Virtual recruiting, or the technology-enabled employment of individuals from a distance, it’s something we all have heard in recent business world. Technical development has frog-leapt across the decades and provided advancements that have led to the exponential growth of virtual recruiting.   The complete recruitment cycle may now be managed online by recruiters using various tools and software. These virtual hiring solutions are incredibly powerful and can handle every step of the hiring process.   With the help of these tools, recruiters can find top talent, screen resumes, connect with qualified applicants, conduct interviews, provide orientation, and take candidates on virtual tours, all without having to meet them in person.   In our Recruitment Company, Kolkata although one of the hiring practices is virtual recruiting. But we also arrange most recruitments that were previously conducted using physical methods like job exhibitions, walk-ins or tentatively scheduled interviews, etc with the following recruiting companies.   But as the pandemic spread and distant operations became necessary, businesses and organizations were obliged to look for qualified personnel online. Hence, AI is doing quite a job recruiting candidates in today's company culture. That is why it has become more important to learn about this topic carefully. In this article, we are elaborating a complete guide regarding the virtual recruiting process, from its definition to its limitations. So here we go!

What is virtual recruiting?

Virtual recruiting is hiring applicants through technology without having the recruiter and the candidate meet in person. These technological solutions can include video interviewing software, online job fairs and open homes, chatbots for recruiting and messaging services. All of these tools support various phases of the hiring process and are made to enhance the candidate experience and support a fruitful and successful hiring procedure. Employers must design the ideal virtual recruiting approach to meet their organization's needs. During the pandemic year, the virtual recruiting process was in the spotlight because it was time for "No-Contact" due to COVID at the time, which forced businesses to adjust to it. Employers could reduce the health risks for their applicants by employing virtual recruiting to hire all of their candidates or postponing face-to-face interviews until the very end of the process.

Strategies to Follow in Virtual Recruitment

The entire recruitment process is optimized, and the hiring cycle can be cut in half by having recruiters thoroughly understand the hiring needs before developing virtual recruitment techniques. For talent acquisition experts and HR directors, the following steps are crucial in creating the best virtual recruitment strategy:

Understanding the primary hiring goals

Knowing the main objectives and the conditions for achieving them is the first step in developing any strategy. Recruiters must define the major objectives when developing a virtual recruitment strategy and consider the number of candidates needed for each post, the length of the selection process, the desired level of diversity, and other factors.

Select the right technology to augment the hiring process.

The next stage is to find the best software and technology to carry out the strategy. Numerous categories can be used to classify these tools, such as social networks and management platforms, chatbots, text and email, job fairs, virtual interviewing tools, referral systems, and programmatic advertising.

Finalize the tool & vendor. 

Then, after doing some research, choose the best vendor out of all those on the market. Plan a budget for the endeavour and use well-defined criteria to identify candidates who best fit your business.

Put the virtual hiring team together.

Selecting the recruiting team members is necessary after the tools and vendors are decided. There are various needs for every instrument. Each team and event should be customized to address these objectives and get the best results.

Virtual Recruiting Events

Under this section we are including four types of events that mainly happens in virtual recruiting, here these are:

1.    Educational Events

These events primarily aim to increase brand awareness among job seekers. They hope to earn your trust through resume review sessions, interview advice, tools, and resources to help job seekers improve their chances.

2.    Informational Events

Before job seekers even start looking for job applications there, these events introduce the brand, corporate culture, and values to them. These occasions could include virtual meetups with firm founders or senior executives, tours of the business, client testimonials, etc. 

3.    Pre-screening Events

Using evaluation tools, pre-screening events like career fairs assist recruiters in selecting qualified prospects from a pool of applicants. These occasions are beneficial for jobs with a high number of hiring.

4.    Hiring Interviews

Following pre-screening, recruiters may decide to conduct virtual interviews with those who passed muster, choose the best candidates, and immediately extend job offers to those individuals.

The advantages of virtual recruiting

Virtual recruitment tactics are becoming more popular, especially when social distancing measures are in effect. Face-to-face interviews should still be appreciated for the genuine human connections they enable. Let's investigate the benefits of virtual recruiting now. Here we include 4 major benefits or advantages of virtual recruiting processes.

Can do recruitment even in difficult situations

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for remote hiring techniques, as we have already hinted. Due to the epidemic, several teams have been compelled to operate remotely. You can still hire new employees if you have a virtual hiring procedure. You can keep moving candidates through your hiring process throughout the day as you and the applicants have an uninterrupted connection to the internet.

Time-saving and respecting deadlines

Virtual recruiting makes it possible to screen more applicants in less time when using one-way video conversations and online tests. However, even conventional video chats can be scheduled more flexibly to fit your busy schedule. As a result, this is how you can work more effectively while saving more time.

Lowering costs of interviews and recruitment

You can automate many manual processes with a well-designed virtual hiring process. Streamlining and optimizing the procedure ensures that your resources are utilized wisely to locate and hire the most qualified candidates. Over time, your business will spend less on interview costs, particularly for candidates who travel from out of town.

Lessen bias, with more opportunities.

Your virtual recruitment activities can be streamlined to ensure a consistent strategy. This is crucial for giving each applicant equal opportunity and minimizing prevalent hiring prejudices. You'll be aware of some deserving applicants who could not have escaped detection.

Limitations of Virtual Recruiting

Although virtual recruiting has many advantages, it also has some drawbacks. These drawbacks are more like obstacles that can be overcome with the right planning and strategy.

• Introducing the candidate to the corporate culture through a virtual recruiting procedure might not be suitable. The candidate might develop a skewed perception of the company and discover that the working environment doesn't meet their expectations.
• If the virtual interviewing procedure and method gives a one-way channel or disconnected scope of things, the applicant's experience may be limited.

In Short:

By advancing hiring benchmarks and best practices, virtual recruiting can fundamentally alter how employers and potential candidates view the hiring process. With cutting-edge technical resources, recruiters find more time to shortlist superior applicants who are fit for the job, connect with them, and build a connection even before the candidate begins working for the organization. Embracing the virtual shift has become even more important for recruiters to be relevant and appealing to potential customers as the future of work looks towards more hybrid work models, distributed teams, and remote workers. After earning its position in talent acquisition methods, virtual hiring will continue to be used alongside traditional in-person hiring procedures. If you read the article till then end then you might have understood different aspects of virtual recruiting. Manpower Consultancy in Kolkata follows the best ethical and procedure for thier clients. Hence we hope you had a good read, at last.

FAQs

How do I become a successful virtual recruiter?

• Build connections

According to statistics, recruiters must reject more applicants than they hire. Good people handle rejection graciously by turning it into connections. It should be expected to send a post-interview rejection letter. However, good recruiters stand out even when rejecting candidates because they send personalized emails and develop genuine relationships. A competent recruiter takes minor, flattering facts from their conversation with the following interactions to personally analyze their communications skills. They even highlight candidates that can be helpful for them and might even get recommended further positions they would be qualified for.  

•  Plan ahead

The best recruiters don't wait for a job posting announcement to start looking for applicants. They have begun creating pipelines and maintaining contact with prior applicants. They build a strong network and engage inactive applicants. They know where to find experienced applicants and how to find new talent in the most unlikely settings. They don't hesitate to investigate and take advantage of social media recruiting. When they observe a department expanding, they work with managers to project their hiring requirements.  

• Be helpful with recruiting managers.

Conflicts of interest between hiring managers and recruiters must occasionally be navigated. A competent recruiter must devise strategies to deal with these discrepancies and strike a balance between hiring managers' requirements. Everyone discusses the hiring process. However, hiring manager experience is also crucial. Remember that hiring supervisors might not have the time or expertise to comprehend the hiring process fully. Good recruiters use their knowledge to draw attention to issues that may be difficult for hiring managers to identify, such as oblique indications that a candidate could be a potential toxic coworker for the company and hence can also undermine their team.  

• Be open-minded

Effective recruiters know the dangers of judging a candidate or a book by its cover. A marketing manager can write a strong resume, and a salesperson knows how to present themselves. But does that necessarily imply that they do a good job? Or should a recruiter turn away a developer with a poorly formatted resume? Recruiters should look beyond the surface to find evidence that candidates' qualifications meet the position's requirements. The use of operational and behavioural interview questions can aid in the selection of qualified applicants. To evaluate how their candidates handle job responsibilities, recruiters may ask for specific information or assign projects.  

What is the process of virtual recruitment?

What is virtual employment? Any phase of the employment process conducted virtually, in place of in-person meetings between candidates and recruiters or hiring managers, is called virtual hiring. A virtual hiring procedure that works well offers a wide range of advantages.   Virtual recruiting is a comprehensive method that calls for the usage of numerous various kinds of software programmes. Generally speaking, your plan must be integrated with common HR systems such as ATS, HCM, employee onboarding software, payroll administration software, and more.  

How will virtual recruiting supercharge hiring outcomes?

The percentage in question can only increase as you add additional employees. A virtual hiring process can help you speed up the reviewing and onboarding of applications while making it simple for job prospects to submit their applications online.