5 Tips to Master the Top Volume Hiring Trends

Covid-19 changed a lot of things for us. In the post-pandemic world, a lot of businesses are struggling to find a leg to stand. While on the other hand, some companies like Walmart and Amazon are volume hiring to deal with the sudden influx. In March 2020, Amazon announced that they are hiring for about 100,000 open positions.

Yes, Amazon and Walmart are huge companies, but however big or small a company may be, volume hiring is never free of challenges, if 2020 taught us anything is that industry conditions and candidate behavior is never predictable. Businesses need to be aware of the current trends in order to get ahead of the game.

In this article, we will be discussing 5 volume hiring trends in 2021 that you need to know.

1. Clearly Define Skills and Evaluation Process

Before moving on to a job posting, clearly define the skills and evaluation process of the potential employee. After naming the top three role responsibilities, ask yourself:

• What will the potential employee’s KPIs be?
• What strengths and values are essential to succeed in the job?

After defining the factors, move on to creating a plan of how you will evaluate the candidates. Divide the roles among colleagues and figure out who will do the interviews and give feedback on the assignments from the candidates.

Defining a clear skill set and evaluation process will make the job so much easier and faster. Next, you can make use of resume screening to automate the early hiring stage.

2. Automated Resume Screening with AI

In volume hiring, scanning resumes one by one is nearly impossible. Suppose, you receive two thousand resumes and spend an average of three minutes on each. It will take you about 6,000 minutes to go through all applications. That’s over four days! Can your company spare that much time and resources? Resume screening solutions can make it easier to find relevant applications in no time. Especially in the manufacturing industry, this can be pretty helpful. The software filters applicants that qualify for the required criteria and you can eliminate unsuitable candidates at the beginning.

At Pierpoint, we use the best talent acquisition including social media, job boards, LinkedIn Recruiter, AI/machine learning, BI reporting, and our 1M+ candidates’ database. However, if you follow very strict criteria, there’s a fair chance of missing out on diverse talent. To avoid that, keep an open mind and make sure that the requirements are not too stern.

3. Focus on Attracting Diverse Talent

Workforce diversification has the potential to open new doors for every business. We’re talking about diversity in terms of color, gender, age, and academic background.

Among others, the tech industry is dominated by white males. Women are underrepresented in the tech field and make up only about 25% of the total workforce. If you want to diversify, then let them see that you’re committed to the cause. Diversifying the tech talent pool can result in better performance and more creativity. Start by being completely unbiased, and prioritize skills over degrees, age, color, and gender. Work on your job descriptions, try blind resume screening, and set diversity goals.

4. Remote Working Opportunities

Covid-19 took the WFH (Work from Home) concept to a whole other level, and more remote working opportunities with this. We’re no longer bound by geographical boundaries and can hire people from practically anywhere in the world. On one hand, it brings opportunities, but on the other hand, there’s more competition.

Tech is among the many industries that benefit greatly from remote working. With tools like Slack, Zoom, and GitHub, large teams can collaborate efficiently and save time otherwise spent on the road. Companies can easily find a diverse range of talent, conduct online interviews, and collaborate. Considering how tech-savvies love their screens, remote working is here to stay in tech!

5. Diverse Sourcing Strategies

Technology has changed the way businesses attract and hire their potential workforce. No one dives into the newspaper’s job section looking for the perfect position. Rather, they find opportunities through job boards and social media platforms like LinkedIn and set up alerts for jobs that match your qualifications.

For a few positions, using only one platform is enough, but not for volume hiring. For that, you need to utilize several sourcing platforms including referrals, social media platforms, and job boards. Every company uses social media to attract talent, but that’s not enough. To reach a wider range of applicants, employ a high-level social media campaign targeting the appropriate talent.

Design your recruitment strategy in such a way that you can reach passive talent through various channels. LinkedIn and referrals are the best ways to find and add passive talent to your database. Posting jobs is one thing, but referrals are known to be among the best ways to attract suitable candidates. Since they’re referred by someone in your company, they know the company environment and work well.

Referrals Can Lead to Less Diversity!

People are often hesitant in referring to a female or a person of color. According to a report by Payscale, white women are 12% less likely to get referrals, men of color are 26% less likely, and women of color are 35% less likely.

You can change the perspective by offering incentives on referring to a diverse range of candidates with a specific skill set. Corporations like Intel are offering incentives for diverse referrals.

How Do I Get Started with Volume Hiring?

Businesses are going through some of the most difficult phases at the moment. However, tech, life sciences, and manufacturing are among the less affected industries. By staying in touch with the current trends, you can use this time to improve your recruitment process. Although, in volume hiring, it’s easier to just find a reliable recruitment service provider and let them find the right people for the job.