Before COVID-19, we used a single, consistent recruitment process to fill the majority of job openings. Unless there were extraordinary circumstances, this process required potential applicants to meet in person. Of course, this would include the conventional greeting—the handshake—on which first impressions are established.

“Your handshake has the power to disclose your strength of character, commit, demonstrate your degree of respect, exercise your manners, and symbolise your business acumen,” Susan C. Young writes in The Art of Body Language.

Handshakes were undesirable and face-to-face contacts became impossible virtually suddenly as a result of social distance rules.

We have to adjust swiftly as an industry. We started conducting interviews through Zoom, inductions and walkthroughs over video capture, and several candidates started working from the comfort of their own homes. This strategy would have been unthinkable less than a year ago. We had become so enamoured with previous methods that any departures were regarded as “cutting shortcuts.”

Now fast forward to February 2021, and everything has altered once more. ‘Handshakes’ now take place virtually across phone lines and video calls, or by bumping elbows if in person.

Body language has become more significant, and rather than the hardness of a handshake, first impressions are based on responses to queries about duties. An interviewer must ask more detailed questions and pay closer attention to a candidate’s timeliness and body language than previously required.

Companies have made adjustments in assessing a candidate’s potential personality, attitudes, and values as part of this new process, and culture fit has become a critical ingredient in the success of a hire.

We’ve made rapid breakthroughs in the way sourcing can and has been done, and things may never be the same again. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that these procedures are effective. 

Many companies and organization have adopted the new process across the board, and we’ve observed that teams working remotely can still accomplish the same intended objectives or successes.

Our reach has expanded because we are no longer constrained by the parameters within which we previously operated.

I am confident that a new age in recruitment and sourcing has begun, with compliance maintaining robust and productivity on the rise.