At the outset of the pandemic businesses entered survival mode in the face of an impending economic crisis and the bleak prospect of the furlough scheme and mass redundancy. The recruitment industry was put on standby. However, with the start of the ‘new normal’ and with people returning to work, recruiting has seen glimpses of a recovery and with-it new challenges have arisen.
Job applications frustration
This new reality has brought with it high levels of unemployment, leaving people that have been in the same job for over 30 years in a sort of limbo as a consequence of being made redundant. On top of this they are faced with jumping through the never-ending hoops of online job applications: endless form filling, trying to find certificates from 20 years ago and collecting seemingly pointless information to submit a single job application. The result of all this hard work? An automated reply that they are not a good fit for the job. This is the frustration that faces thousands of people in the current climate. Now, more than ever, recruiters should be looking at the recruitment process in a different way. Crises lead to creativity and innovation and it is important that in this critical moment, recruiters strike the right balance between technology and a personalised customer journey.
The pandemic has resulted in millions of people furloughed, or worse, and as a result application to vacancies have hit record volumes. Recruitment companies are straining under the sheer weight of applications and in efforts to become more agile they have bet on technology as their most important ally. The seamless way technology contributes by sending automate messages and generic responses is seen as the solution, however, it lacks the personalisation and human element that is essential for good customer service.
The challenge for the recruitment industry
The current situation has brought significant changes to a recruitment consultant’s day to day tasks, as on top of the usual tasks they now have to facilitate virtual interviews with their clients and candidates and support remote onboarding process and the challenges that brings. The high volume of applications is another challenge that recruiters need to address in the best way possible. There have been an increasing number of reports from candidates that have gone through unpleasant experiences when job seeking through recruitment agencies, many of the negatives comments refer to the amount of forms to fill and the lack of personalisation, and this has left many candidates craving the old ways of recruiting, when instead of doing everything online and speaking to robots, they had an actual place to go to for an interview.
Because of this, it is fundamental that recruiters find the right balance between the adoption of digital tools and the personalised experience that they can offer their candidates.
Candidates need to be treated as human beings, not just simply a reference number. Often people are in difficult personal situations when looking for a job and can feel disoriented, especially after being in the same role for decades. This is the reason why small recruitment agencies where the customer is valued are more important than ever.
At Working Solutions, we offer a completely personalised services where we care about the candidate and place people in jobs to stay there. Part of our unique selling point is that we are aware of the human side of business and we take the time to understand the candidates to be able to place them in a job that is right for them. We offer career coaching
with the 5 steps to work, a course that will help you in your job search, CV tailoring, applications, and interview preparation. We aim to communicate with all our candidates, but in these strange times that is not always possible. Although this saddens us, please do not think we are not working hard to find that next vacancy, that may be your dream job. If this whole situation is proving difficult for you, do reach out to us and we are always happy to offer advice, even if we do not currently have to right job for you.
Contact us today and find out how we can help you in your job search - we take the time to understand you and we care.
