The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the professional landscape of the world. Most sectors have scaled down their operations, except for a few that have benefited, such as healthcare. Some businesses are losing out on revenue, while many others are on the brink of closure, barely surviving. However, not all is gloomy. There is a silver lining to this dark cloud of the coronavirus pandemic.
With major cities under lockdowns, as a health and safety precaution, businesses have adapted and adopted a new way of working — work from home or remote working. They have asked their employees to work from home, if possible, during the lockdown period. Some businesses, such as Twitter, have even gone further to provide employees with the option to work from home forever. By allowing employees to work from home, we are slowly looking to return towards normalcy. But, one thing is for sure. The coronavirus has impacted our professional lives, bringing about new changes and trends that are about to stay for a long time. Job boards, too, will need to rethink and rework their strategies such as their website’s job listings following these changes. Let’s first have a detailed look at the impact of coronavirus on the professional world, specifically the recruitment industry.
The employment trends in times of COVID-19
It is undeniable that businesses are facing losses. To counterbalance it, they are laying off employees. Similarly, new job creations have decreased. They have seen an unprecedented decline of 90% due to the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 situation has affected everyone. Whether it is full-time, part-time, or even contract-based employees.
However, certain sectors, such as healthcare, logistics, and FMCG, have seen an increase in demand. This has led to the businesses involved in these sectors to hire new employees to scale their operations to match consumer demand. Similarly, many businesses have shifted their operations and are focusing on manufacturing products that have gained importance in the current market, such as sanitizers, gloves, and masks. Thus, whereas on the one hand, we have seen a rapid decline in job demand in specific sectors, others are seeing a rise in the workforce requirements. There have been salary cuts due to decreased revenues, but it is better than employees being laid off. Additionally, as stated above, many businesses are providing employees with the option of remote working.
Even the hiring process has changed drastically due to the pandemic. The businesses that are looking to hire employees are forgoing traditional practices in the hiring process. Everything in the recruitment process is now done online, including the interviewing process.
Job boards can thus help recruiters find candidates in these difficult situations quickly to help with the smooth running of their operations. They can rethink and rework their strategy to better serve their candidates as well as recruiters. Here’s how.
How job boards can rethink their website’s job listings
Job boards need to rework their job feeds. They further need to make the job finding process more simplified for the candidates in these disastrous times. Similarly, if possible, they can ensure that the candidate selection process, too, can be completed quickly. For this, they will need to integrate additional tools in their current framework to help with shortening the hiring process for employers and candidates alike. Here are three such ways job boards can simplify and cut down the recruitment process in the wake of the coronavirus.
Simplify job listings for candidates
Job boards already do an excellent job of simplifying the job search process for candidates through their structured job listings. They can further refine their website’s job listings to help candidates get hired even more quickly. For that, they can use premium job wrappers to ensure that the latest job postings are instantly visible to candidates on their site. A job wrapper continuously scours the internet, searching for new jobs on various employers’ websites and can help post it automatically and quickly on the job board, with job feed tools. The job listings are posted in a simplified manner as the job wrapper can accurately tag and classify jobs based on the job data. This helps make the job search process even more pleasant for the candidates. It also ensures candidates will have a large number of job options available to them when they login to your website. They can then quickly to a desirable job opportunity.
Additionally, job boards can have dedicated niche sections for remote job listings. Businesses are slowly opening their workplace, but individuals might not be comfortable with travelling and working at a public place. Individuals are preferring for remote work opportunities for at least for the next two-three months. This sentiment is likely to remain even after the pandemic is over. Similarly, most employers, themselves, are looking for individuals who can work from their homes as it can help them save office space costs and also comply with new government regulations. Thus, remote working is being preferred by most employers and candidates. Job boards can have a dedicated remote jobs section for such professionals.
Integrate the candidate selection process within the website
Currently, the job board’s role is mostly limited to help candidates and recruiters find each other through job listings. However, job boards can further help candidates and recruiters with the integration of advanced tools in the hiring process. For example, they can integrate video calling software within their website to enable recruiters to interview candidates. Similarly, they can have an assessment software integrated within their platform to test the skills of the candidates. These tests can help recruiters better judge candidates. Likewise, recruiters can have a document uploading tool for candidates, wherein they can upload their documents such as educational degrees, previous work experience letters, and acknowledgement forms during the onboarding process. Thus, the entire recruitment process can be carried out within the job board framework, significantly simplifying the recruitment process.
Organize virtual job fairs for recruiters and candidates
A virtual career fair (sometimes called an online job fair) is an online “event” (as it takes place at a certain time and is not ongoing) in which employers and job seekers each meet in a virtual environment, using chat rooms, teleconferencing, webcasts, webinars and/or email to exchange information about job openings. While the concept of a virtual job fair is not new, the instances of it being held are likely to increase in the future. As digital interaction between recruiters and candidates becomes more common, it is expected that virtual career fairs will also become more prominent, replacing traditional ones. As a virtual career fair organizer, job boards can help candidates and recruiters meet easily through their portal. Organizing virtual career fairs can also help for marketing purposes as it helps job boards build their reputation and public image.
The coronavirus will leave a permanent impact on our lives, whether personal or professional. When it comes to our professional lives, we might have to live in a world where our current traditional work practices no longer exist. These will be replaced by new normals such as providing employees with the freedom to work from home permanently or even reducing the work-week days.
People are currently apprehensive about remote work as they are more familiar with visiting offices and working there. But, with time, these apprehensions will dissolve, and people will be more confident and comfortable working from home and even switching jobs without visiting their new office space. Job boards, too, will have a dedicated section for remote workers. We can see the emergence of websites dedicated to remote jobs, having their website’s job listings for only remote job employers and seekers. This seems to be a far-fetched idea, but going by the way things are progressing, will remote working become the new norm? Will office spaces reduce drastically or even cease to exist in certain sectors? Only time will tell.
