As 2020 shook up workplaces everywhere by driving the adoption of remote working on a mass scale, employers quickly realised that new ways of working and hiring employees are here to stay in 2021, and possibly beyond.
With permanent remote work expected to double to 34.4% of companies’ workforces in 2021, and face-to-face interviews having morphed to Zoom interviews, it’s clear that the workplace is evolving wherein remote is the “new normal” in all aspects of employment, starting with the hiring process.
Here are three reasons why 2021 is the year for companies to let go of outdated modes of hiring and get on board with new enterprise-grade, technology-driven hiring tools.
Soft skills are more important than ever
Soft skills include attributes such as leadership, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and work ethic. While they aren’t as cut and dry as quantifiable hard skills, they are an important part of the hiring process that cannot be overstated. Unlike hard skills, which can be part of training within a person’s working position, soft skills can’t be taught in a short space of time.
Nevertheless, soft skills are increasingly important to companies that are seeking to make long term hires that are a good fit into company culture. This is because they help round out hard skills and provide a holistic view of the candidate, showing additional ways in which they can make a valuable contribution to the company.
In the past, employers have relied on psychometric testing to review a candidate’s soft skills, but this means that the employer had to invest lots of time and budget to deploy the tests in person. PitchMe’s cutting edge HR technology SmartMe™, provides a view into a candidate’s soft skills through an online profile developed from the candidate’s self-provided digital credentials.
CVs are an outdated hiring tool — ditch them for a digital solution
Using CVs alone means you miss out on the best candidates. This is because CVs don’t speak the language of the 21st century. They don’t convey the full spectrum of skills and attributes a candidate has to offer. Moreover, they lend themselves easily to bias.
Instead of relying on CVs in 2021, employers can shift to digital hiring software that provides a more intelligent profile of each candidate.
Drive diversity & inclusion using digital hiring tools
Unconscious bias in the workplace has been a hot topic in 2020 and beyond. Even with best efforts, hiring applications and CVs can drive unfair hiring practices inadvertently due to their ability to unduly influence the human beings reading them.
The good news is that hiring platforms which anonymise candidates strip away any characteristics that would identify a candidate’s race, ethnicity, gender, or national origin — helping drive increasingly fair hiring practices.
Given the importance of diversity and inclusion in today’s hiring practices, this is an area that is too important to leave to chance or human error. By employing the right technology, you can both eliminate the chance of your company inadvertently falling into the trap of unconscious bias, as well as ensuring you hire the best candidates for the role.
The workforce is shaping up to look very different in 2021 than we knew it before. As an employer, you always want to make sure you’re finding and hiring the best possible candidates for your organisation.
So why rely on outdated HR practices? By employing smart, functional, HR technology powered by machine learning, you’ll get an edge on the competition by making the right hiring decisions every time.