Divakar has over 7 years of experience into RPO and Recruitment Technology/Product Development. He has been with Allegis for almost 2 years now, and is a Manager for Knowledge and...
Over the last few years, there has been an increasing demand in “Virtual Recruiting” and hiring “Virtual Recruiters” by SME staffing companies globally. Though I have not come across specific analytics against its success stories, Virtual Recruiting surely seems to make a good business sense. It has its set of advantages that most of the SME staffing companies are looking to explore, but is this the concept for the future? Let’s look at some of the benefits of having virtual recruiting teams:
With the slowdown in the global financial sectors, the Mantra of every business is to reduce its fixed costs and maximize its revenues. Virtual Recruiting as a concept helps businesses cut down on some of its most dominant expenses like infrastructure, real estate and other overhead/administrative costs. With client requirements across regions, it gets painfully expensive for any business to set up its operations at multiple locations. Virtual Recruitment teams can be a solution with almost zero investment on real estate and the other expenses. On the other hand, virtual recruiters have the luxury and flexibility of working from their location of choice with no time spent on travel or commute.
Global Teams:
We live in a world of technology and globalization with abundant talent pool availability. A firm can always choose to have its virtual recruiters working from any part of the world as long as the recruiters are equipped with sufficient basic infrastructure (computer, broadband) which in today’s world is not a challenge. This strategy would work further for organizations just like an outsourcing model with a reduced workforce and infrastructure cost.With such benefits, it seems like a right decision for the organizations to adopt this concept. However, it is also important to consider and explore some of the below mentioned aspects while building such teams:
This role demands someone who can work and contribute individually without much hand-holding. It is important to understand and hire a talent pool that is highly self-motivated, and have been individual contributors in their previous roles. Work ethics matter the most since these resources are not “visually” monitored on a day to day basis.
Managing and Tracking:
The biggest challenge is to manage and track the productivity of virtual teams. The Managers responsible for such teams need to have clear SLA’s and targets set for individuals at the early implementation stage. Tracking the progress on a daily basis would be crucial for the success of this concept. Though the resources are at various locations, it is important for the Manager to spend time and communicate with the resources on a daily basis not just to understand and track their performance, but also to motivate and keep them engaged. With the availability of technology in this wide web world, a Manager can always bring his “Office” and “Virtual” teams together using web conferences and other social media. If required, Managers can also be trained to manage this “Change”.
Role of HR:
HR plays a crucial role in the success of implementing virtual teams. It is recommended to have a representative from the HR function who can communicate frequently with the virtual resources and build the bridge between the resources and the organization. This gives the virtual resources a sense of “belonging”, better understanding of the organizational culture and its insights. This also facilitates as another channel of communication for the employees apart from their reporting Manager. At the end of the day, Virtual Recruiting is a change mechanism from the conventional way of working. It has got its share of benefits but needs the attitude and accommodating culture from the organizations. Change is constant, isn’t it?
About the Author: Divakar has over 7 years of experience into RPO and Recruitment Technology/Product Development. He has been with Allegis for almost 2 years now, and is a Manager for Knowledge and Research and new RPO implementations in India.Click here to find out more about Divikar.