8 Essential Steps to Create a Positive Candidate Experience
Learn how to create a positive candidate experience with our 8 steps, and effectively measure the impact on your recruitment process.
Hybrid work created a pivot in 2020 in how and where people work. In a robust study of over 140,000 US workers (where data on remote and hybrid work environments is most readily available), Gallup discovered that in 2019, just 8% were fully remote and 32% were in hybrid working arrangements. By the end of 2022, 24% of employees were fully remote, and 53% were hybrid.
Hybrid work is any type of flexible work arrangement where employees spend their hours split between physical, in-office work and remote work. This arrangement can occur in any type of percentage split, such as 50-50 or 80-20.
The shift in how and where people work has significant implications for businesses. Recruiting, interviewing, and hiring talent that fits the ideal worker must change to adopt the needs of an increasingly remote-first work structure.
For HR teams to create more effective recruitment strategies in this new age of remote work, a dive into emerging trends may be all that’s needed to get stakeholders fully invested. A hybrid work environment is now most people’s preferred working situation.
Businesses that take a remote and hybrid-first approach to their recruitment and hiring practices can positively impact key business objectives, some of which often include increasing worker productivity, reducing turnover, and hitting inclusive hiring goals aligned with DEI initiatives.
As noted in the Gallup study above, hybrid work was common prior to the pandemic, but not the norm. Meanwhile, fully-remote work was largely uncommon. Both experienced significant jumps as a result of safety measures. Employees have had two big takeaways from their remote work experience:
Working remotely was an easier transition than they expected
Remote work dramatically improved their quality of life
Cisco’s 2022 Global Hybrid Work Study offers several overwhelmingly positive insights about the shift to remote and hybrid work:
of hybrid remote workers report being happier working from home
stated that remote work increased their motivation to perform well in their role
indicated that they’re less likely to take sick leave when working remotely
indicated that they’re less likely to quit their current employer because of remote work flexibility
These numbers coincide with an important note from the Gallup study: only 9% of workers prefer to be fully onsite. Most (59%) want to enjoy the benefits and flexibility of a hybrid work model, while just under one-third prefer to remain fully remote.
Remote work demand is hitting almost every industry, including those not traditionally seen as remote-friendly, such as healthcare and education. McKinsey found that two out of three nurses are interested in providing care remotely in the future.
And on the education front, virtual schools are increasingly being floated as a way to fill staffing shortages. In both cases, hybrid remote models could be the solution for critical shortages causing a myriad of issues in care and achievement outcomes.
There’s far more data on peoples’ preferences for remote and hybrid work we could explore, but even this top-level highlight should help put understandably hesitant business leaders at ease.
When properly accounted for, organizations stand to experience significant gains in worker productivity and retention with hybrid and fully-remote working models. When their commitment to remote work is expressed at the recruitment phase, they’re also far more likely to find the right workers to meet their hiring needs.
Organizations considering shifting to or maintaining a remote and hybrid work environment should understand the demographics of their existing and potential workforce across three distinct areas:
Let’s start with the explosion of gig workers. In a 2020 study, Upwork (one of the largest international gig economy marketplaces) discovered that 36% of U.S. workers were freelancing that year. That represented a 22% increase from 2019. Those numbers were later reconfirmed in a 2021 study.
When 2022 hit, Upwork uncovered a new trend: Nearly 60% of business hiring managers reported turning to remote freelance workers to fill their skills gaps. As more workers shift to freelance work, either full or part-time, organizations are shifting their people strategies to include a larger number of gig workers.
According to a report by the National Association of Convenience Stores, gig workers offer a way for enterprise businesses to scale labor flexibly while managing costs.
Technology platforms can facilitate this by quickly connecting freelancers with opportunities and enabling remote task management across industries, thus broadening gig work's accessibility and scope.
Additionally, because gig workers are now distinctly remote, organizations can source talent from anywhere, at any time.
The shift in remote work was a welcome experience for the digital natives, who now make up the largest portion of the workforce. Citrix states Millennials and Generation Z value job satisfaction, career stability, and a clear path for growth in their work. They view taking care of their mental health as an essential part of their work-life balance.
Employers should take note here: flex working hours and remote work flexibility are not the same things. However, flexible working hours are significantly easier to offer when remote and hybrid work environments are centralized within the structure of the business.
Digital natives are not apprehensive about working at night or on weekends and putting in the hours. In fact, Microsoft found that remote workers are probably working too much, as the remote work flexibility compels many to log in after the typical 9-5 hours.
This is one of the reasons remote workers may be more productive; not only are they opening their laptops and putting in a few extra hours, but by cutting their commute times, they’re able to squeeze in more time for work into the day.
Importantly, this is why digital natives want remote work flexibility in the first place. They want to work during times when they feel they can be the most productive. They can avoid forcing productivity into a pre-defined time period—and have the option to work from the office and come back home to complete work at a time when they’re feeling more productive.
As remote work took hold during the pandemic, many workers saw the value in city life completely disappear. The change was dramatic enough that New York City, for example, experienced a 4% population decline. While some individuals and families eventually moved back, many of those moves were permanent.
People have taken note of how much more money they’re saving working remotely.
The Cisco study on remote work found that workers were saving an average of $8,000 USD by working from home. Nearly 70% said they’d take those cost savings into consideration when exploring potential positions from new employers.
Remote work is so important to many workers that a GoodHire survey found 61% would be willing to take a pay cut to maintain their flexible remote schedule.
That doesn’t mean businesses should use pay cuts for remote work as a threat (although some have). However, it may offer an opportunity to reduce wage inflation through different compensation measures, such as using national market rates.
Both companies and workers seeking to take on hybrid remote work should take note: there is no standardized format for this type of job arrangement.
We can examine this from both the employer’s and employee’s perspectives:
For employers, hybrid remote may take some trial-and-error.
Employers switching to hybrid remote work schedules will ultimately advertise this job perk during the recruitment and interviewing process. However, your organization will need to determine what the structure of your hybrid remote work will look like before advertising.
This way, you can have candid discussions with candidates about your hybrid remote work model before they become potentially confused or frustrated if the reality of how hybrid remote works at your organization doesn’t match their assumptions.
Here are a few areas you’ll need to determine before you begin advertising your company’s hybrid remote approach:
What percentage of office/remote split are employees allowed to take?
This can be anything. 50-50 is a common go-to, but ask yourself whether a 50-50 model is best for your organization and the needs of your employees. Explore other potential splits, such as 80-20, or 60-40. You may also consider leaving that decision up to employees, and allowing them “at-will” access to the office instead of a strict hybrid schedule.
Are you taking fairness into consideration?
How you structure your hybrid model should account for issues of fairness. For example, a strict 50-50 model might sound good on paper and be popular with senior leaders strongly tied to in-office work, but it could leave working parents struggling to find child care (the cost of which has risen 41% since 2020).
Does your hybrid model boost or hamper employee effectiveness?
Some roles can be done remotely and without in-person collaboration. For others, that will be difficult or almost impossible. You will need to find a way to balance those needs. Importantly, you’ll need to find a way to communicate these variances in the recruitment and hiring process, as well.
For employees or job seekers, ask the right questions.
As your employer makes the switch to remote work, or you investigate roles where hybrid remote work is available, get the details. Make sure to consider what type of hybrid remote model makes the most sense for the way you need to work and be productive.
Consider asking the following questions of your current or future employer:
What is the percentage split for hybrid remote?
Are there any geographic or time-zone restrictions for remote work?
Are there any software requirements, such as VPNs, required when working from locations with shared internet connections?
Are there specific hours in which I need to be available, or can my remote working hours be flexible?
Can I still take sick leave on days when I’m already working remotely?
Companies using a hybrid remote model instead of a fully-remote model usually have a reason for preferring some level of in-office work. Take note of this to avoid any confusion and potential frustration, and to give yourself more information to plan around.
If you’re in the 59% of workers who prefer hybrid remote flexibility, finding the right job may seem like a challenge. The number of hybrid remote jobs has dipped since the pandemic as more employers are calling workers back into the office. Still, many others have either chosen to stay fully remote or adopt hybrid work models for their teams.
To find remote or hybrid work, consider these pointers:
Most job sites now allow companies to identify whether their posted role is remote. These sites often, but not always, include a “remote” option in the job seekers’ search options. In cases where no filter is available, try typing “remote” in the search criteria, or in the “location” bar.
Pay attention to the words in the job posting. After pulling up the job posting, a simple “CTRL+F” search will reveal whether the employer has utilized the “remote” or “hybrid” in the job ad. Don’t just limit your keyword search to those terms, however, as the employer may have used common synonyms instead.
Google scrapes job advertisements from many different job sites. You can simplify the search process by typing a job search into Google and using “remote” or “hybrid remote” in the search. For example, “hybrid remote medical coding jobs.” Specificity does matter here, so if you’re after hybrid remote jobs and not fully-remote jobs, make sure to include “hybrid” in the search term.
Understanding why your hiring practice needs a remote-centric upgrade is the first step.
The second is applying that knowledge to an effective recruitment and hiring strategy.
As you start to develop a recruitment strategy around the needs and wants of remote workers, consider the two changes you can make in the short term that will have the fastest positive results:
Organizations can widen their search to anywhere they can legally hire. Because top talent lives anywhere, centering the recruitment process around remote environments helps increase the potential talent pool and reduce time to hire.
Job seekers have become exceptionally savvy at reading and interpreting job advertisements.
Be specific and concise in your job advertisements or recruitment messages. Potential applicants are scanning job ads for the keywords that matter most to them. They won’t respond to your recruiters’ LinkedIn DMs or hit “Apply” on your job advertisements if you aren’t including the words they’re looking for.
Once you have a list of keywords to use, incorporate them thoroughly within your remote job advertisements, and have your recruiters emphasize these words within messages sent to desired applicants:
Remote work
Hybrid work
Virtual
Home office
Work at home
Work from home
Distributed
Flexible (or flex scheduling)
Work anywhere
Tip
You may also consider less common words, such as “telework” or “telecommuting.”
One strategy that you may see taking hold is putting the word “remote”, or similar terms in the title of the job advertisement. This strategy will go a long way to capturing job seekers’ attention and result in a higher volume of individuals clicking your advertisements.
Consequently, when your job ads are indexed by Google, it also means they’ll show up on Google searches matching that search criterion (a big plus for increasing the number of potential applicants finding your job and applying).
Attracting the right talent to your open roles is only half the battle. If you promise remote or hybrid work but have a blurry (or worse, missing) hiring process that’s also built on the benefits and structures remote workers want, you’ll quickly lose the confidence of your top applicants.
When applicants hit apply, they’ll have several expectations that you’ll need to address:
Flexible interview scheduling that respects time zone differences
Managing bias throughout the hiring process
Regular and fast communication at every step of the process
The data here is pretty stark: 92% of job applicants never finish the application. Simply improving your applicant tracking system (ATS) alone will boost the number of applicants you ultimately get coming through the system. But an ATS will help in other ways, as well, including removing or significantly reducing bias and streamlining and automating communications.
A common problem with taking a hybrid remote working model is that some of your interviewees will be met in-person, while others will be engaged remotely. This difference can create standardization problems, as those receiving a different type of interview experience may have an unfair advantage.
Accounting for this, your company should also consider the tools you’re using for interview scheduling and conducting interviews within a hybrid-remote framework. Those tools should allow you to standardize the interview process to provide the same experience for in-person and remote candidates.
Considerations for interviewing variance:
Scheduling
Is scheduling automated for both in-person and remote candidates?
Consistency
Are all candidates receiving the same interviewing experience? Additionally, are all candidates’ interviews free of potential or hidden biases that could result in giving different candidates preferential or less preferential treatment during the interview?
Coordination
Are all aspects of the interview process coordinated, regardless of where a candidate interviews or who they interview with? Additionally, are interviewers also capable of logging into interviews from any location?
Bias checks
Are unconscious bias checks incorporated into the interview process?
Data analytics
Are you tracking and analyzing data to verify that all of the above is true?
A bias-free hiring practice will send the right signal to many of your minority applicants. Minority workers actually overwhelmingly prefer remote and hybrid work environments, as they say, it’s helped them avoid the type of microaggressions that made in-office work challenging.
If your recruitment and hiring process is has bias or has variations in how the interviews are conducted, you’re likely to lose potential candidates during this process.
It’s easy to assume that your process is already free of bias. Yet one study found that minority applicants who “whitened” their resumes got twice as many interviews. The problem is often not malicious biases from recruiters and hiring managers, but unconscious bias.
An ATS, by parsing for skills and qualifications, can help remove the potential for unconscious bias.
Meanwhile, when your ATS automates communications, applicants don’t have to wait to hear back at each step of the process. And it reduces the added burden on your hiring team, who can focus their efforts toward other parts of the process.
Recruiting and interviewing software significantly reduces the cost of recruiting candidates.
Workers’ preferences for remote work, combined with a global talent shortage, means companies must align themselves behind remote and hybrid work environments. Start by understanding why workers are opting for remote work in the first place.
There are generational differences to consider as part of this, as well as demographic ones. Applying this to your recruitment strategy leads directly to attracting more talent, better quality applicants that are more aligned to your candidate profile, and faster hires.
As you expand your talent pool, hire faster, and hire better, you reduce turnover. You’ll also boost employee satisfaction and productivity, and create a more diversified workforce. It’s a winning situation for workers and employers and a nod to the future of work.
Hybrid work combines in-office and remote work, allowing employees to split their time between working from home and the office.
Hybrid workers often report feeling happier, seeing an increase in their productivity, and being able to manage their work and personal lives better. Companies can benefit from reduced office space costs, a more engaged and productive workforce, and a broader pool of candidates they can recruit and hire.
Challenges include maintaining a work-life balance, communication difficulties, and potential feelings of isolation. Both employees and employers need to set boundaries and take steps to ensure colleagues stay connected and collaborate.
Employers can offer flexible schedules, ensure clear communication, and provide the necessary technology and tools to support employees working remotely.
Regular virtual meetings, collaborative tools, and clear communication channels can maintain team cohesion and ensure everyone stays informed.
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