Pandemic taught us a lot of things, albeit in a tough way but it was worth learning, the past year has been the year of change, and the change is here to stay and hopefully will continue in the years to come as well. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to fore a series of transitions on the personal and professional front for all. Navigating their way through the challenges, organizations have mostly reacted to them with a resilient attitude.

Amongst many new terms that we came across “Virtual Hiring” was one thing that we could quite frequently hear of. Ages ago (or in the pre-pandemic time), the term ‘interview’ was synonymous with a nightmare for most people. It used to be a common sight of an interviewee walking into the interviewer’s room with a rushing pulse, jelly legs, tensed temples, and profuse perspiration – so much so that their faces used to convey all about that anxiety and nervousness.

Companies are re-evaluating their talent acquisition and recruiting strategies. Many have begun to adopt newer and more engaging ways of recruiting and on-boarding virtually to navigate fast-changing trends. Digital hiring technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation are moving to the forefront. Online screening of a person’s candidature with digital tools has become easier for hiring companies. Also, using virtual recruiting tools such as recruiting chatbots, virtual hiring events, text recruiting, video interviewing, and professional networking platforms among others, have helped organizations reduce hiring costs, speed up time to hire, enhance candidate experience, and have opened up the potential of variance in each of the recruiting steps.

This changing scenario of recruitment and selection is a great relief for the interviewees for more than one reason. They no longer need to take full-day leaves from their offices to commute to far-off places, compete in their minds with other candidates while evaluating the crowd in the waiting room, or stress about meeting an acquaintance. This has even limited the recruiting timeline for organizations, as successive rounds of interviews can be scheduled at the earliest. With many interviews being conducted online now, most such first-world-seeming issues are to be resolved.

On the other hand, a company needs to worry about shortlisting the right people, making sure they do not hire people with dubious backgrounds, providing a good recruitment experience to all applicants without increasing the cost. Hence, Start-ups in the recruitment industry are helping both companies and candidates have a more comfortable and seamless recruitment experience by attacking various aspects of the overall problem. Here are some of the most notable recruitment techniques adopted by start-ups in India.

SCREENING THROUGH BOTS – IMPRESS.AI
There’s a prevalent fear that automation of any kind will eventually take away jobs from humans. After understanding impress.ai and its offerings, it is evident that if anything, automation will allow humans to perform their jobs better. Based out of Singapore, Impress.ai describes itself as an ‘AI powered recruiting solution’. When recruiters spend up to 20% of the recruitment cycle just sifting through information, arbitrary filters creep in to help them speed up their work – for instance, a particular CGPA level, a specific set of schools etc. impress.ai aims to automate as much of the data stage as possible so that candidates have a fair, skill-based chance at getting the job.

ON-DEMAND INTERVIEWS – MONJIN
Monjin is a video interview platform that offers a number of interview models that helps candidates, interviewers and recruiting companies. Candidates signing up on the platform can opt for a one-way interview based on their skills. This interview is then analysed by industry experts who sign up with Monjin as interviewers. The candidates then receive a detailed analysis of their technical skills, as well as other aspects of an interview such their body language and soft skills.

BLUE-COLLAR LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT – BETTERPLACE
Betterplace acts as a lifecycle management platform for blue-collar employees. Today, someone employed for a white-collar role doesn’t have to consider the possibility of a credit score, background verification, medical insurance and reimbursements, other forms of insurance, loan approvals etc. However, these things, taken for granted by the white collar segment, are often not available for blue-collar employees. For instance, how do you generate the credit score for someone who has been paid in cash their entire career? This is where Betterplace steps in. Right from the moment of planning job requirements, Betterplace assists companies find the right people for the right roles. They have on ground contractors and infrastructure in multiple cities to find people who are seeking jobs.

The pandemic has changed the traditional priorities of people and companies. It has led to wider adoption of digital and the formation of new ways of creating human relationships. It has changed the outlook of hiring, ranging from talent relationship management, and virtual assessment of personality, remote working, candidate’s experience, AI, technology, and much more. The processes are as new to organizations as they are to the people working or seeking jobs and it is evident that it’s the combination of new strategies and resilience that will mark the success of companies.