In a post-lockdown world, the right talent will help you thrive. And you're going to need to hire remotely and rapidly, in order for your business to thrive. But it's not easy - here are three big recruitment challenges you'll face and how to address them.

The success of your business comes down to the talent of your teams. As you begin to rebuild for the new world of work, ensuring that talent flourishes – and capability gaps are quickly filled – will be vital. The key to achieving this? Rapid, effective recruitment.  

One thing is clear: however well-developed your recruitment process may have been, the old rules no longer apply. And whether you're looking to hire or onboard new recruits, or develop your own people further, you'll need the right tools.

Interviewing remotely isn’t the only challenge you’ll face. With a candidate pool that is larger than ever, you could find it harder to identify those standout applicants. Exhausted HR teams are unlikely to welcome the idea of “increased” sifting and candidate management so only interviewing candidates with the best traits to quickly deliver results and thrive in your business is a must. 

While physical interactions remain limited, the problem of remote interviewing comes with enormous challenges. The ability to connect with candidates and to interview faiyly via a screen is a skill many of us are still developing. The candidate with the best "broadcast" presence may not be the one whose right for the job - but how can you really know?

And, of course, the remote recruitment process doesn't end with finding the right candidate. When it comes to saving the hassles of a remote Onboarding process, a more experienced candidate may seem like the best choice, but there's an increased wage expense and no guarantee of success.

All in all, the demands of the new world don't seem to be easing as lockdown controls are reduced.

Let’s take a look at the three biggest hurdles you’ll face in the new era of recruitment – and how to overcome them. 

Different ways of working require different skillsets 

Your recruitment strategy may be a well-trodden, perfected process. But coming out of lockdown will bring about new challenges, and new ways of working. This is likely to open up capability gaps in your organisation – and you have to rethink how you identify these gaps, and recruit to fill them. 

To build up a high-performance team remotely, you’ll need to be highly communicative at all times. This is particularly important during the recruitment process which you need to make as quick and painless as possible for the candidate, and with a strong sense of company identity throughout. Setting out a clear time frame for both you and the candidate is vital. It will speed up the process and ensure candidates and hiring managers know where they stand – providing a better experience for all involved.

But first you’ll need to have a clear idea of what you are looking for in a potential recruit. Are you looking for certain personality characteristics? Do you need them to be motivated in certain ways? Will their job require that they have close attention to detail or that they can work well autonomously? By creating a job profile and matching candidates to it using Thomas’ behaviour assessment (PPA), will increase your chances of recruiting the right person first time, saving you both time and money. 

You will also need to consider a candidate’s ability to  work remotely. It is a much-needed skill in this new world of work – as is being emotionally intelligent, highly motivated and an agile thinker who can respond to change rapidly. 

Don’t just limit your recruitment to external candidates though and consider recruiting a little closer to home. Developing skills in your own people could be very effective – you already know how well they fit in, there’s no need for lengthy onboarding processes, and they’re well informed on the job role. Plus, it reduces time and cost significantly. If you’re fortunate enough to be recruiting in this environment, are you ensuring your current people, who have fought through cost-saving exercises, furlough and temporarily taking over other positions that are not naturally their own, are also benefitting from new opportunities?

Read our blog, Succession Planning – how to get it right

For rapid, remote recruiting, you’ll need the right tools 

Without a face-to-face meeting, it can be difficult to know if a candidate is the right fit for your company. In a 2019 study, 70% of recruiters said they relied on body language to assess ability. But when you’re hiring virtually, this is much harder to do. Plus, when relying on instinct, your process is subject to bias rather than being driven by data, fact and insight.

This is where assessments come into their own. Aptitude, behavioural, personality and emotional intelligence assessments all provide clear insights into an interviewee’s behavioural preferences, communication style, mental capacity and emotions. Aptitude and ability assessment tools will give you an indication of how quickly a candidate can hit the ground running – will they be able to pick up processes and the important aspects of the role quickly? By measuring aptitude, you’ll be confident that your candidate will learn rapidly, even when on the job training is harder to deliver remotely. 

Insights from a candidate’s assessments also help to highlight where to dig deeper in the interview and what questions to ask with the help of our Interviewers Guide. For example, if someone is quick paced, do they have the ability to recognise that sometimes they need to slow things down? You might want to ask them “Would you say you are quick in taking action? Do you think that sometimes short cuts should be taken in order to achieve a result?” But without the insights upfront you might not know to dig deeper around those points until they’re already appointed and possible challenges start to arise. 

Evaluating a candidate this way is nothing new. In the same 2019 study, 75% of recruiters used behavioural questions, and 58% used situational questions. But by extending psychometric testing further, you’ll be able to assess candidates quickly, interview top talent sooner and hire smartly, effectively and with confidence.  

Through the use of assessments, you will also be onboarding more effectively, thus saving time, because you’ll know how they prefer to behave and learn and you will have insight into their more challenging traits, enabling you to manage them effectively from the start. You can also use assessments to profile existing employees, to see what their fit is for the roles you’re recruiting for, helping you to identify succession opportunities. 

If you want to know more, take a look at our Predicting Potential whitepaper. 

Making the wrong choice could cost you 

Globally, the average cost per hire is around $4,000 – and the interview process takes around 27.5 days. Even before lockdown, getting it wrong was an expensive mistake. Now, when resources are more precious than ever, it could cost you heavily. 

With a streamlined recruitment process, and the right toolkit, ensuring you have the best candidate in the quickest time is easier. But once they’re hired, you’ll also need to make sure the onboarding process is as smooth as possible.  

A recent survey found that 43% of new employees that quit right after being hired do so because the job role doesn’t meet their expectations. To avoid this at your organisation, you’ll need to spark engagement and productivity early on. So set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed) objectives, make sure new hires have the right technology before starting, and provide regular opportunities to learn and grow. Effective onboarding is imperative to mitigate the risk of new recruits leaving. Thomas’ Onboarding Report, one of the many insightful reports available through our Behavioural assessment (PPA), supports the process by providing information on how to maximise the potential of the individual. By focussing on areas of strength, providing support with possible areas for development and allocating work accordingly, you will help your new starters settle into the role quicker and maximise retention.  

Rebuilding through recruitment: put the theory into practice 

Recruiting for the new world of work is no easy task. To identify the right people for you, you’ll need to consider the skill gaps that need filling, find the ideal person for the role, and perfect the onboarding process remotely.

But with our Personality (HPTI), Behaviour (PPA) and Aptitude (GIA) assessments, spotting and nurturing talent – whether externally, or in your existing team – is a whole lot easier.  

So, what’s next? 

• Identify the talent gaps in your organisation and where development opportunities can be prioritised over recruitment 

• Re-imagine your traditional recruitment processes – get ready for the new world of remote recruitment and onboarding with the help of psychometrics 

• Utilise Thomas aptitude, behaviour and personality assessments to make the right people decisions and to ensure your recruitment process is more efficient whilst mitigating the potential of costly wrong hires 

Do you want more in-depth and tailored guides to using our assessment solutions? Get in touch with us today to help get your recruitment back on track.