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How virtual recruitment can help brands stand out

Posted March 1, 2023
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Challenging circumstances can catalyze innovation.

Today's exacting macroeconomic conditions have created an exceedingly difficult hiring environment. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there'd still be more than 4 million unfilled positions even if every unemployed person in the U.S. found a job today. It's tough out there for companies looking to hire.

And it's not just on American soil either. This is a global challenge, and as a partner to disruptive brands around the world, it is one that TELUS Digital takes seriously. After all, to support our clients in designing, building and delivering innovative digital customer experiences, we have a constant need to bolster our own team. Likewise, given our clients tend to be on a scaling journey, they often look to us to help them with talent acquisition.

The labor shortage raises an important question: If there's more demand for talent than there is supply, how can employers stand out in the eyes of candidates?

The answer, as it turns out, may lie in applying inventive virtual recruitment ideas.

Benefits of virtual recruitment

An alternative to traditional, in-person hiring methods, virtual recruitment leverages technology to connect job seekers and employers remotely.

It became an essential practice for brands looking to fill vacant roles during the COVID-19 pandemic, but virtual recruitment's hold on hiring remains strong today. According to a survey conducted by LinkedIn, 70% of talent professionals say virtual recruitment will become the new standard.

At a basic level, you're swapping conference booths for online job fairs, boardroom interviews for video calls. But brands that stand out go further to create engaging and immersive digital experiences for their candidates. In fact, there is a growing interest, perhaps driven by wider metaverse trends, for brands to give job seekers the opportunity to maneuver through digital worlds so that they may develop an understanding of relevant career opportunities.

Consider the many benefits of innovative virtual recruitment:

  • Showcase your culture: Brands that embed relevant company videos and other media into their virtual recruitment spaces capitalize on a serious opportunity to showcase their corporate culture and the compelling facets of their open roles. With this approach, even before their first interview, candidates will be able to get a head start in learning about what your brand stands for and what being a part of your team would be like. This is a great opportunity to capture hearts and minds with examples of day-to-day life at your company, charitable giving, community initiatives and important accolades.
  • Differentiate your brand with immersion: With virtual recruitment, there is an opportunity to be novel and to encourage authenticity. For example, by enabling candidates to create custom avatars, with candidates choosing exactly how they'd like to present themselves. After creating their digital counterparts, candidates can have fun learning, exploring and even bumping into other members of your hiring team to get additional perspectives.
  • Introduce efficiency for all parties: When done right, virtual recruitment can be exceptionally efficient — and we're not just talking about sparing the commute to the interview. In some cases, brands seize the opportunity to bring the entire hiring process into their virtual strategies — from explanation of benefits, volunteer opportunities and role-specific training assessments. Less time and fewer hurdles means hiring companies can speak with more candidates, and individual candidates can make it through several steps of the process with ease.
  • Access the deepest talent pool: Faced with labor shortages, brands must take steps to maximize their talent pool, and virtual recruitment does exactly that. It only makes sense that brands hiring for remote roles should consider virtual recruitment, opening up opportunities to the best candidates, regardless of geographic location. Even for non-remote roles, virtual recruitment has advantages over traditional methods. Think, for example, of would-be candidates whose current roles preclude them from being able to travel to your offices during business hours, or of candidates who might feel disadvantaged for one reason or another when they are interviewed in person.

SPACE by TELUS Digital

Rising to the challenge of a crowded hiring environment and shifts in candidate expectations, SPACE by TELUS Digital (SPACE) is a virtual recruitment platform that stands out to job seekers with a fully immersive digital experience.

Upon introducing the platform, Albert Galarza, global vice president, human resources at TELUS Digital described its timely value: "Not only have businesses had to change the way they recruit and hire talent in a post-pandemic world, they have also realized the critical importance of making these processes resilient and agile by leveraging next-gen technologies, digital platforms and cloud architectures to maintain business continuity."

SPACE enhances the candidate experience in a variety of ways, including:

  • Speed: Through the platform, the speed of the application process is accelerated. Candidates can meet with multiple teams the same day, including the recruiter and hiring manager, cutting down on the time it takes for the candidate to go through the interview and hiring process.
  • Personalized and inclusive: Through the use of avatars, candidates can choose from a vast library of elements to create a virtual representation of their identity by personalizing their outfits, accessories and physical appearance, allowing them to present themselves as they wish to be seen.
  • Accessible: The platform is both mobile and desktop friendly and is accessible to anyone at any time, anywhere.
  • Culture: On the platform, candidates are able to engage with other departments, such as the benefits or talent acquisition teams, to get a better understanding of TELUS Digital and its unique caring culture.
  • Events: SPACE is not just for recruitment – the platform can host groups of up to 500 people for job fairs and features open spaces which can be used for other purposes, such as training and onboarding sessions. This reduces associated costs and helps new hires working in different locations to connect seamlessly.

Though it was only just launched in December of 2022, there have been 22 job fairs held on SPACE, creating a buzz that cuts through the noise in the crowded hiring market. But what's perhaps an even more emphatic early result is that we've already hired 575 team members through SPACE.

Achieve your loftiest recruitment goals

Sourcing and attracting talent isn't easy today, but brands can overcome challenges by partnering with an outsourcing provider that is willing to do things differently. A virtual recruitment platform like SPACE differentiates TELUS Digital in the talent market, facilitating our ability to scale our team in support of our client brands. If you're looking to grow your customer experience operation, reach out today to discuss how TELUS Digital can help you support your brand with the best and the brightest.


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