The Future of Hiring is Personalization and Digital: Sarbojit Mallick
Tell us about the current scenario of recruitment in India during the pandemic.
According to the latest report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), salaried jobs have taken the largest toll in this ongoing pandemic.19 million jobs have been lost till July 2020 which is more than one-fifth of the total salaried jobs in the country.
The curious case of recruitment
Recruitment has had a mixed response from this pandemic. Companies like Instahyre, several assessment firms have seen a drastic increase in candidate registration and revenue due to companies flocking to use their products. This is because of the "offshore effect" where companies are shifting their engineering teams to India and hence have to hire talent to set up their India offices.
Hiring for junior roles have seen a considerable increase as IT giants like TCS, Infosys, CTS have plans to hire 1 lakh freshers (Source) who will join next year when the situation might improve. Tech-based companies where remote hiring is gaining tremendous popularity has increased their hiring due to a large talent pool, available for immediate joining, due to layoffs. But the sentiment to join a fledgling startup has seen a considerable reduction as we see applications have increased for established MNCs offering lower pay packages with respect to their startup peers.
Increase outsourcing and increase in deal volumes for IT companies have triggered massive levels of freshers hiring and remote hires which will become a trend in the near future.
How does the future of hiring look like?
The future of hiring is personalization and digital. As there will hardly be any in-person meetings in the coming months and digital interaction will be the norm. As US-based tech companies like Amazon, Walmart, IT companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro have started offshoring work, the roles in great demand will be data science, cloud computing, and software development roles. High growth companies will hire to build and secure their systems for a future surge in usage which will increase the demand for cybersecurity, AI, and ML roles. Legal services and corporate services which will also be in high demand as companies restructure deals and employee contracts.
As companies have changed their spending patterns - marketing and advertising will be online based with a focus on video and content which will drive demand for such professionals.
Few industries which are severely hit like hospitality, travel, wellness, and fitness will focus on digital experience and the demand for onsite client experts will decrease considerably.
Is virtual hiring here to stay for long? What tips do you want to give to HR Leader to recruit the best fit virtually?
Virtual hiring will be the norm for the next year with online assessments, interviews, and personalized messaging taking the limelight. The virtual hiring has stages like sourcing and shortlisting, interviewing, offers and onboarding will be completely virtual.
HR leaders need to adapt to recruit the best. Sourcing needs a personalized approach than before as we have seen at Instahyre, applicants apply 73% more to a personalized job message with a clear vision statement and how they have grown and will tide over this pandemic.
Shortlisting has to be faster than the pre-COVID era, a job seeker will apply to an estimated 7 jobs on an average on Instahyre, and companies are wooing quality talent - so the shortlisting process needs to be fast to engage and build a quality talent pipeline.
Video interviews usually happen when the timelines or timezones of the job seeker and the employer don't match but now in the "new normal", they are the norm.HR leaders should assess the cultural fit by understanding candidate preferences, what they want to do and what they are looking in the role -this is the sole reason of 34% of the attrition according to a survey conducted over the Instahyre platform with more than 10,000 job seekers. Cultural fit is of utmost importance as physical interaction with colleagues will be zero and all communication will be virtual.
Offers and onboarding - Offers can be provided over video calls to understand the reaction of the job seeker. Onboarding should be storytelling sessions by leaders, HR, and business, and aligning the candidate to the vision of the company as well as the mission of the team she will be joining. Regular meetups with the candidates before joining date for team events, sessions on growth/funding raised/celebrations help to eliminate the chances of last-minute dropoff before joining.
Do you think communication is the major key role layer, in these even more? What would you say?
Communication is the key to success in this virtual hiring scenario. A company with a compelling story will get more job seeker responses. Communication has been of paramount importance in the pre-COVID era where recruiters and leaders need to engage a potential recruit with storytelling.
At Instahyre, we conducted a survey with 7890 employers and found that stories which have the maximum impact on candidate conversion are:
1.Scale of operations
2.Vision to build a better world
3. Team achievements with the well known and respected team lead in the community
4.Funding
In this era, we have seen stories on how we have grown despite the pandemic
that has been added to the above list.
Communication is very important in these times because:
Job seekers are wary and panicked about the state of the company as news of mass layoffs at established firms make the news
Candidates need to convinced that the role will help in learning new skills and career progression and this needs to be communicated clearly
Existing employees need to keep informed about the state of the company and how they have excelled at dealing with the pandemic to reduce attrition and panic.
What do you want to give a message of hope for people who are on the verge of losing hope?
As an entrepreneur, I have seen ups and downs in life and I have come out applying one simple cardinal rule. You create your own future. For those who are in a panic, make yourself stronger by educating, learning, and applying knowledge. When the pandemic is over, this phase when every door was closed should be a phase of learning.
There is no reason to lose hope as it is a global activity, the markets will change and adapt. We are seeing some positive changes with offshoring and outsourcing becomes the new normal.
I would suggest applying to jobs relevant to you and avoid applying to every job, this leads to frustration. Upskill yourself and learn new skills that can be applied in the real world. Ask for referrals from alumni networks - they are usually the best sources.
