HR managers influence the success of the company significantly in three areas: in recruiting, in onboarding, and in further education. In doing so, they are constantly faced with the question: digital or face-to-face?
Three stages to qualified employees
Human resources managers know: a company's greatest asset is its employees. You decide on the success of employees in three areas: in recruiting, in onboarding, and finally on the job itself, in the form of further education.
Three stages to success in HR: recruiting, onboarding, and further education. Source: blink.it
In all three stages, you as an HR manager have the choice between digital or analog measures. Or a good mix of both! Important note: you can only decide on the format once the objective has been established. Read more in the article "Whether e-learning or seminar: Adapt the format to the goal!"
Overview: Digital and analog formats in the HR sector
| Recruiting | Onboarding | Further Education |
Digital | E-recruiting | Online courses or video calls | E-learning |
Digital + Analog |
| Blended onboarding | Blended learning |
Analog | Trade fairs | classic on-the-job training | Face-to-face seminars |
In onboarding and further education, digital methods have been known and tested for some time. In recruiting, on the other hand, many HR managers only broke new ground as a result of the Corona pandemic. In this context, you have certainly already come across the buzzword "e-recruiting".
E-recruiting
The term "e-recruiting" covers all areas of recruitment using digital measures. And that is quite a range! Here are just a few examples of online recruiting measures:
Job postings in online job boards
Careers page and career blog
Virtual tours of the company
Video calls for job interviews
Some of the measures mentioned have been established for some time. For example, almost all companies now post their jobs on corresponding online portals. Other measures such as chatbots or virtual assessment centers are still very rare.
As with other digital formats, the crucial point in e-recruiting lies in good preparation. Professor Christof Obermann, author of the book "Assessment Center – Entwicklung, Durchführung, Trends", agrees:
Just like in other video conferences, I have to be prepared much more precisely in the online assessment center.
Professor Christof Obermann in an interview with Jan Schulte
However, unlike onboarding or further education, recruiting is not a typical learning process. There is therefore no such thing as "blended recruiting". Nevertheless, the rule also applies to recruiting: choose the best of both worlds! There is nothing to be said against a good mix of analog and digital. Digital measures are particularly useful in the early stages of recruiting. For example, in the form of automated tests or questionnaires.
Once the suitable candidate for the new position has been determined, the next hot phase in HR begins: onboarding and usually also the probationary period.
Blended onboarding
In onboarding, too, some HR managers have not yet arrived in the digital age. Yet induction training in particular works wonderfully with a mix of face-to-face and digital methods. The table above shows: just like further education, onboarding is also a learning process that works best in a "blended" variant – as blended onboarding.
Reading tip: In our blog you will find a whole range of articles on the topic of onboarding: blink.it/tag/onboarding
Successful onboarding contributes significantly to the success of the probationary period. Does the new employee feel comfortable? Can he or she use their own skills efficiently? Then nothing stands in the way of a long-term commitment to the company! Now, in addition to day-to-day work, one aspect is particularly helpful for success: personal development in the form of training courses. Which leads us to the third stage in HR – corporate further education.
Blended learning
E-recruiting and blended onboarding are followed by blended learning: you have searched for, found and inducted a suitable employee – and now you want to help them perform at their best! Blended learning is the best way to achieve sustainable learning success.
Reading tip: You can also find numerous articles about blended learning in the blog: blink.it/tag/blended-learning
Unfortunately, 2-day seminars are still the classic form of corporate further education in many companies. Yet the success is demonstrably higher when learning takes place a) over a longer period, b) in small bites and c) with a high degree of practical relevance. That is why blended learning has been the most popular method for professional further education for years, as studies prove year after year.
Example: 3 different models in blended learning
3 typical models in blended learning: Springer, Reiher, and Sandwich. Source: blink.it
Conclusion: From e-recruiting to blended onboarding
With the three mentioned stages for employee success, a good mix of digital and classic methods is generally sensible. In this context, "a good mix" does not automatically mean 50-50! Because in HR, too, the rule is: adapt the format to the goal, not the other way around!
Digital, analog or both? The trends in recruiting, onboarding and further education are moving in the following direction:
E-recruiting: job advertisements and assessment centers take place digitally, while face-to-face measures are more useful for getting to know each other better.
Blended onboarding: induction takes place partly face-to-face, partly digitally – for example in the form of an accompanying online course.
Blended learning: further education with the best mix of online and offline. This is how employees remain successful in the long term.
What do the three stages of HR look like in your company? Do you see other formats for the long-term success of employees? Please feel free to leave us a message!
