The pandemic has ushered in a new era of remote hiring, pushing up demand for “new collar jobs,” or skilled positions that don’t require a Bachelor’s degree and often require specialized skills or technical know-how.
In the new normal of job recruiting, more companies are moving to a digital-first recruitment approach, employers are casting a wider geographic net to reach recent grads and young professionals entering the workforce.
As a result, new collar jobs ranging from computer information system management to data analytics to marketing and graphic design, are expanding and shaping the digital economy that is to come. “It’s allowing employers to challenge the status quo and open up their school network,” CEO and co-founder of Handshake Garrett Lord told FOX Business.
Companies are now “realizing that they can do everything they did before with high-quality candidate experience and a lower cost per hire and build a more diverse incoming recruiting class,” added Lord, “And I don’t think we will go back to the way things were done before.”
JOB MARKET SHOWS ‘VERY STRONG TRENDS’, US LABOR SECRETARY SAYS
Handshake, a career network and recruiting platform, recently raised 80 million in Series D funding round to expand its efforts behind virtual and remote job fairs. As a company that helps students find their first job and with nearly 50,000 companies and over 1,000 universities on its software, Lord predicts that at least 10,000 more companies will tap into the virtual recruiting process by the end of the Fall season.
For many companies, sourcing more diverse talent from non-traditional institutions through remote hiring has helped close the digital and opportunity divide.
CHOBANI TO BOOST MINIMUM WAGE TO $15 PER HOUR
Computing giant, Dell Technologies, is broadening its recruiting efforts to include community college and apprenticeship programs for roles that require a two-year degree, versus the traditional four-year college route. Starting in Spring 2021, Dell will begin recruiting from nearly two dozen community colleges. This should open up new career opportunities at Dell for people with two-year degrees, according to Dell’s Director of University Recruiting Jennifer Newbill.
Under Armour has also capitalized on the benefits of virtual recruitment increasing by 40 fold the number of colleges in its recruitment pool from just a handful of schools near its Baltimore headquarters to more than nearly 500 schools nationwide.
Cloud content management company, Box, has also grown its list of just six recruiting colleges to a total of 629. After expanding its qualified pipeline by thousands of students, it has seen 84% of new applications outside of its home in California.