Hybrid Recruitment: Definition, Tips and Common Mistakes

As the name suggests, hybrid recruitment is an approach to recruitment that blends two forces: in-person and online. But, it can also encompass the full range of recruitment, too, including placing job ads to sourcing candidates, receiving candidates, selecting them, and communicating with stakeholders, and collecting candidate feedback.

So, what’s new about hybrid recruitment? The main difference is that, even when experiences occur in person, they are often managed or scheduled online. This means that virtual strategies now govern recruitment, rather than the traditional. Of course, this extends beyond posting jobs in the newspaper but could mean sourcing, interviewing, and even hiring a candidate completely virtually (or, in person, as the case demands).

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The full lifecycle of recruiting involves all the stages that help find an employee and hire them. There are six generally recognised steps that make up this all-important process:

• Preparation

• Sourcing

• Screening

• Selecting

• Hiring

• Onboarding

The thing about hybrid recruitment is that it opens up variance in each one of these steps. So, at any point in the recruiting lifecycle, you could take the process and make it digital.

While you might immediately think of finding candidates on social media or a semi-structured interview over Zoom, it also extends to the hiring process (like including e-signatures), or onboarding in a fully remote setting.

Download our checklist for remote onboarding by clicking this link.

The COVID-19 pandemic certainly sped up technological adoption in the recruitment space, but it was also a result of a growing trend when it came to recruiting digitally. Hybrid recruitment is essential because it allows maximum flexibility, and it allows talent acquisition teams better manage their processes in far less time.

In general, centralising the recruiting process online when it makes sense, and doing things in-person when it doesn’t, allows teams to do things on their terms, develop more agile processes, and generally save time and effort when it comes down to find the right candidate. An emphasis on hybrid recruitment also helps to expand talent pools, too.

What are some of the main reasons that your organisation should be quick to embrace hybrid recruitment? Here are some that you should keep in mind as you roll things out…

Because candidate experience is everything. And, as other companies become just as digital, it is important to make sure your recruitment processes keep up with the times (and even innovate past them). Candidates expect recruiters to be more flexible now, and your team should respond in kind.

A semi-structured interview process can also help you keep up. Learn more here.

You should be able to think of hybrid recruitment as a future-proofing mechanism. After all, as we saw during the course of the pandemic, companies who had already adopted some level of working from home or digital-first policies were more ready to respond to the challenges (and thrive as a result).

Hybrid recruitment is also a great opportunity for your organisation to position itself as forward-thinking and catering to the needs of its future talent. You’re doing your employer brand a world of good by ensuring that candidates know that you have their needs top of mind, likely boosting referrals and general interest in applying to your company.

An emphasis on hybrid recruitment can help your HR department move faster, manage stakeholders with ease, and generally move through applicants much faster. Thanks to a flexible approach, schedules are more open, things can progress much more quickly, and applicants can be hired with relative ease.

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However, hybrid recruitment also involves a few disadvantages for companies. This is especially true if they are just starting out with this approach…

The cost factor is both an advantage and a disadvantage. While recruitment software will save you money in the long term, it does require an initial investment.

The time required to set up both the software and job ads and to modify processes accordingly can also act as a deterrent. And, yes – this will take time! But good suppliers will always provide you with support. They will assist you in setting up the software and ensure that it will deliver the outcomes you want.

If you publish more job ads, you can expect to receive more applications. You’ll then need to be able to process these by providing timely feedback and screening the documents submitted by applicants. HR software allows you to automate these processes, which saves you time and effort.

Source the best talent around

Design career pages, create job ads and publish them on more than 600 portals with just one click. Say hello to seamless recruitment with Personio.

Find the Talent You Need

Here are a few of the mistakes that are typically made in hybrid recruitment…

Don’t start without having a plan and a strategy. "Just trying it out” will not be successful in the long term. You should therefore consider early on which recruiting processes you intend to improve and how software can assist you.

Know your target group(s) and define your channels. Make a list of the essential qualifications you want applicants to have. These can be used as filter criteria in active sourcing, and lists can also help you define recruiting channels for individual positions.

More isn’t necessarily more. Avoid publishing on any and all job portals you come across. Think about where your target group really goes to look for job openings. A mix of generalised and specialist job portals works best in most cases, as it delivers both wide reach and addresses the relevant target group.