The remote hiring process provides you with an opportunity to present your employer brand in an engaging way and if managed effectively will create a positive impact on your prospective employees.
Whilst face to face contact is almost always the preference, right now it isn’t possible, and tech is the great enabler in supporting a smooth remote hiring process in the absence of the face to face interview.
To get the best results tech platforms should be used in conjunction with communication and conversation, not in isolation.
Stage One: Candidate attraction
As well as outlining key roles and responsibilities in a written job advert, video advertising is a great way to elevate your brand and reach a wider audience when attracting talent remotely.
Be sure to showcase the benefits of working at your organisation, job development opportunities and any requirements of the role so that applicants can decide if it is right for them. Use video to engage your audience and cut through the noise on job boards and social platforms. Even if you don’t have a dedicated video platform within your tech stack, you can film on a mobile phone or laptop. Make sure it is positioned at eye height, on a level surface and wear something comfortable but professional.
Stage Two: Digital CV profiles
Using digital profiles will help you to understand whether a candidate has the right technical skills and cultural fit to join your team and your organisation.
Video interview and profiling tools enable you to arrange a set of questions that are tailored to your organisation, as well as protecting the privacy of candidate and bringing their CV, career history and personality to life. In our experience, employers have been so assured about candidates from video CV profiles, that immediate hiring decisions have been made off the back of viewing them.
If your organisation doesn’t already have access to a tool like this, there are a few to choose from in the market. We recommend partnering with a platform that enables you to tailor questions to suit your employer brand, allows candidates to re-record their answers and has robust privacy and security processes. Alternatively, you can partner with a recruitment consultancy that is already equipped with the technology to facilitate this part of the process on your behalf.
Stage Three: Live Interviews
If you do progress candidates to the interview stage, then using tools such as Zoom, Skype or Microsoft Teams is a great way to create a virtual meeting experience without the physical face-to-face contact.
Having a video call with someone you haven’t met before, coupled with potential tech issues, means you could run into some awkward silences. The best way to tackle them is to be prepared for them and use them as an opportunity to put your potential employee at ease. Encourage the person you are interviewing to test their tech a few minutes before you have your meeting to avoid any potential issues.
Be creative. Every candidate will be prepared for commonplace interview questions and whilst these should still be included, by asking questions in a creative way you will be able to truly understand how a person thinks and ensure that you leave the interview feeling confident about whether the candidate is the right person to join your team.
