We’re a bit tired of online everything….meetings, interviews, conferences. Many people are ready to get back out there, eager to travel, meet face-to-face, enjoy in-person networking sessions. The fact of the matter is that even though the pandemic was (or still is) frustrating, we’ve all discovered new ways to do business, and some of them have been very successful.
When comparing the effectiveness of virtual interviews with in-person, Cynthia Cole, Recruitment Manager for De Lacy Executive Recruitment, commented, “Many employers report that nothing was lost but the handshake.” Participants now expect flexibility. Event planners are exploring hybrid options to incorporate the best of virtual with in-person events in the future.
Virtual recruiting, including career fairs and interviews, were catching on before COVID-19, but now they’ve become the norm. Virtual recruiting is here to stay.
Some online recruitment benefits organizations identified:
• No travel time. This saves time and money for the interviewer or candidate.
• Speed. Moving quicker through the hiring process, ease of scheduling.
• Inclusive. The ability to invite remote coworkers to be involved in the interviewing process is a bonus.
• Touchy subjects. Masks or no masks? Handshakes? The debate on vaccinations. Virtual career fairs and online interviews eliminate the need to even bring up the subject, so no awkwardness.
• Flexibility. Candidates can schedule interviews over a lunch or drop into a virtual career fair between classes or on a break.
• Safety. Eliminate additional exposure to all illnesses during recruitment, not just COVID-19. One of the main methods agricultural employers now use to compete for new talent is a “safe and healthy work environment” as reported in our 2021 Agribusiness HR Review.
• Diversity. Recruiting methods typically focused on your local area, or familiar organizations and college programs. Virtual allows you to extend your reach to different locations, groups of people, even varied majors and educational disciplines.
• Brand expansion. Like diversity, the ability to outreach to distant areas expands an organization’s employment brand and company brand.
• Consistency. Virtual interviews lend themselves to more consistency and can therefore reduce bias.
• Formality. Online recruiting interactions are often more informal, allowing the employer and the candidate a better glimpse at how they function in daily life.
While some businesses have lifted traveling restrictions, many are still in a holding pattern or unsure about what fall recruiting will look like. At our Virtual Ag & Food HR Roundtable in early August, we polled participants about their organization resuming recruitment travel this fall. Nearly 30% said, “Yes, full speed ahead!” It’s imperative to look at the other responses, though, as 70% were still undecided or considering limited travel with restrictions.
Employers need people, and obviously can’t put a halt on all recruitment activities. In the uncertainty, virtual recruitment events are a safety net for this fall and beyond. They’re confirmed to continue despite what happens in our ever-changing world.
AgCareers.com hosted Virtual Career Fairs for years before COVID-19. Recognizing the essential need for staffing the agriculture and food industry during the pandemic, we launched the nationwide Feed Your Future initiative in 2020. This extensive initiative virtually connects agri-food employers with candidates across the country. Feed Your Future includes a series of region-specific virtual career fairs and educational events. The vast majority of participants said the Feed Your Future virtual career fairs were as good or better than in-person events!
Find out more and register for Feed Your Future events.
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