Amidst the rising concern over COVID-19, many workplaces are offering greater flexibility in their work from home and remote employee policies. In fact, working from home has been one of the biggest recommendations to come out of the CDC, who’ve urged workers to stay home if they or a family member falls ill.
We have already seen the economic impact of people limiting their normal daily activities. What will that look like for businesses once their normal in-office 9-5 has been disrupted? And more specifically for TA professionals, how will a predominantly remote or WFH workforce impact interviewing and hiring goals?
Results from a survey conducted by Talent Board show that 22% of organizations believe Coronavirus measures will disrupt or impact in-person interviews and subsequently, 37% will look to digital interviews as a solution. Here are three ways to incorporate digital interviewing into your existing hiring process in order to accommodate an increasingly remote workforce.
Replace Phone Screens With On-Demand Digital Interviews
While phone screens are already a remote task, they require a large amount of manual work upfront and continuous meetings to vet and review candidates. On-demand interviews bring all of this work online.
Rather than emailing back and forth to schedule a call, candidates receive a link to record their interview answers at their convenience. Once submitted, the entire hiring team can leave live feedback, assessments, and ratings for later review – eliminating the need for multiple meetings and bringing top candidates into focus early on in the hiring process.
Swap out On-sites for Live Digital Interviews
Live interviews differ from on-demand interviews in that candidates talk to interviewers in real-time and can meet with multiple interviewers. Therefore, it’s a great option to use in place of your traditional in-person interviews as it allows the hiring team to meet and interact with candidates face-to-face.
Swapping out in-person interviews for live digital interviews is simple. You’ll follow the same process of inviting candidates to the next round of interviews, but rather than preparing candidates for their visit onsite you’ll want to prep them with video interviewing best practices to ensure a seamless experience. You can use this guide to help inform candidates of those best practices.
Offer A Virtual Coffee Chat
Many organizations make an effort to give candidates a true taste of a day in the life of their employees. In turn, hiring teams can get a better sense of candidate fit beyond the job description. This can take on many forms: team lunches, company events, happy hours, and one-on-one coffee chats to name a few.
While these informal meetings are likely the first to go under Coronavirus measures, you don’t have to miss out on them completely. Instead, offer candidates a chance to chat one-on-one with any teammate or employee of their choosing via a virtual coffee chat. Set the expectations that these virtual chats are completely for their benefit and are not a further assessment. This will allow them to more easily connect with the team member on a personal level and ask any lingering questions they may have.
Pro tip: Make it fun by sending them a virtual Starbucks gift card prior to the meet. While it would be extra fun if your candidate joined the video call with a steaming coffee in their hands, the true objective is to set the tone of the conversation as casual and informal – just two people catching up over a cup of joe!
Taking the necessary precautions for the well-being of your employees shouldn’t translate into a loss of productivity and slow down in hiring. By taking a few (virtual) adaptations to your hiring process, you can continue achieving hiring goals throughout 2020 and beyond. Interested in learning more about implementing digital interviewing at your organization? Chat with one of our product experts today:
