The coronavirus has an immense effect on the way companies do business. In an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading we are isolating ourselves and seeking to preserve social distance. Governors make shelter-in-place plans compulsory. Companies are changing their recruiting and selection methods to meet those criteria.

Recruitment

The restrictions led many companies to limit the geographic areas they are recruiting from. Next, they concentrate on the local candidates. Only then can they extend their quest and fly someone in if they can’t locate someone locally. Companies are also focusing more on hiring internally because of the isolation mandates. Some companies, with all the economic turmoil, are hire freezes for full-time jobs and going for contract staff to meet an urgent need.

Interview

The pandemic even hastens the adoption of video interviews. Companies use video applications such as the Zoom and Hangouts to interview job applicants. Companies are now more likely to make exceptions because of the pandemic for candidates who are enduring more extreme hardships.

Onboarding

The coronavirus is also changing the way businesses are onboard. As with the interviewing process, in order to orient new hire, they shift to video meetings. Managers say this new approach poses some new kinds of problems as it makes it harder to build a personal relationship with the new individual and grow a partnership.

Companies respond to this challenge by conducting their facilities ‘video tours for new people and making more concerted efforts to provide the needed resources and information.

The Future

Several market analysts see such developments in the future as having a long-range impact. Nearly half of all businesses had declined to allow workers to operate remotely before the pandemic. Nearly all businesses today have no choice but to accept remote employees. And believe this would change many minds about operating efficiently from home. Organizations can see that from home, workers can be equally efficient working. It will also reduce company overheads, which will also affect attitudes.