Human Resources Blog - Spark Hire

Trends Today, Gone Tomorrow – Insight Into Hiring Shifts for Job Seekers

It’s not uncommon for job seekers to pour over countless articles looking for ways to improve on your job search and interview skills. Often, just as you think you have mastered a technique, trends shift!

Fortunately, a few trends have stuck around from COVID shifts to 2022. Here’s a look at some of the hiring trends job seekers can expect to see develop and improve as interview and work models evolve, and a few you can expect to disappear: 

3 trends here to stay

Virtual interviews

Of course, long-distance interviews have been around for many years. Whether by phone or video conference, hiring managers have found workarounds to conduct interviews with promising candidates who cannot make it in person, at least in the early screening stages. But the pandemic forced nearly all hiring pros to switch abruptly to interviewing talent fully virtually.

Video interviews are a convenient and effective way to screen talent in any industry and that has never been more evident since 2020. Because they save time and money, many companies have implemented virtual interviews as a permanent part of their hiring process. Brushing up on video interview skills is a great way to get a leg up on the competitive talent market.

Video resumes/profiles

Submitting resumes through a video introduction was an easy way to stand out before the recent uptick of online interviews. Now, they are becoming more commonplace. Not only are candidates creating unique and creative video resumes, but hiring teams are requesting video screens through one-way video interviews as an early step in the hiring process.

One-way video interviews give hiring managers a similar in-person assessment of qualifications like personality and professionalism as video resumes. The difference between the two, however, is when recording and submitting a video resume, candidates can share insight into their skills and experience that may not be questions they would have responded to in a one-way video interview. This could give some candidates an advantage in the hiring process.

Hybrid/remote work models

Any job opportunity that offered the flexibility of remote work, even if it was only a few days a week, was a hot commodity before the pandemic. Now, it’s becoming a popular work model that offers employees the benefits of working remotely and feeling like a part of the work culture, while employers reduce some costs associated with running an office full-time. Everybody wins!

Thanks to innovative collaboration tools, employees don’t miss a beat communicating on projects and staying connected to their teams. Video messaging is an essential part of keeping everyone informed of updates while maintaining a personal connection with candidates and co-workers. Demonstrating an aptitude for independent work while showing outstanding communication skills makes candidates shoe-ins for remote and hybrid roles. 

3 trends fading fast

Traveling for interviews

Candidates used to travel for multiple rounds of interviews, often, even if they had to travel long distances. In the last few years, that changed as hiring managers began conducting interviews virtually to practice safe social distancing. While in-person interviews are still the best way to make final hiring decisions, it’s become clear that it’s not necessary to take up everyone’s time trying to coordinate repeat face-to-face interviews.

Video technology makes it possible to cut down on the number of interviews because one-way video interviews and recorded live video interviews can be shared with multiple hiring team members. This cuts out scheduling issues and creates a more accurate and fair assessment process. But it also means candidates don’t have to travel for interviews, reducing instances of ghosting and cutting out hiring costs associated with long-distance travel compensation.

Lengthy hiring processes

Because scheduling with multiple hiring decision-makers and candidates is often complicated, the hiring process can seem to drag on. But since many hiring teams have replaced early interviews with more convenient video interviews, key decision-makers can fit evaluations and collaboration into their busy schedules more effectively. This means lengthy hiring processes are a thing of the past.

Reducing the time it takes to inform candidates of a decision improves the candidate experience even if talent is rejected. This is due to the fact that they are not held up in your hiring process, missing other valuable opportunities to advance their career. And anything you can do to improve the candidate experience leads to more enthusiastic candidates in your talent pool.

Required relocation

Remote roles were like diamonds in the rough before the widespread shift to hybrid and remote work models. Now, hiring teams can expand their talent pool by reaching top candidates far and wide. Many roles can now be performed remotely as employers have grown more confident in offering autonomy to employees.

Using video communication and interview processes removes many of the limitations of hiring a remote workforce, meaning a relocation for competitive roles is fading fast. Candidates can show their aptitude for troubleshooting technology and connecting with leaders and peers virtually in the interview process. It’s the best way to assess these invaluable skills for remote roles.


Video Interviewing Dos and Don'ts

Josh Tolan

Josh Tolan is the Founder and CEO of Spark Hire, a video interviewing platform used by 6,000+ customers in over 100 countries.

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