Bengaluru, 24th February 2023: The pandemic caused a significant shift in how recruitment was conducted, making it a more diverse and geographically dispersed process. As a result, organizations globally have embraced remote recruitment as a solution to the challenges posed by the pandemic. HirePro, a recruitment automation and assessment solutions provider, has conducted a market study titled, ‘e-Recruitment – The New Normal of Recruitment’, which uncovers that organizations are turning towards e-recruitment, a shift from physical to phygital forms of hiring. The findings from the study suggest there is an increased adoption and shift towards remote recruitment in enterprises across industrial sectors.
The market study has been conducted to explore how remote recruitment has evolved and what the future of this approach will be. The study states that before the pandemic, most recruitment processes were physical, with only 10% being mostly fully remote. And during the pandemic, the recruitment process shifted to remote, with 80-90% of organizations conducting recruitment almost entirely remotely. However, after the pandemic, 85 to 90% of recruitment for junior, middle, and senior-level positions is either partially, mostly, or fully remote. Hence, after the pandemic, even when things returned to normal, organizations did not revert to their pre-pandemic methods of in-person recruitment process.
Commenting on the report, S. Pasupathi, Chief Operating Officer, HirePro said,”In last two and a half years, recruitment, which used to be a homogenous process, became heterogeneous, with the recruiters, hiring managers and candidates spread across geographies. Organizations underwent a paradigm shift and e-Recruitment is transforming the hiring landscape. The survey conducted among large, mid-level, small and start-up companies reveal many benefits that prompted them to adopt remote recruitment.”
He further added,“As companies move towards hybrid mode of working, they’re shifting towards a combination of digital and physical hiring – the phygital hiring, which is the new normal. Phygital hiring, which is a tectonic shift in the recruitment process, is expected to make it frictionless in the heterogeneity that’s prevalent today.”
The major benefits of remote recruitment as perceived by the organizations are cost and time savings, followed by process efficiency, access to a wider talent pool and better candidate screening.
Adopting the right technology is going to be crucial for implementing phygital hiring procedures.While remote recruitment offers cost and time benefits, it also comes with its own challenges, such as the risk of candidate malpractice during assessments and interviews, and the lack of human connection. However, advancements in recruitment automation and allied technologies are helping the industry overcome these challenges.
Key findings of the HirePro e-Recruitment Report
● 70-80% of recruitment before the pandemic was limited to no remote, which meant organizations managed the hiring processes physically. Only about 10% of recruitment was mostly to fully remote before covid-19 struck.
● With the onset of the pandemic, the recruitment process moved remotely with 80-90% of organizations conducting recruitment mostly to fully remote. 100% physical recruitment was nearly absent during this two-year period.
● After the pandemic, when things came back to normal, organizations did not go back to the pre-pandemic ways of physical recruitment. For hiring at junior, middle, and senior levels, 85 to 90% of the recruitment is either partially, mostly, or fully remote. Only in campus hiring, about one-fourth of organizations continue to have limited to no remote processes.
● Cost saving and time saving have been voted the biggest benefits of remote recruitment when it comes to campus hiring.
● For junior-level hiring too, cost and time savings have come up as the major benefits, followed by wider access to the talent pool.
● Cost and time savings were voted as the biggest benefit of remote recruitment for the middle level as well. However, 42% of participants ranked ‘better candidate screening’ at #1 and #2 positions. Process efficiency garnered 33% votes for rank 3.
● For senior-level hiring, remote recruitment offers cost and time savings along with wider access to the talent pool. Organizations were able to tap into the otherwise inaccessible talent pool due to geographic and travel constraints.
● Candidates indulging in malpractices during online assessments and virtual interviews is the major concern for organizations in remote recruitment. This is followed by the lack of human connection which was ranked #1 and #2 by 52% of participants. The adoption and usage of remote recruitment tools by recruiters and hiring managers is the third big concern.
● Organisations do not foresee going back to the old ways of recruitment. 60-70% organizations believe that their recruitment processes will continue to be partially to mostly to fully remote. In campus hiring as well as senior-level hiring, 30-40% employers anticipate limited to no remote recruitment, i.e., the physical form.