non-verbal communication aspects that we are not able to capture. Such as candidate’s gesture or posture. Also, based on another survey by Workest, even though 58% participants feeling more stressed in face-to-face interview, 51% still feels more confident in meeting face-to-face, and also negotiating their salary (59%).
In-Person
- Better Experience. When inviting a candidate for a face-to-face interview in the office, we can showcase a lot of experience in our company. From showing the vibe in our office, employee interactions, activities, company culture, and more. This kind of experience can engage the candidate and by giving them a glimpse of how it feels to work in the office.
- In-Person Connection. Seeing the candidate face-to-face can give us a better picture about their overall profile. With face-to-face interaction, we can get more information from the candidate, and help us decide better in terms of acceptance.
- More Effort. Though previously hiring in-person is the norm, now with many virtual hiring platform available, having and in-person hiring seems to need more effort and can be seen as inefficient.
What can we do?
Both virtual and in-person hiring is not a one strategy fits for all. We can always choose, modify, to improve our hiring strategy according to our business needs. What we can do is trying to overcome challenges in each type of hiring. In Virtual hiring, to increase candidate’s experience with the company, we can always send a welcome package, or ensuring that candidates are feeling comfortable when discussing salary package during virtual interview. We can also combine both models to get both advantages. For example, we can do a virtual hiring from candidate screening to interview, and have candidate come to the office for final interview with user. This will allow us to have the efficiency of virtual hiring, and have the in-person connection when we are about to have a final decision for the candidate.
CONTACT US FOR HYBRID WORKING SUPPORT:
Email: contact@stevlandbridge.com
LinkedIn: Stevland Bridge
Instagram: @stevlandbridge