Nearly 47 per cent employers hired only virtually, while nearly one in three used a combination of virtual and face-to-face hiring methods during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey conducted by Indeed.com.

Indeed surveyed around 500 employers in India across 16 sectors and 12 cities to understand hiring sentiment and patterns.

Recently, the job portal also launched its latest tech innovation, Virtual Hiring Events (VHE) – a simple and efficient solution that to help recruiters to hire candidates. With VHE, employers can easily, and cost-effectively, create and promote their own company-sponsored virtual hiring event(s) where they can host open interviews, from a safe distance,  and hire for a set of roles they need to fill.

With the pandemic disrupting the world of work and more and more people taking to the internet to find jobs, organisations are now required to have a more digital approach towards recruiting.

About 64 per cent employers said that safety was the primary driver for hiring virtually this year. Indeed's VHE is a virtual hiring solution aimed at bringing ease and seamlessness to a complex traditional hiring process, helping all people to now find opportunities in a safe and efficient way.

With VHE, employers across India can easily, and cost-effectively, create and promote their own company-sponsored virtual hiring event(s) where they can host open interviews, from a safe distance, and hire for a set of roles they need to fill.

Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed.com said "With India being the world's second-largest workforce, it can be a challenge to find the right hire, especially in the middle of a pandemic. In order to succeed we need to acknowledge that the things that matter to job seekers have changed. Employers have to reimagine their recruitment strategies to find great talent and create opportunities for growth. Indeed is constantly innovating to find new ways to improve, adapt and simplify the hiring process and VHE is a step in that direction. All of what we do is with the hope that we can help people get jobs and we are especially proud to have products and solutions for the recruiting market in India.

Companies have shifted their focus to the future and need great talent to grow and achieve success. They've also had to reimagine their workplace practices, to stay relevant and attractive to job seekers today, including how they hire. 31 per cent employers credited virtual hiring for giving them wider access to talent, while another 28 per cent  said this approach allowed for flexibility and convenience, a priority for job seekers today. Nearly one in five employers also said that virtual hiring reduced bias in the recruitment process.

Across organisation types – large and medium Indian & global companies, SMEs and startups – more than 4 in 5 employers indicate that they started using virtual hiring only during the pandemic. More than one in four employers (26 per cent) consider virtual hiring a novel and surprisingly effective experience, and another 22 per cent believe that it is the right way forward, even while acknowledging its present challenges. While, nearly two in every five employers believe virtual hiring is here to stay post pandemic.

The study further stated that sectors such as BPO/iTes (95 per cent), Media & Entertainment (90 per cent) and Telecom (87 per cent) are embracing new age technologies and hiring mostly through virtual means while sectors dependent upon physical labour such as Construction & Real Estate (98  per cent),  Manufacturing (97 per cent),  Agriculture (95  per cent) and Retail (93  per cent) prefer face to face hiring methods only. Employers from the Financial Services (91 per cent), Marketing & Advertising (89  per cent) and Healthcare & Pharma (87 per cent) prefer a more hybrid approach towards hiring. Regardless, putting a face to a name still seems important as virtual interviews/video conferencing (29 per cent) emerged as the most favoured virtual hiring method by employers.

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