News #HR
27 November 2020
Unsplash © Visuals

Avoid these 5 mistakes in virtual recruiting

With virtual meetups and events on the rise since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, virtual recruitment is also following suit, since more and more people are working from the comfort of their own homes.

Thus, virtual recruitment must reach out to more potential workers by getting companies to the job market. However, with the successes thus far of virtual recruitment comes potential mistakes that any company can make. What are those mistakes? Here are 5 of the most common mistakes that companies can (and will) make in virtual recruitments, and how you can avoid them:

  1. Not prepping your new team

“When it comes to meeting your new team, you can’t start them with tasks right away,” says Lola Rogers, a travel writer at Ukwritings and Ukservicesreviews. “Keep in mind that it takes time for new hires to get used to their new duties in your company. So, when videoconferencing them for the first time, make it well-organised to where you can give them a guided ‘office tour,’ while putting names to faces. You can also pair them up with a mentor who has extensive knowledge of your company’s culture. Plus, be sure to have the new hires stay in touch with them at various times of the day in case they need any guidance and support.”

  1. Not setting realistic expectations

So, now that you’ve hired new team members, you might be overconfident that they know how to do their job on the spot. That’s a big NO-NO.

Never assume that your new hires know what they’re doing. Instead, talk to them what you expect from them, as they do their jobs. You can do this by setting up realistic expectations for new hires. Some workable expectations include:

  • Demonstrate clear communication with each other.
  • Follow all schedules and deadlines.
  • Keep in touch at the end of the day for the first couple of weeks after being hired.

Although repetition to such expectations is key, make sure that they don’t turn into micromanaging tactics.

  1. Not having a plan

Like with anything else in plan, virtual recruitment requires a sum of planning. In fact, nothing will increase your odds for virtual recruiting success more than having a great plan in place. Without a plan, your recruiting process will falter.

So, why IS planning essential? Planning is needed in the following areas:

  • Hosting virtual career fairs
  • Figuring out recruiters’ participation in said career fairs
  • Preparing interview and questions, along with responses to frequently asked questions
  • Following up with candidates after their interviews

As you can see, careful planning must be done in advance, so that you can get more out of every virtual recruiting event you host.

  1. Not having the right tools

“No matter what you do in your business, you must have the right tools,” says Bailey Ingram, a lifestyle blogger at State of writing and Eliteassignmenthelp. “Sometimes, organisations will try to virtually recruit using tools that aren’t designed for the task. You can’t have a cohesive virtual recruiting strategy with tools that don’t mix with the recruiting process. This creates more work for your team, more mistakes, and poor candidate experiences.”

Therefore, you’ll need to adopt a virtual recruiting platform that’s tailored to not only support the recruiting process, but also have built-in features to do the following:

  • Promote events
  • Carry out smooth experiences for your candidates, AND
  • Provide valuable insights for your ROI
  1. Not following up with new hires

So, now that the interviews are over, and you got to see your candidates via Zoom (or any other videoconferencing platform), you must send them a follow-up. Not following up with candidates will cause them to shrug and apply somewhere else.

Follow-ups allow candidates (especially potential talents) to stay engaged with your company, and remain interested in the job that they’ve applied and interviewed for. This allows you to increase your chances at hiring the best talent.

Conclusion

Ultimately, virtual recruitment is here to stay, and must be considered by more companies, especially during these hard times of social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19. If virtual recruiting is done poorly, not only will you scare off potential talent, but that would cost your business time and money.

So, be sure to implement the above strategies, AND avoid the above mistakes, and your company will know how to play the virtual recruitment game better than anyone else!

Kristin Herman is a writer and editor at Big Assignments and Write my essay. She is also a freelance writer for online publications, such as Study demic. As a marketing writer, she blogs about the latest trends in digital marketing.