While the mass transition to remote work began as an act of necessity, many employers have found that working from home offers tremendous benefits for both the business and staff. Specifically, remote work can positively impact retention rates, individual performance, and organizational profitability.
As a result, remote work is becoming the new normal. Sixteen percent of all companies operate completely remotely. Naturally, increased reliance on remote workers is impacting how companies hire. Businesses across all industries are adopting new screening practices or modifying existing hiring protocols to fill remote and hybrid working vacancies.
With remote work becoming prevalent, eSkill has wanted to ensure that businesses have the tools to hire new staff effectively. In this article, our team has identified the top global hiring trends that will impact talent acquisition in 2022. These digital hiring trends include:
Use of Online Skills Testing
While some organizations have relied on skills testing for decades, most businesses still screen candidates by reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. Many companies have reexamined their screening processes during the transition to remote or hybrid work. This introspection has led to the widespread adoption of online skills testing.
Skills assessments provide businesses with quantifiable data regarding the skills and abilities of prospective employees. Analyzing a candidate’s skills is particularly important when offering remote work, as these individuals must operate independently.
Online skills assessments are an extremely efficient and accurate way to determine whether an applicant has the abilities necessary to be successful in a position. There are hard skills assessments available for hundreds of careers.
In addition, employers can implement more generalized skills tests such as Numerical Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, and Email Etiquette. Cumulatively, these assessments will provide businesses with in-depth information about each candidate so that they can make data-driven hiring decisions.
Virtual Onboarding
The second entry on our breakdown of digital hiring trends recognizes the implementation of virtual onboarding. As the name implies, virtual onboarding involves using virtual communication to familiarize new staff with company rules, regulations, and procedures. Virtual onboarding is extremely efficient and cost-effective.
With the right software in place, every aspect of the onboarding process can be completed digitally. New hires can sign documents electronically, review policies and procedures, and learn to operate collaboration tools without ever setting foot in the office.
Changes to Job Classifications
One of the most significant hiring trends of 2022 is a change in job classifications. At the pandemic’s start, many businesses advertised vacant positions as “temporarily remote.” Using this phrasing implies that employees will eventually be expected to commute to a central location.
For employees seeking remote jobs, seeing the word “temporary” may discourage them from applying. In response, many businesses will reclassify certain positions and job postings. They will likely use new wording, such as “remote-friendly” or “fully remote,” which implies that employees may choose between working remotely and commuting.
Correctly classifying vacant positions will be essential if businesses hope to attract top candidates, whereas failing to do so can make it harder to secure top talent.
Hybrid Work Opportunities
Despite advancements in collaboration technology, some industries will still need their staff to make occasional trips to the office. Many organizations in these industries have adopted a hybrid work structure. Hybrid work still offers many benefits of a fully remote model while simultaneously allowing businesses to have an onsite employee presence.
Hybrid work structures are appealing for professionals who want to carry out many of their responsibilities from home but also want the opportunity to collaborate with their team in person.
Some businesses are even renting multi-use spaces to accommodate employees who do not live near a central office. These spaces are generally equipped with WiFi, coffee machines, and flexible spacing options.
As businesses seek to attract quality talent in this undersaturated market, look for more companies to classify jobs as “hybrid.”
Deployment of Automated Screening Tools
When screening remote workers, businesses collect the relevant employment information online. This digitizing of employee data has opened the door for automated screening tools.
These screening tools allow businesses to automate many redundant hiring processes using AI technology. With this new model, they can identify top candidates more rapidly, make better hiring decisions, decrease turnover, and reduce the cost of hiring.
Automated screening also helps businesses reach diversity and inclusion goals, as it removes bias from the hiring process and replaces it with empirical data about candidates’ hard and soft skills. By making data-driven hiring decisions, more businesses are finding the “diamond in the rough” employees that help boost the bottom line.
eSkill: Helping You Adapt to Global Hiring Trends
Your road to a great year in 2022 begins with hiring the right staff. Request a demo to learn how eSkill can help you take advantage of digital and global hiring trends.