Hiring | Virtual Recruitment & Onboarding - Never Say Never. Almost!

The results of McGregor Boyall’s May 2020 survey of over a thousand hirers reveals that lockdown-driven changes in interviewing and onboarding (practices) appear destined to outlive the lockdown itself.

The survey invited respondents to compare previous, current and future approaches to virtual/remote interviewing and onboarding.  The headline conclusion from the survey’s results is that constraints imposed by lockdown are being embraced as trailblazing the future. There appears to be no question of a return to pre-lockdown practices with a few tweaks.  Instead, past practices are set to be abandoned with enthusiasm. 

Take remote/virtual interviewing.  Prior to lockdown 45% of respondents used it “frequently” or “sometimes” as part of their selection processes.  86% of the same respondents intend to do so in the future.  Significant but perhaps not radical.  But more dramatic is a growth in the intention to use remote interviewing exclusively.  Pre-lockdown, only 14% did so “frequently” or “sometimes”.  The number intending to do so post-lockdown is 63%!  To put that in another way, 58% told us that they “never” used remote interviewing exclusively before the lockdown.  The number who will “never” do so in the future is now only 12%.