Future of Hiring in the Post-COVID India

Since human settlement on the earth, the world shifted from its course after the outbreak of each pandemic. The fall of the Roman empire was contributed by Plague disease. The same disease has caused for the emergence of feudalism as people began to depend on agriculture rather than trade to prevent the infection. End of the Black Death in Europe paved a new era of renaissance. In the Twentieth century, Spanish flu cemented the international ties after the first World War and the world began to develop new health protocol to contain such pandemic.

COVID-19 is also becoming a watershed event in world history. The coronavirus compelled the whole world to go on lockdown by shuttering the industries, business establishments, educational institutions, offices, transport services etc. Social distancing became the sole solution to check the infection. For business continuity, organizations roll out the work from home, wherein the employees perform their duty and interact with the employers and colleagues through the means of an internet-connected computer device.

Hiring during lockdown

The lockdown was imposed in India on 24th March and extended till May end. This is a crucial time for businesses. March is the end of the financial year and from April, new financial year begins. Meeting the target in the month of March was little impacted with the sudden lockdown decision. Planning for the new financial year was also affected.

Recruitment is one area that also witnessed a change during the lockdown. As per the reports of Naukri JobSpeakIndexⁱ, the country observed around 60% decline in the hiring activity in April alone. This decline was visible in the hospitality, travel, airline, retail, automobile, accounting etc., sectors. However, the companies in ecommerce, delivery services, healthcare, financial services, consumer technology, edu tech, consumer goods, etc., continued hiring.

Though hiring is bleak during this lockdown, those organizations, which keep their hiring open, rely on the remote solutions for recruiting new employees like conducting interviews through video conferencing, assessing their skills with online tools etc. The onboarding of new employees is also being done remotely. 

To be continued, but…

The opening up of businesses began from May-end onwards and it will take another two months to be full-fledged operations, say experts. However, the current model of business continuity is going to stay in the future, where work from home will be a normal strategy. The research and innovation in digital solutions for remote working will widen its opportunity further. Except for labour-intensive jobs, in which teamwork is must, all roles may be turned into work from home. Along with this, the remote hiring and onboarding may also continue for the majority of the organizations.

According to a report by executive search giant GlobalHuntⁱⁱ, the hiring process has lost its pace, but certain industries are still in demand and can easily overcome this crisis. The report further stated that this disruption for some sectors has proved to be an emerging market. The organizations will see this opportunity to relook on the required skill and continue their recruitment to remain skill-rich.

A role-based skill assessment in the organizations will, in turn, increase hiring for skilled talents for each position. The primacy for employability skills will tighten the competition in the job market. This will also amplify the skill gap existing among the graduates and lead to the acute talent crunch. To resolve the issue, the companies may need to upskill or reskill their existing staff. HR and L&D will have to devise a new strategy accordingly.

An exceptional assessment method will help to find suitable candidates for job roles and plan a skilling strategy. It needs a comprehensive testing tool combined with features like behavioural, skill and domain assessment. India's leading testing & assessment company MeritTrac support organizations to fulfil their hiring demands.

In short, we are entering a new world in the post-COVID period. Social distancing and health-conscious will be a new normal among the common people. The business and enterprises need to adopt a fresh strategy to retain their employees and customers.

[i] https://www.financialexpress.com/jobs/jobs-in-india-hiring-during-april-dips-by-62-due-to-lockdown-to-curb-covid-19-says-report/1950177/

[ii] https://www.globalhunt.in/newsDetails.html?id=861