The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the business and labor market at an unprecedented level. According to the International Labour Organization, about 114 million people have lost their jobs since the pandemic started in 2020. This number was equivalent to $3.7 trillion lost labor income, four times higher than the 2009 financial crisis.
Fortunately, toward the end of 2020, the labor market experienced significant improvements as many adjusted to working from home, and some began returning to their actual workplaces. Now that vaccinations are ongoing in different parts of the world, economies are gradually reopening.
Companies have started rehiring to restore their operational levels pre-pandemic. The scale of staffing, recruitment, and hiring that companies have begun to do has given rise to a concept that industry experts call “The Great Rehire of 2021.”
What Is The Great Rehire, and Is Your Business Ready For This?
Industry observers expect that 2021 will be the year of Great Rehire, where an unprecedented hiring boom takes place. The desire for companies to quickly get back on track would prompt them to ramp up their hiring initiatives.
While researchers do not expect the global working hours to return to pre-Covid levels, some industry leaders believe that more people will re-enter the workforce in 2021 than in any year in history. And with this dramatic upturn lies the many challenges for stakeholders, starting with talent recruitment.
Businesses must adjust hiring practices to cope with the changes in the talent acquisition practices and survive the talent acquisition war. To know whether your business is ready for this new landscape, ask yourself these:
- Are you prepared and equipped to launch large-scale hiring initiatives?
- Are you ready to go head-to-head with global companies to find candidates that will be instrumental in boosting your post-pandemic growth efforts?
If you find those questions unsettling, there is a solution: recruitment process outsourcing.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing Advantages: 7 Ways RPO Solutions Can Address Hiring Woes Amid the Great Rehire of 2021
Here are some of the recruitment process outsourcing benefits that talent leaders should take advantage of to overcome the challenges of the Great Rehire 2021:
#1 – RPO Service Providers Can Give You Access to Recruiters With Expanded Skill Sets
During the early rampage of COVID-19, many businesses went non-operational. A lot also went into survival mode and were forced to downsize their workforce. As a result, many may not be prepared and equipped to cope with the fierce talent acquisition competition as the business world emerges from the pandemic.
Forward-thinking recruitment process outsourcing firms, on the other hand, have anticipated that the challenges brought by the COVID-19 will bring significant changes to the industry. According to Johnny Campbell, CEO of a learning platform for recruiters:
“We saw recruiters massively increase their appetite for learning as soon as COVID-19 hit last March, more than doubling their normal learning consumption in the following months.”
Recruiters took the time to develop themselves and learn new skills that prove beneficial to their client’s cause. Here are some of the skill sets that you can take advantage of when partnering with a recruitment process outsourcing company:
- Adaptability to virtual recruiting technologies
- Ability to effectively conduct virtual interviews, training, onboarding, etc.
- Enhancing productivity while working remotely
- Ability to attract remote candidates
- Knowledge in data-driven analysis and new industry KPIs and metrics
- Maximizing internal talent pools and employing effective internal hiring strategies
- Enhancing employer branding
#2 – Recruitment Process Outsourcing Can Equip Your Business With Powerful Reporting Tools and Insights
Two of the biggest challenges that recruiters will face with the Great Rehire are (1) the expected surge in applications across all platforms and (2) the fierce talent acquisition competition among employers. For these reasons, the enormous benefit of intelligent technology cannot be overstated. Some of the helpful recruitment tools are:
- Applicant Tracking Systems
With the sheer volume of applications that hiring managers will receive, storing and keeping track of the resumes will definitely be a challenge. ATS makes it significantly easier for recruiters to keep resumes organized. Some Applicant Tracking Systems also come with a built-in ranking system that automatically compares the resume and the job description, therefore speeding up the filtering and overall recruitment process.
- Human Capital Management
Using HCMS helps optimize various stages of the employee’s life cycle. From talent attraction and onboarding to training and performance appraisal, HCMS makes it easier for the talent acquisition and HR teams to manage the profile and track the candidates’ progress. It also facilitates a seamless experience for the candidate.
- Candidate Relationship Management
Fostering relationships with candidates is essential to attract quality hires. Integrating a robust CRM into your recruitment process will not only help you fill jobs quickly but will also help increase candidate engagement. CRM works by building relationships with current and future candidates by reaching them through automated email marketing, job posting alerts, and more.
- Talent Intelligence System
Talent Intelligence Systems are AI-based platforms that are trained to analyze your centralized talent database. They are commonly used by large, global businesses to illuminate insights, recognize patterns, and generate reports faster. Having insights into the level of competency of your current workforce and talent pools allows you to make better hiring decisions. It also saves you precious time by shortlisting candidates that meet your objective criteria.
Investing in advanced recruitment tools may not be a practical strategy for businesses that only hire seasonally. The most cost-efficient approach is to tap the expertise of an RPO service provider that integrates access to such tools into their recruitment process outsourcing packages.
#3 – RPO Solutions Providers Facilitate Seamless Recruitment Even With Geographical Constraints
Given the scale of hiring that companies worldwide are doing, closing the talent gap will be a challenge if your recruitment is limited to the country you are based in. Additionally, if you are recruiting candidates offshore, you must also be open to embracing fully remote or hybrid work arrangements.
A January survey found that 44% of employees in the US prefer to continue working from home even after the pandemic, whereas only 39% would like to return to their offices. At the same time, 17% prefer to still work remotely because of the coronavirus.
Many employees have seen the benefits of remote and work-from-home setups and expect that such arrangements will be part of the norm. Some have even relocated since the pandemic. Employing a fully remote or hybrid work model can be one of your company’s major selling points in attracting quality candidates.
But how do you overcome geographic barriers without spending a fortune? By leveraging the recruitment process outsourcing company’s access to global talent pools, you can attract top talents from different parts of the world. The key is to choose a partner capable of streamlining offshore recruitment and understands the preferences of remote candidates.
#4 – Recruitment Process Outsourcing Firms Know How to Maximize a Fully Remote Hiring Process
As previously mentioned, a good number of employees prefer to continue to work from home. For recruiters and HR managers, this implies that most, if not all, of the entire hiring process is expected to be done virtually as well.
In fact, some industry professionals see that this setup will be part of the new recruitment norm even for companies that are resuming office-based operations. Employers have seen the time-saving and competitive advantage of online recruitment and hiring—in addition to the critical layer of safety it offers against the COVID-19 virus.
This is not to say that remote hiring does not bring challenges of its own. Apart from sorting, shortlisting, and scheduling screening, a high volume of candidates, HR managers, and internal recruitment teams have to deal with time zone differences. Technical difficulties can also get in the way.
To ensure your success in your remote hiring, you need a recruitment process outsourcing provider that specializes in end-to-end RPO solutions, from sourcing to onboarding and management. Working with an RPO service firm that ensures all stages of the employees’ life cycle are covered will free you and your internal HR team a significant amount of time, effort, and money in finding and retaining qualified employees.
#5 – Recruitment Process Outsourcing Companies Can Reduce Time-to-Hire by Leveraging Video Introduction Assessment
With the scale of hiring needed for companies to regain workforce and function pre-covid level, businesses must recognize that every second counts. One must leverage all available technologies and platforms to make the hiring process faster and less burdensome to both recruiter and applicant. One way to achieve this is to incorporate video introduction in the hiring process.
Traditionally, hiring managers and recruitment process outsourcing professionals rely on a “resume-first approach.” But with the pandemic making remote and digital workplaces a norm, many candidates have gained vital new skills that can’t be translated or best showcased into a resume. This method does both the applicant and the employer a disservice.
Through a short video introduction, candidates can better present themselves and the transferable skills they have to offer to the employers. An introduction video is something that everyone can easily do using their smartphones or other devices. On the part of the employer or recruitment process outsourcing company, they can save a significant amount of time since watching the video can take just about 30 seconds.
The assessment process, however, can be tricky. It takes a trained and intuitive recruiter to see beyond the limited non-verbal cues captured by the technology, which a face-to-face introduction offers. That is why it is crucial to work with an RPO solutions provider that invests time and effort learning to conduct remote assessments effectively.
#6 – RPO Service Professionals Can Enhance Your Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Strategies
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation boom. This trend makes geographical differences more and more irrelevant in the workplace. Building a diverse, equal, and inclusive workforce is key to attracting and retaining top talents.
DE&I Strategies go beyond setting up inspiring or thought-provoking quotes as office wall decors. Now more than ever, employees are expecting employers to walk the talk. A survey found that 70% percent of job seekers prefer to work for a company that displays their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The best way to enhance DE&I strategies is by ensuring that your hiring strategies are aligned with your DE&I goals. By bringing in diverse talents, along with their unique perspective and experiences, you can shape a more authentically diverse and inclusive workplace.
Recruitment process outsourcing providers know very well how and where to source diverse candidates. Companies offering RPO solutions, particularly those with long-established offshore operations, have access to a larger pool of talents. They are equipped with the skills needed to engage candidates from diverse backgrounds.
#7 – Recruitment Process Outsourcing Helps You Minimize Hiring Expenses
With the pandemic’s financial impacts on virtually all industries, it is vital to conduct recruitment the most optimally and efficiently possible. Outsourcing this function to a reliable RPO service provider will save you much-needed time and resources.
By utilizing proven recruitment methods and trends and adjusting them to your organization’s needs, recruitment process outsourcing companies can reduce your cost per hire and minimize or even eliminate fixed recruitment costs.
By leveraging on these capabilities of your recruitment process outsourcing partner, you can allocate more resources to other areas of your business, thereby expediting your way to recovery and growth.
Overcome the Challenges of the Great Rehire With SuperStaff’s Recruitment Process Outsourcing Solutions
SuperStaff is more than just a recruitment firm; we serve as the extension of your internal HR and talent acquisition team. We understand and have prepared for the challenges that many human resources leaders face since the start of the pandemic.
Equipped with the workforce, technology, and processes required to boost your talent acquisition strategies, our RPO solutions team can bring you closer to your post-pandemic goals. Reach out to us today to schedule a consultation. We are looking forward to being your partner for growth in 2021 and beyond.
