Virtual Recruiting: Everything You Need to Know
Virtual recruiting is a relatively new yet effective and convenient practice. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of technology, it has gained more popularity in recent years. Also, it is easy, quick, and effective. In this article, you’ll learn all about virtual recruiting, its pros and cons, as well as the way to find a suitable virtual recruiting assistant.
How Virtual Recruiting Works
The term covers all the recruiting and HR processes done virtually with the help of phones, the internet, and computers. Remote recruiting agencies help businesses find suitable candidates without a need for face-to-face meetings.
This is possible due to several hardware and software tools, such as:
- Video interviewing applications;
- Virtual event software programs;
- Various chatbots and apps for easy communication;
- Email and videoconferencing solutions.
Virtual recruiting services mean working with a professional agency or specialist that can perform all the recruiting tasks for you remotely. A business needs to set the requirements and specify what professionals it is looking for. After that, the recruiter will start looking for candidates, screening them, and conducting interviews.
This works for almost any industry as there are excellent technical recruiters as well as the means to assess one’s skills online.
There are several reasons why recruiting as a service becomes increasingly popular all over the world. First of all, it is a safe and convenient way to interview a lot of candidates for such situations as the global pandemic. Secondly, it is often quicker and more efficient than traditional methods. Doing everything online saves a lot of time for recruiters and candidates. And thirdly, it cuts the costs of the process dramatically.
Overall, professional virtual recruiting companies offer such services as:
- Talent search;
- Talent assessment;
- Interviews;
- Screening;
- Skill evaluation;
- Shortlisting.
As a result, a business gets a short list of excellent and proven candidates to choose from for their needs. Huge enterprises might have a virtual recruiter as a part of their in-house team. But for small and medium-sized companies it often is not reasonable to have such a specialist full-time. Instead, they can collaborate with professional agencies.
Benefits of Virtual Recruiting
Several pros and cons come with remote recruiting. Let’s start with the advantages this method offers.
Benefits of virtual recruiting:
- It is cost-efficient. It is significantly more affordable than hosting career fairs, printing out brochures, or covering transportation costs for a recruiter doing face-to-face interviews. All the onboarding can also take place remotely, which is also financially beneficial. Overall, it saves a lot of costs for a company.
- Access to talent. With the help of virtual recruiting software, a business can hire a professional from any part of the world. This dramatically increases the talent pool you can access. So if a particular expertise is not available locally, you can still find the right specialists elsewhere. Also, if you are looking for talent in another country, it is great to collaborate with a virtual assistant recruiter from the same location as they know the market and all its specifics.
- Adjusting to new opportunities. During the COVID-19 times, virtual recruiting was the only choice for many companies. Although it is not the case anymore, adapting to changes is a powerful opportunity. It gives one a competitive edge and more flexibility in the market.
- Quicker results. An excellent remote recruiting agency offers the ability to save a lot of time on hiring. The method comes with more structure, faster interviews, and less time wasted on transportation or setting interviews. Arranging a call is easier than finding time to meet face-to-face. Professionals can screen more candidates in less time, which makes the process incredibly efficient.
- Less bias. Often the case, meeting a person offline might come with a hiring bias. But with things done online, this issue is almost completely resolved. This provides better chances for businesses and candidates at the same time.
- It improves candidates’ experience. It is as convenient for talent as for a company, which is always a plus.
And in many cases, it is the only way to overcome obstacles like long distances or the inability to meet offline. However, any process has its cons or rather limitations.
Cons of virtual recruiting:
- Technical acumen and potential issues. Not only do recruiters need to be great at specific tools and solutions but candidates as well. This might require some patience and a plan b for any potential technical issues that can occur.
- Distractions during interviews. As candidates often participate in online interviews from home, there might be distractions that will disperse their focus. This requires discipline and professionalism from candidates.
- Reading non-verbal signs becomes more challenging for recruiters. For example, a hiring professional might not see some of the movements and gestures, which makes an assessment of talent more complex.
These cons can be overcome with experience and proper planning. That’s why it is essential to work with the top virtual recruiting companies that know exactly how to do that.
Factors to Keep in Mind
Whether you are looking for an online HRIS consultant or a recruiting coordinator remote, it is important to keep several factors in mind.
First of all, the process has to adhere to the same standards as traditional hiring when it comes to regulations and compliance. Virtual campus recruiting needs to be legal and non-discriminatory according to the legal acts. That’s why it is beneficial to work with a local virtual recruiter when outsourcing as they are more knowledgeable of the local regulations.
Secondly, it is essential for technical recruitment solutions used in the process to integrate with the systems a company already uses. This ensures automation, seamless onboarding, and scheduling.
Thirdly, there should be more attention to ensuring a cultural fit. A business interested in virtual reality recruiting should elaborate for the agency exactly what they are looking for. When communicating online this might be trickier, which requires a lot of expertise from a recruiter.
Virtual Recruiting in Other Countries
Often, companies partner with a virtual IT recruiter when they are looking for talent in another country. There are several reasons why this is a great idea, namely:
- Local professionals know the work market better in terms of talent, salaries, regulations, and expectations;
- Local recruiters live in the same time zone as candidates thus the process will be smooth and comfortable for both parties;
- Virtual recruiters understand the cultural specifics and differences that play an integral part in assessing the company’s fit.
- Also, partnering with virtual recruiting companies from another country is often more budget-friendly.
Moreover, an excellent agency or professional helps to overcome common obstacles a company might face when hiring a professional remotely. These obstacles are:
- Assessment of soft skills requires not only analysis of body language but also an understanding of local culture and habits;
- Technical issues, time differences, and connectivity;
- Conflicting schedules of the recruiters and candidates. If a professional is not devoted to this particular process, they might have a hard time finding a suitable time for all the interviews and candidates;
- Language barriers might make a candidate’s assessment harder. But if a recruiter is from the same country, they have more means of communication with a candidate in terms of language.
- Background checks. This is another obstacle where knowing local culture, language, and user habits are essential. This ensures a proper background check and screening process.
The best remote recruiting companies help overcome all of these difficulties and find just the right candidate for a business. For example, Mobilunity has a successful case of partnering with a company from Japan. Mobilunity has more than 10 years of experience when it comes to virtual recruiting. This allowed us to find the best suitable candidates for Japanese online music service.
In 2020, the company reached out to Mobilunity as it wanted to expand its team with Ukrainian talent. As a result of collaboration, Mobiluntiy successfully built a dedicated team of specialists and scaled it up. In two months, the team found 145 potential candidates, received 13 CVs, interviewed 6 professionals, and created a short list of 4 best candidates for the client. As the business wanted a person to join the in-house team, Mobilunity focused on Tokyo-based professionals and those who are willing to relocate.
Recruiting Service vs Hiring a Dedicated Recruiter
When it comes to virtual recruiting services, a business can go one of two ways – choose a recruiting service or hire a dedicated professional. Each has its specifics, so the choice depends on particular needs and expectations. Here is a comparison table to evaluate all the pros and cons.
| Comparison Factor | Recruiting Service | Dedicated Recruiter |
| Longevity | It is fast and efficient, but often is project-based | Also fast and efficient and usually used for continuous cooperation |
| Cost | Cost-efficient | Cost-efficient |
| Involvement | The agency helps resolve a particular issue like finding a top-notch VR engineer for a new project | The dedicated recruiter works full-time for a company to cover all the pending recruiting needs. |
| Suitability | Great for short or smaller projects, for example, when a company needs one specialist or part-time expertise. | Great for continuous or big projects like building a team of professionals or a constant flow of vacancies |
Virtual Recruiter Salary
Working with a remote recruiting agency can be even more cost-efficient if you partner with a provider from another country. Salary rates highly depend on the geographical location of professionals. Here are the average monthly rates for virtual recruiters in 5 countries for comparison.
*Ukrainian salaries are provided based on Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets. All salaries are net and do not include the service fee (in case of hiring on a dedicated team model). The salaries are provided for comparison purposes and could be not entirely accurate. Contact us to know the exact cost of hiring a developer corresponding to the required parameters.
As you can see, working with a virtual assistant recruiter in Ukraine is more budget-friendly than with a same-level professional in the US or the UK.
Mobilunity – Your Virtual Recruiting Assistant
Mobilunity is a Ukrainian company that has been offering virtual recruiting for over a decade. We’ve worked with many companies from all over the world to find top talent for their unique needs. This is your chance to outsource HR functions!
Mobilunity offers both pure recruitment services when a company needs a few positions to be filled and dedicated recruiters if you need to handle a constant flow of vacancies. We’ve already built more than 50 dedicated teams for clients from more than 15 countries. Our team has experience in finding the best talent and matching them with our clients. With our help, more than 500 professionals were hired.
We provide our services in several steps:
- Gather client needs;
- Create an ideal candidate profile;
- Source potential candidates;
- Shortlist candidates according to the profile and CVs;
- Conduct interviews and screenings;
- Arrange interviews of the top candidates with the client;
- The client hires the best talent.
Mobilunity offers a personalized approach, flexible cooperation, and quick delivery time. Some of the clients we already helped with recruiting are Zenchef (France), ICUC Social (Canada), Qrates (Japan), Pafin (Japan), Booqable (Netherlands), 42 Matters (Switzerland), and Chip In (UK).
Our experience and excellent team allow us to be confident that we can find the best talent for your unique business needs.
Virtual Assistants: A Valuable Addition to Your Recruiting Process
In addition to virtual recruiting, another valuable resource for businesses looking to streamline operations is the use of virtual assistants.
A virtual assistant is a remote professional who can handle a wide range of administrative, marketing, and customer service tasks, freeing up your time to focus on more strategic activities. Whether you’re overwhelmed with daily tasks or simply want to improve efficiency, a virtual assistant can be the perfect solution.
Looking for the best virtual recruiting services in Ukraine? Contact Mobilunity!
All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.
