Keys to taking advantage of remote interviewing

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to re-evaluate all aspects of how they conduct their daily activities. This is especially true with the hiring process which, since the invention of the office, has mostly depended on the old-fashioned handshake and in-person interviews.

In our collective streak of bad luck with the crisis, we can at least acknowledge that many in the workforce can be thankful that we live in a software-powered age that has afforded the transition to remote work without too much friction.

For talent acquisition professionals in particular, the availability of remote hiring tools has allowed employers – especially those in essential industries – to continue hiring activities and meet important staffing demands.

While technologies like remote interviewing have surfaced in a big way due to the crisis, employers are also seeing the evergreen benefits of adopting these tools for the long term.

By design, software improves processes and simplifies tasks. Often these improvements translate into material advantages to productivity and time savings. Once organizations experience these benefits firsthand, they will be hesitant to reverse course.

One emerging type of remote interviewing solution of note is on-demand interviewing, which allows candidates to record their interview questions at their own convenience – including nights and weekends – which greatly simplifies the interviewing process for both recruiters and job candidates.

So instead of scheduling interviews during limited windows of time during business hours, recruiters can effectively interview larger volumes of candidates in a shorter period of time, effectively eliminating the bottle neck that often challenges that part of the hiring process.

Implementing remote interviewing

To take full advantage of the benefits of remote interviewing it is important to think beyond video conferencing. For most organizations, the hiring process is a well-established machine that is often intertwined with other processes and systems.

For that reason, companies should leverage tools that are flexible enough to not only fit into that well-oiled process but also capable of improving pieces within that workflow through either automation or other efficiencies.

• Does the software solution integrate into your existing ATS or HCM system so that your recruiters can leverage the tools without having to log into a separate software system?
• Does the service allow you to rate or rank candidates? Does the software securely store sensitive candidate data?
• Are recruiters able to easily collaborate with hiring managers or other stakeholders?
• Are you able to get a live person on the phone if help is needed and will that person understand the unique challenges of talent acquisition professionals?
• Does the vendor provide training to ensure success of using the product or is the service completely self-service with little human support?

Another consideration is the flexibility of the remote hiring tool to fit a number of hiring scenarios and situations. For example, while video-based interviews sound appealing to organizations because it more closely matches the experience of an in-person interview, we must be sensitive to that fact that not all candidates are comfortable communicating through a web camera.

An on-demand audio interview will consistently produce higher candidate engagement rates versus an on-demand video interview due to comfort levels between the mediums.

As such, it may be advisable to select a solution that offers multiple methods so your organization can select the most appropriate method based on the job type.

Interviewing onsite & remote

It is important to make clear that the benefits of remote interviewing extend beyond the discussion around remote work and remote workers. The advantages clearly apply to onsite jobs types as well.

As an organization, remote interviews provide an opportunity to compress the hiring timeline through efficiencies; it delivers a faster and better candidate experience; and perhaps most importantly, it gives employers an edge getting to their top candidates faster, increasing the likelihood of making the hire.

Now that organizations have made their immediate pivots to adjust to the new normal, the next course of action is to take a step back and understand if they are using the best tools for their long-term needs.

For remote interviewing, this could be an opportunity to transform your hiring process for the better moving forward.

For more information

Join training and guidance expert Michelle Coussens for our in-depth workshop, Managing Change in the Workplace: How to Cultivate an Agile Team, live on July 30, then available on-demand.

In this 60-minute workshop, you’ll learn how to use strategic incremental sprints and micro goals to develop adaptable employees. You’ll learn:

• How to identify and rid your workplace of fear-based thinking
• Steps to map and realign roles and responsibilities in real time
• Tools to assess organizational health and status in line with evolving internal and external changes
• Tips to optimize momentum while avoiding excessive stress

Registration and details are available here.