Recruitment and onboarding outside a geographical area, lack of office space or transport saturation, reduce fixed costs… These are all reasons why companies are now considering the widespread use of remote positions.
However, is it possible to recruit a person 100% online? Let’s analyse the opportunities and limitations of such a process.
Online recruitment
Much of the recruiter’s activity is already done online! From posting the advert to processing applications, recruiters already use several digital levers. For exemple : social networks, job boards, job boards, content aggregators, digital application management solutions, etc.
Interviews are also going digital to meet current health requirements. Online interviews offer new perspectives to the company that they were not always aware of until now.
There are two ways of conducting remote interviews today.
Off-line interviews
- For what type of profile? For positions where you need to recruit more of a personality than a CV and/or profiles that will be interacting with the client, such as sales positions for example.
- What does it involve? The recruiter sends a link by email to the candidates to connect to a web platform where they will have to follow a very supervised process. Candidates will have a limited amount of time to prepare, read the questions and answer them. The candidates then record their answers to the questions directly on the platform according to this time limit. The recruiter can then select a short list on the basis of these videos and propose a more detailed live interview by video conference.
- What is the advantage of this type of interview? When you receive a large number of applications, it allows you to make a selection beyond the CV. Also it allows you to test the candidates’ personality through a video.
Our recruitment software Jobaffinity offers an integrated deferred interview solution with our partner Visio talent.
Live interviews
- For what type of profile? This type of interview is best suited to jobs for which you receive fewer applications, or even for profiles that are difficult to fill (architects, developers, etc.)
- How to proceed? Depending on whether your company uses a Google or Microsoft environment, you will use the appropriate video-conferencing tool.
- What are the advantages of this type of interview? The advantages of video-conference interviews do not vary much from the classic interview. The vocabulary, the way of speaking and moving remain the same for the candidate. You will be able to determine the candidate through both verbal and non-verbal communication. Sometimes, certain profiles are more at ease in front of the camera, such as developers for example. Generally speaking, recruitment, whether face-to-face or by video conference, allows you to envisage a collaboration. But it is the trial period that will confirm or not this possibility. Its role does not change!
Also, E-recruitment allows companies to open up to new collaboration perspectives, such as working online.
Indeed, companies are recruiting online today because they are forced to do so.
But they are pleasantly surprised because they are finding little wastage compared to their usual process. This leads them to believe that if online recruitment works then teleworking can work too. This is an important advantage for companies who can now recruit profiles from all over France. The SAAS tools allow many business functions to work from anywhere as they no longer need to be connected to a server.
Remote employee onboarding
Recruitment does not end with the candidate’s response. Indeed, the arrival of an employee in the workforce triggers a succession of micro-tasks to be carried out by different members of the workforce:
- compile the employee’s HR file,
- collect the employee’s postal and bank details and proof of identity,
- announcing his arrival to the rest of the team,
- prepare their contract,
- set up their identifiers for remote tools,
- modify the payroll,
- organise an internal training programme,
- appoint a sponsor,
- etc.
The performance of these tasks should not be underestimated. As David Swanson said, “you never get a second chance to make a good first impression”. And this is true whether the employee is face-to-face or telecommuting.
Onboarding is the first real contact between a new employee and the company’s organisation. It should therefore be an integral part of the employer branding strategy and help to confirm the new recruit’s choice.
The first few days in a company can indeed destabilise an employee: new job, new colleagues, new missions… There is nothing worse than arriving for your first day and realising that nothing is ready. And worst, no one has been informed of your arrival.
The challenge for the company is to clear up any areas of uncertainty so that the newcomer can integrate as quickly as possible. Beyond the purely administrative aspect, onboarding must above all clarify the employee’s role in the company. As well as his or her tasks so that he or she can quickly become autonomous. This is all the more important for short contracts (freelancers, temporary workers, fixed-term contracts, etc.).
Many companies are now equipped with various HR software packages.
Some of which allow them to manage onboarding or the employee’s file. The idea is to formalise this process and automatically assign tasks and deadlines to specific people. The tool is entirely accessible online via a simple Internet connection. This makes it possible to standardise procedures by using the same tool to manage the arrival of both a face-to-face employee and a teleworking employee.
To be noted:
The social link with the rest of the teams and the appropriation of the company culture is a real challenge in the context of remote onboarding. Actually, it’s recommended that a very detailed onboarding programme be drawn up for the employee. As well as frequent video conference meetings with the local manager.
