Trends And Disruptions That Will Shape Up The Hiring Process In 2021

Hiring Trends 2021: The year 2020 has been nothing like anyone ever expected. Across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everyone’s personal and professional lives profoundly. This time of deep disruption has been experienced by everyone, everywhere in the world, in nearly all facets. While the world still waits for a vaccine and health care remains the focus, the business world seems to have picked up momentum after the initial slowdown.

With this growth, the professional world, companies also have to evolve their HR practices to stay relevant. Organizations are now gearing up to embrace the ‘New Normal’. According to a report by Gartner, 88% of business organizations all over the world mandated or encouraged their employees to work from home, and 97% of organizations immediately cancelled all work-related travel. The remote workplace turned out to be a reality almost overnight. This new normal shifted all typical office activities to the virtual medium.

From transforming recruiting procedures to AI-powered hiring, disruptive recruitment trends continue to emerge. So let’s look at the recent trends that will shape up the hiring process in 2021-

Embracing AI technology

Yes, we’re now in an age where AI and machine learning rule. Recruitment staff and HR managers agree that AI technology is never meant to replace HR personnel. It’s designed to majorly improve their roles.

Artificial Intelligence algorithms are transfiguring an extent of HR practices — from recruitment to engagement to people analytics management. AI is helping organizations with the recruitment process is through online application management. Applicant tracking from recruiter databases uses enough keywords and several other data, facts that AI can sort and analyze conveniently. AI helps recruiters sort numerous resumes to expedite the selection process.  Also, AI chatbots main provide real-time interactions with the candidates by asking specific questions. AI-powered chatbots ameliorate the candidate experience to the next level. Augmented analytics also enable employers to gain actionable insights about employees to make more informed HR decisions.

Virtual recruiting is here to stay

With workplaces exceeding to remote settings, hiring is also adopting recent technologies and platforms. Lockdown realities have activated them to create an end-to-end virtual recruiting process for the very first time. And they’re both noting and embracing the cost and time savings that that change has brought with it.

Even though the easing of restrictions has allowed for face-to-face interactions, there is a vast influence on talent acquisition as recruitment, hiring and onboarding are now majorly being done virtually. It is beneficial as it takes a shorter time to hire. It comes with easier scheduling of interviews and reduces instances for phone screenings. Also, it reduces the risk of bias as it is the standardized video interview process. Moreover, it also helps to add the qualitative element to the pre-selection process.

Focusing on cross-functional work strategies

Facing unprecedented uncertainty and volatility, companies will also move away from traditional working styles.  In a quick response to COVID-19, recruiters started looking out for effective collaboration to solve intricate business problems and challenges.

Primarily, in a crisis like this, HR leaders need to bring people together from diverse functional expertise or job to function towards a common goal of business continuity. Therefore, cross-functional work strategies will play a crucial part in brainstorming, ideation, and developing innovative business solutions.

Moreover, by creating cross-functional teams, staff will acquire new skills through knowledge sharing with various functions. Thus, in return, it will promote employee engagement by bringing new behaviours and developing team spirit in them.

Performance and wellness

Today, recruiting teams have been stretched and wrenched and transformed, and that’s likely to continue. From managing hiring slowdowns (or, in some sectors, unprecedented spikes) to coordinating with ever-changing business priorities, the one steady for recruiters will be the need for adaptability. And the same is performance management as it is going to become a real-time, continuous, and integrated process. HR technology will be gradually used to establish a series of expectation-setting and feedback, which in turn will ensure improved monitoring and enhancement of employee performance. The era of Annual Appraisal is nearing its end and organizations are increasingly adopting advanced feedback interventions to make their performance management truly holistic.

Also, employee well-being is now examined as an important part of productivity and performance. The best companies are looking at a much more integrated approach to that component — in terms of physical, emotional and mental health.

rticle is Mr Vikram Wadhawan, Founder & CEO, Vasitum>