‘Recruitment in the New Normal: Disruption or Myth?’

New Delhi, March 4, 2021: As the economy gradually unlocks and businesses go back to a semblance to a pre-pandemic normal, there is a growing discussion within the recruitment landscape about the continued relevance of new-age recruitment tools adopted during the lockdown. Taking this discussion ahead with stimulating perspectives was the latest edition of RaaS Talks hosted by Shine.com and Talocity, a leading AI based SaaS platform that enables touchless hiring, various assessments, and point solutions in HR. Conducted on February 24, 2021, the webinar was attended by around 100 participants and brought together senior business and HR leaders to share their views and vision of the future of recruitment in a post-pandemic world.

With prominent industry figures of the likes of MohitThukral (Founder & Managing Partner-Vivtera), Hazel Joyce Camacho (Vice President TA – Inspiro), Akhilesh Nair (Senior Vice President HR – Genpact), SumathiSampath (Head TA – Infosys BPM), YogeshRustagi (Senior Director TA – Concentrix), Satish Rajarathnam (Senior Vice President HR – Mphasis), Zairus Master (CEO – Shine.com) & Ketan Dewan (Co-founder & CEO-Talocity) in attendance, the virtual event sparked insightful discussions around whether recruitment in the new normal is a disruption or a myth? Organised in a free-flowing format of a public debate, the conversation ranged from topics as diverse as remote hiring’s relevance in post-pandemic times to whether the TA function should be assessed as a cost centre or a profit centre. However, while most topics had the panelists taking strong ‘for’ or ‘against’ positions, they all agreed that remote hiring will continue to assume greater importance in the coming years.

Speaking about the event, KetanDewan, Founder & CEO – Talocity TOUCHLESS HiRing, said, “A jobseeker with skill, talent, and experience has several job opportunities available with them. Organisations cannot afford to miss out on top talent and compromise the quality of their new recruitments simply because they have not kept pace with the changing dynamics of the business ecosystem.”Zairus Master, CEO – Shine.com, added, “How the job-seeker is looking at not only getting a job but also the ease of getting hired amongst the huge variety of available job options”.

As this RaaS Talks highlighted that new age hiring solutions are streamlining conventional hiring processes and remote hiring is fast becoming the future of recruitment. The need of the hour is to build on this momentum and drive the adoption of tech-led recruitment practices across the board. The Talks witnessed conduct of some umbilical polls that showcased the mood of the audience & the results were:

1. 72% people liked working from home during the pandemic.
2. 97% of people would like to work in a combination of home & office, in the future.
3. 98% people believe that recruitment in the new normal is a disruption i.e., remote hiring is here to stay.
4. 98% people believe that remote hiring is a combination of live video interviews, online assessments & bot enabled touchless hiring.

The invigorating roundtable debate with flagged off by the Chief speaker Mohit Thukral – Ex Genpact & currently Founder & Managing Partner of Vivtera. Mohit shared that the future is about Work from home rather Work from Anywhere & the following 3 key dimensions will play out specifically in the IT & ITES sector:

1. New workforce is emerging from smaller cities.
2. Majority of workforce will be gig in nature.
3. Work from anywhere will drastically increase women workforce in IT & ITES.

Mohit also shared that the pandemic has provided a 10-year jump in terms of acceleration of tech implementation across the sector. The rate of Gig workers in India will increase from 15 million currently at a clip rate of 20-25%. Also, he highlighted that there will be a smart blend between the human touch & touchless technologies playing out in recruitment in the new normal & it is a big disruption that is here to stay. Today it is possible to hire in 20-30 minutes using the right recruitment technology partners & the luxury of 4-5 days does not exist anymore. He concluded with stating that every company is good, but the core differentiator will be how you hire & retain people to be the best.

Other speakers shared some very interesting insights about the future of work & how its unfolding has already begun:

Hazel Joyce Camacho, Vice President TA – Inspiro, said, “Recruitment in the new normal is a digital disruption that is here to stay. Digital is the new default for three main reasons: business, workforce, and intelligence. Modern businesses must be agile to respond with speed to new hiring requirements as today’s always-online workforce wants to get things done swiftly. Our increasingly digital-first work culture and growing dependence on virtual environments have also necessitated the right tech tools to help users make sense of the data in front of them, with a focus on enabling augmenting human intelligence and expertise instead of supplanting it with artificial intelligence. Digital provides the perfect platform to achieve all of these objectives, especially for the HR and recruitment space.”

Akhilesh Nair, Senior Vice President HR – Genpact, said, “The HR space has moved from the war for talent to the race for talent. It is all about how fast and wide you can cover the market while delivering excellent candidate experiences. Quality and cost are now given table stakes. As antalent professional, my job needs me to constantly remain two steps ahead. This means a candidate, even if they are rejected, should be willing to be a part of the process again. If that is happening, the TA function has done a great job.”

Sumathi Sampath, Head TA– Infosys BPM, said, “It is a complex new world. The gig workforce is growing at a rapid pace and is estimated to be 75% of the total workforce by 2025. Of these, 60-65% will be millennials who will demand an easy and seamless recruitment experience. Organisations will need to be agile and implement cutting-edge recruitment technology to achieve this goal, because the antiquated ‘post and pray’ process of hiring is not making a comeback. Jobseekers are also looking at more compelling work experiences and will choose satisfaction over simple remuneration. Employer branding, therefore, will be key, and digital recruitment has become vital for the success of the organization.”

Yogesh Rustagi, Senior Director TA – Concentrix, said, “The digital transformation has already happened. The ability to source jobseekers has become location agnostic. Today’s generation is looking at the ease of getting hired, without human intervention and without human bias, from anywhere, at any time, using any device. People could take a bot-based interview at the airport before getting on a flight and land to find the job offer already in their inbox. Large recruitment centres are no longer required, but the ease and speed of hiring will be more critical than ever.”

Satish Rajarathnam, Senior Vice President HR – Mphasis, said, “A disruption has already happened, driven by the shift within the recruitment demand side from Before COVID (BC) to After COVID (AC). Post-pandemic demand is already 3-4x of the pre-pandemic numbers, and utilisation and retention are at their peak. Funnel rates have increased by over 50% to 1:12 or 1:14, and employers barely have 30-40 minutes of interviewing/assessment time to make an offer. The TA function cannot support this pace of movement with the current hiring tech. After all, you cannot crank a 5-gear engine beyond the fifth gear. This is where cutting-edge digital recruitment solutions are stepping into the picture to ease the hassle for employers. There is no going back to conventional models of recruitment. The only way to go from here is forward.”

RaaS Talks is an invite-only CXO roundtable that focuses on conversations around Relationship-as-a-Service (RaaS), an ecosystem where humans manage relationships and machines do the rest. The Talks bring industry experts together to discuss future technology trends, industry disruptions, best practices in talent hiring and management, and successful/failed HR initiatives across high-growth companies.