Corona crisis will permanently change recruitment processes in Switzerland
The Corona crisis has not only changed the supply and demand on the Swiss job market and led to home office becoming a majority option. It has also ensured that recruitment processes have been adapted and that many companies would like to retain newly introduced processes in the future.
Distance rules, home office guidelines and increased health precautions have significantly changed the recruitment processes of Swiss companies. This is shown, among other things, by the JobCloud Market Insights, which were conducted in cooperation between JobCloud (jobs.ch, jobup.ch) and the ZHAW were conducted. This digital survey found that more than half of all organizations in Switzerland have adapted their recruiting processes in response to current challenges. "Large companies in particular saw a need for adaptation. While about half of small and medium-sized companies said they had changed their recruitment processes, this proportion is almost three quarters among large companies," specifies Davide Villa, CEO of JobCloud.
Good 60% have switched to digital interviews
The adjustments to the recruiting processes are most evident in the job interviews. In the survey, for example, almost 60% of the companies in German-speaking Switzerland stated that they hold the first interview digitally, while in French-speaking Switzerland the figure is 44%. Only selected candidates are then invited to a personal interview. More than a quarter of the companies surveyed in French-speaking Switzerland and one in six in German-speaking Switzerland even forgo face-to-face interviews altogether. "Since French-speaking Switzerland has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, the switch to digitized interviews here has tended to be complete," says Prof. Dr. Frank Hannich of ZHAW. Increasing digitization in the recruitment process is also evident in the increased use of digital tests and assessments.
New recruitment processes are here to stay - especially at large companies
For many companies, the changed recruiting processes will go beyond the Corona crisis. This is especially true for larger companies: The larger the company, the more likely they are to want to use the learnings in the recruiting process and retain adaptations, although not all of them. Only a few large companies said they wanted to return to the old recruitment process (6%). While few mid-sized companies also want to return to the old way of doing things (13%), just under a quarter of small companies do. "The Corona crisis has proven that many processes can be successfully digitized and has triggered a learning process that will permanently change recruitment," says Davide Villa with conviction.
Recruitment budget remains unchanged in many cases
Despite the current challenges, the recruitment budget in 2020 remained untouched in many companies. For example, just under 70% of the companies surveyed in German-speaking Switzerland stated that their recruitment budget had not changed over the course of 2020. For companies in French-speaking Switzerland, however, the crisis seemed to have a greater impact on the recruitment budget - here, around half were planning to make cuts. Small companies with up to 49 employees and large companies with more than 500 employees were more affected by budget cuts than medium-sized companies. Medium-sized companies reacted least to the crisis and mostly maintained their budgets.
Source: Jobcloud
