Globally, employers and employees have been hit with numerous challenges through the COVID - 19 pandemic. During these unprecedented times, many have lost their jobs while also struggling to find a new opportunity once the shift to working remotely became our everyday reality. Industries and companies globally have had to make difficult decisions whether that has been furloughs, job cuts, or closing all together. As we continue to navigate through these uncertainties, how and when we work will continue to change and adapt to the times, potentially, reshaping the future of hiring. 

The New Office

As the shift to remote work came about at the start of the pandemic, going back to the office seemed - and continues to seem - unlikely for many. Pre-pandemic, most employers were office-first, with remote being an option. Broad, and rapid, shifts to remote-first have allowed workers to work while feeling comfortable in their own home, safely social distancing and limiting interaction with others. Companies have the advantage of broadening their talent pool when looking to fill certain positions as working remotely still remains a desire for some employees and the location of an office is not of concern. Pre-pandemic, Remoters shared an article on remote working trends in early 2020, with a study previously done by Owl Labs, which showed why employees who had the option preferred it. With mass-exposure, more employees will likely embrace the trend into 2021, and the office may never refill.

With the continued need for social distancing and major employers such as Google and Indeed announcing plans to maintain full work-from-home policies well into 2021, this trend moves employers more fully into remote-first vs office-first companies.‍

The Recruitment Process‍

For companies who are looking to hire during this time, there has been a shift in the recruitment process in looking to find suitable candidates. With the growing use of digital technology, online recruitment has become an advancement, allowing this process to be much more simple and efficient. There has also been a shift in what employers are looking for. Experience-based qualifications have increasingly shifted to employers desiring applicants who have skills which point to the ability to adapt quickly, such as problem-solving, communication and adaptability. Reached for comment, one CPO at a Fortune SaaS vendor told RNN "we don't know the exact shape our product roadmap will be in as the pandemic progresses. We need people who can handle uncertainty, see over the horizon, and help us stay ahead of our competition despite how challenging it is the anticipate what's coming next."

McKinsey recently looked at hiring trends under Covid - campus, for example, is changing:

given successful experiments in remote hiring during the COVID-19 crisis, companies are reconsidering the need to go on campus for interviews (which would admittedly be more difficult now, with many colleges and universities planning to use remote learning in the fall). That is an acceleration of a preexisting trend: companies such as Goldman Sachs were using remote interviewing for on-campus hiring before the pandemic. We expect that trend to continue in the post-pandemic era.

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‍The Job Outlook‍

As the pandemic shifted the unemployment rate, where does this bring us moving forward? Since the beginning, essential workers have been continuously working, with the demand for these roles increasing as positions need to be filled.LinkedIna Talent Blog post, their The Most In - Demand Jobs for July 2020 shows this trend continues:

The Most In-Demand Jobs for July

1. Salesperson
2. Registered Nurse
3. Food Delivery Driver
4. Store Associate
5. Software Engineer
6. Driver
7. Project Manager
8. Store Clerk
9. Certified Nursing Assistant
10. Licensed Practical Nurse

The Cracked Crystal Ball... Metaphor

RNN is not a predictive effort - the goal is to report news. That said: we can report there are many attempts to predict uncertainty. The snapshot above is, simply, a snapshot. Our analysis as practitioners, experts, and observers, is a glaringly obvious one: keep hanging on to your hats. This is far from over.