By Christa Boffa
The world of work as we know it has changed forever. Both because the COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for digital transformation, but also because the immense advancements we’ve seen in tech in recent years are increasingly making the traditional office-based 9-5 a thing of the past. The future of work is consistently leaning towards hybrid, and what was previously seen as a temporary response to the pandemic, has gradually become the norm.
But it’s not just the way we work that has changed—the way we hire, and recruit is becoming progressively different to what it was a couple of years ago. Virtual recruiting and onboarding are slowly replacing traditional face-to-face hiring practices, even if just partially, as companies look for new ways to find talent, and win them over in this digital age.
And this is great news. The benefits of virtual recruiting and virtual onboarding can be many for those organizations looking to adapt to the changing nature of the hiring market. And, with just 18% of current permanent Dynamics professionals actively looking for a new role, and a further 9% expecting to leave their current role (Nigel Frank’s Careers and Hiring Guide: Microsoft Business Applications Edition 2022), businesses must seek improved ways to not only better job seeker experience and fulfil their expectations, but retain the talent they already have onboard too. Plus, a low attrition rate can be good for attracting fresh talent too – as it indicates you’re willing to keep up with what your current employees want.
Whether you’re looking at revamping your recruiting and onboarding strategy, or simply to integrate a more virtual element to it—getting to know this important tool is essential for those businesses looking to create a future-proof hiring strategy.
In this post, we’ll go through the advantages and disadvantages of virtual recruiting and onboarding, and some of our top tips for how to best use digital solutions to give you a competitive edge when looking for fresh talent.
We’ve heard it over and over again—there’s an immense skills shortage in most industries at the moment. Monster’s The Future of Work 2021: Global Hiring Outlook has in fact shown that 80% of organizations say they’re having trouble filling vacancies due to the ongoing shortage of skills. When we look at the talent shortage within Dynamics ecosystem, the situation isn’t much better. In our Nigel Frank Careers and Hiring Guide: Microsoft Business Applications Edition, almost half (48%) of Microsoft Dynamics users told us that lack of appropriate skills was their biggest hurdle to Microsoft Dynamics implementation.
And, with Microsoft Dynamics expanding at an exponential rate, and the notorious skills gap within its hiring market, it’s essential for employers worldwide to position themselves among the leading businesses to work for as competition for talent becomes increasingly fiercer. Integrating additional ways to find and recruit talent, even if virtually, can give you a competitive edge as an employer, while increasing the odds of reaching your ideal candidate at the same time.
Virtual onboarding and recruitment can potentially help you expand your hiring horizons. And as more businesses adopt virtual and remote practices, the benefits of doing so are becoming increasingly evident. Some of the top benefits of virtual onboarding and recruitment are:
Widespread use has revealed the benefits of virtual recruiting and onboarding, but it has also shown that there are still some points that need improvement. 89% of organizations surveyed in a Monster study said that they’re hiring virtually. However, only 19% of them think that this is better than hiring in person, showing there’s still plenty of room to better improve these processes for both candidates and employers. The following are some of the most cited disadvantages associated with these recruiting and onboarding methods, together with some ways you can mitigate them:
Seeking some best practices to implement or improve your virtual onboarding and recruitment strategy? We’ve compiled some of our top expert tips for an effective virtual hiring strategy that’ll help attract talented professionals to your business.
Anything virtual and tech go hand in hand. It’s essential to make sure you’re equipped with the right technology for virtual recruitment and onboarding. Making the best use of this sort of technology will help your hiring processes flow more smoothly. Especially when working with Microsoft Dynamics, and tech professionals in general, having the right tech and processes in place will help you make a great first (and second, and third) impression. Building automation into some of your processes for instance will help you shorten and optimize certain stages of your process, and help you build a better reputation with candidates as a business too, as it often means avoiding a longer hear-back time. Similarly, certain software or functions can help you improve certain stages of your hiring and onboarding—making them more efficient and engaging, too. Most mainstream software and platforms allow you to integrate videos, surveys, and other interactive learning materials to your recruitment and onboarding, which can help you speed up the process while making it more effective and fun for your candidate or new hire too.
Whether that’s an interview follow-up or instructions for their first day—nobody likes to be ghosted during any parts of the hiring process. And, especially with studies showing that 28% of employees quit in their first 90 days, employees need to make sure they’re getting their onboarding process up to scratch.
Both recruiting and onboarding are a process, rather than a one-time event—and simply having one or two phone calls or video sessions during the process does not cut it. A communication process, that covers every base will ensure you’re effectively maintaining sufficient contact with your candidates or new hires. And don’t assume or take anything for granted. Especially at the start, new employees might not be as comfortable taking initiative themselves. So, for instance, try to set up intro calls for them with their teams and any key stakeholders in the business, and don’t forget to check in with your new joiners to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
Virtual hiring can help you expand your diversity, equality, and inclusion efforts while helping you reach any goals in this area too. Offering hybrid and remote work options isn’t just something Dynamics professionals are looking for, but it’s also something that can help you attract more diverse talent too. 32% of respondents in our Careers and Hiring Guide: Microsoft Business Applications Edition 2022 told us they’d be enticed to accept or consider a new role if it offered home working but it’s also something that can help you attract more diverse talent too.
By prioritizing your ED&I strategy by implementing diversity and inclusion efforts such as virtual hiring, you’ll gain access to a wider talent pool. Especially considering Dynamics professionals are becoming increasingly difficult to find, and the ever-growing Dynamics skills gap, as a business, you need to ensure you’re reaching a wider range of talent to ultimately find the best person for the job. How you attract and retain diverse talent can take various shapes and forms and starts from the way you write your job ad to having diversity training, creating more inclusive workplace policies, and much more.
As with many other things in the tech industry, it’s hard to predict what the future looks like for virtual hiring methods. However, in an increasingly hybrid and remote world, virtual hiring might be something that fits in naturally in the way most businesses are now working, which means that it is something that’s likelier to stay in the future in one way or another.
It might be difficult to get your head around virtual recruitment and onboarding, especially if you’ve just started considering or implementing such processes. However, especially for those in the tech industry, staying on top of the latest trends and keeping up with the times will make you stand out as a potential hirer, and help you equip yourself for the future of work, too.
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