How have we continued to recruit and onboard candidates during a global pandemic?

Tiago shares how he has adapted our recruitment and onboarding process over the last year as he has successfully interviewed, offered and onboarded new starters virtually.

We know that starting a new job can be nerve-wracking at the best of times, but when you can't go to an office to meet new colleagues and be shown the systems and tools you will be working with, the reassurance we might usually receive from these rituals can be lost.

Onboarding new employees is a key part of any recruitment cycle and the stage when candidates get a real insight into the company, culture and processes. Replicating this when most of us are working from home is a challenge that Tiago Vintém, The Virtual Forge’s People and Culture Manager has had to embrace.

As The Virtual Forge has always been a virtual company, virtual by name, virtual by nature, with offices in multiple countries, Tiago explains that we have easily been able to adapt and work remotely without any face-to-face action required. This was the same when recruiting new candidates as we have, just like many others, been conducting interviews online. The real challenge here of course is building rapport with the interviewee, being able to know if they will fit in with the company and vice versa.

Tiago recruits across all the locations The Virtual Forge operates in, as demonstrated below:

Tiago has onboarded many new team members over the past year and when possible, new employees have been in the office for around a week, following government guidelines, which has benefitted both the new starter and their manager as they are able to easily explain the systems, email and internal tools they will be using. After their initial onboarding, all new starters worked from home and will not be back in the office until all restrictions have lifted.

One of Tiago’s key goals is to make new team members feel welcome. Regular check ins with the HR team and our Directors, and open lines of communication have been our go to way of managing this during the pandemic. Increased updates on the company performance help new team members understand the company as whole, all our clients and are a useful introduction to the company beyond the projects they may be working on. These elements have been crucial as our normal methods of onboarding, such as team socials have not been possible.

Recruiting over the past year has also been a challenge as people have been afraid of moving on during this unstable period where we have seen unemployment rise in many industries. The technology industry has always been an extremely competitive market and this past year has been no different. We’ve had to ensure that VF stands out and demonstrates it’s difference to our competitors. Tiago states “our employer branding is really important, our social posts, our website, the feedback from our existing team members is all really good and helps to build our brand within the industry to help us secure the talent we need.”

Over the last year The Virtual Forge have recruited numerous new team members and currently some open job roles. Take a look at these here: https://thevirtualforge.com/careers/