How Recruitment is Adapting Across Europe

While things are slowly going back to normal now since the Covid-19 cases are gradually subsiding, the effects will continue to linger for a while. One sector that has significantly changed due to the pandemic is recruitment.

Many Europeans were forced to hunt for new jobs, with many companies closing down during the pandemic. If you are one of those who have gone through the job search process recently, then you know that the process has become tricky. Jobseekers now find themselves at a totally different pace, even for those familiar with the latest technological tools and interview tactics. 

From values-based recruitment to diversity in recruitment, here’s how recruitment is adapting across Europe.

1. Recruitment is moving to Values 

In essence, our values are what define us. It influences a great part of who we are and what we believe in life, including how we live and treat other people. In a company setting, the values refer to the guiding principles of how employees should work and treat clients and customers. When it comes to recruitment, applying a values-based approach involves attracting and selecting employees whose personal values align with the company values. Doing this can help to minimise time and avoid wasting resources in recruiting the wrong talents.

To help with creating company principles and recruit candidates with values that align with the company, companies are hiring HR staff. By applying a values-based approach to recruitment instead of focusing on skills and experiences, companies will have lower recruitment costs, good return on investment, better staff performance, and low staff turnover.

2. Businesses are Hiring Remotely

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the way people work, with many European businesses hiring remotely. In the past couple of years, remote working has become commonplace for millions of Europeans. Finland, Ireland, and Luxembourg have the highest share of remote workers on the continent, with more than 20% of the workforce still working in jobs that give them the option to work from home. The majority of these businesses have admitted that they would not have survived the pandemic without remote digital infrastructures.

Remote working is an excellent opportunity for companies to change the way they work sustainably and reap medium to long term benefits. Think of less commuting, less office space, short breaks, fewer benefits, and greater focus for employees. Studies also indicate that remote workers were less likely to take absences due to illness. Remote working on a larger scale also offers companies the flexibility to deal with unforeseeable events, such as a pandemic crisis.

3. Candidates are Looking for Better Benefits 

Most candidates across Europe are now looking for better benefits when seeking job opportunities. As a result, several companies are now offering flexible and agile working environments to attract the best talents. Agile working is all about bringing together people, processes, technology, place, and time to determine the most appropriate way of carrying out a particular task. It’s about working within guidelines but without boundaries when doing certain things.

In other words, an agile workspace gives employees what they need to reach their goals and carry out their tasks in the best way possible. Doing so could lead to greater efficiency and higher productivity, resulting in better output and minimal use of company resources.

If executed and appropriately structured, an agile work environment can lead to a tremendous boom for the company. But it must be supported by employees brought in with an agile mentality, which is why recruiters must know the right attributes when hiring employees for an agile workspace. To find these attributes, recruiters should interview candidates using behavioural questioning, which is one of the best methods to evaluate candidates. Since these traits are tangible, looking for hard evidence of these attributes can be challenging. However, recruiters can assess if the candidate is fit for an agile working environment through their interview answers.

4. Companies Looking for Talent in Other Countries 

Since more and more European companies are now adapting to a remote working environment, they are open to hiring people from different countries. In fact, recruiting global talent is a great advantage. It could strengthen company operations by attracting a diverse pool of skills to help companies succeed in today’s business environment.

When recruiting talents worldwide, companies increase the possibility of finding the best talents from a global pool of candidates. For instance, there’s currently a shortage of skills in certain occupations in Sweden. The best solution to this is to recruit from other countries such as Scotland. With remote working you could now find jobs in HR in Glasgow if you are based in the South East of England or even Sweden.

On the other hand, many job seekers have recognised the benefits of taking up jobs in another country. Working in another country could mean gaining new knowledge and experiences with plenty of opportunities to grow. What’s more, if a neighbouring country hires an employee from another side of the world, bridges are built between cultures, arousing curiosity and broadening horizons.

5. Diversity in Recruitment 

In order to have a diverse team of employees, most European companies are now trying to eliminate unconscious bias from their recruitment process by performing blind applications in identifying whom to recruit.  A diverse team can help companies be more creative, innovative and attain better results. It’s much easier to solve problems if an organisation consists of people with varying backgrounds and perspectives. Because of this, some forward thinking recruiters in ever moving industries like the luxury lifestyle and travel sector, such as Lightning Travel Recruitment, are now focusing on developing their diversity recruiting strategy.

Diversity in the workplace refers to the idea that a team must reflect the general makeup of the society surrounding you. It means having a team of employees with diverse backgrounds and experiences. It must also be applicable in gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic levels, experiences, religion, race, etc. 

Diversity in recurring is the process of hiring candidates free from any biases for or against any individual or a certain group of candidates. It still applies a merit-based recruitment strategy to find the best possible candidate. However, it is structured in such a way that all applicants will be given equal opportunity regardless of background, etc.