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Filling vacancies virtually
Virtual career fairs are here to stay, offering flexibility and timesaving benefits for farms and agribusinesses.
3 Min Read
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Virtual recruiting, including career fairs and interviews, were catching on before COVID, but now they’ve become the norm. Even though the pandemic was and still is frustrating for employers, many have discovered new ways to operate that are more efficient and successful. Virtual recruiting was one of these successes. Some virtual recruitment benefits organizations noted:
Conserve Time and Money: No travel time for the interviewer or candidate.
Speed: Moving quicker through the hiring process, ease of scheduling.
Diversity: Recruiting methods typically focused on your local area, or familiar organizations and college programs. Virtual allows you to extend your reach to different locations, groups of people, even varied educations and experiences.
Inclusive: The ability to invite remote coworkers to be involved in the interviewing process
Touchy Subjects: Handshakes, masks, vaccinations. Virtual career fairs and online interviews eliminate the need to even approach those subjects.
Flexibility: Candidates can schedule interviews over lunch or log into a virtual career fair between classes or on a break.
Safety: Eliminate additional exposure to all illnesses during recruitment, not just COVID! One of the primary methods agricultural employers use to compete for new talent is a “safe & healthy work environment” as reported in our 2021 Agribusiness HR Review.
Consistency: Virtual interviews lend themselves to more consistency and can therefore reduce bias.
Formality: Online interactions are often more informal, allowing the employer and the candidate a better glimpse at how they function in daily life.
More good news
Going from in-person interviews to virtual, “Many employers report that nothing was lost but the handshake,” notes Cynthia Cole, Recruitment Manager for De Lacy Executive Recruitment. The vast majority of participants in AgCareers.com’s virtual career fairs said the virtual events were as good as, or better than, in-person fairs.
Careers in agriculture and food remain secure and essential. To continue to build this vital industry and ensure that it continues to thrive, there is an urgent need for qualified talent to fill the workforce gap the industry faces.
Employers need people and obviously can’t put a halt on all recruitment activities. In the uncertainty, virtual recruitment events are a safety net for this fall and beyond. They’re confirmed to continue despite what happens in our ever-changing world. Virtual career fairs are here to stay with the flexibility and timesaving benefits they offer.
AgCareers.com began hosting virtual career fairs four years before anyone heard of COVID. Recognizing the essential need for staffing the agriculture and food industry during the pandemic, AgCareers.com launched the nationwide Feed Your Future initiative in 2020. This extensive initiative virtually connects agriculture and food employers with candidates across the country through a series of region-specific virtual career fairs. The 2021-2022 season of regional fairs begins Oct. 14 in the Midwest. There are also special career fairs to connect with FFA members and alumni, skilled trade candidates, and college students.
Find out more and register for Feed Your Future events.
The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.
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