As a full service recruiting and staffing firm, we’re with our clients step-by-step throughout the hiring process. For the past few months, an added challenge for many of our clients has been navigating the hiring process virtually.
Whether you’re hiring for a remote role or hosting interviews on Zoom for the first time, here are some of our top tips for hiring in our virtual world.
- Leverage video technology for the virtual interview process.
Meeting a candidate for the first time on a video call can feel awkward or intimidating, but there are a lot of benefits for employers who can leverage video technology for interviews. For starters, using video is a close second to getting to meet the candidate in person. You’re able to have a personal conversation, read facial expressions, and get a good sense of a person’s ability to communicate online. If you use Zoom or other technology, you also have the ability to record the interview sessions to review or share with teammates.
A few things to keep in mind when conducting video interviews: it’s your job as the employer to set the bar. Send clear instructions to the candidates and dress professionally, just like you would for an in-person interview. Set yourself up at a desk or table (not a couch and never a bed!) somewhere free of distractions.
And be forgiving about technology mishaps. If necessary, help the candidate facilitate their audio and video options so that both of you are able to focus on the interview questions rather than the technology.
- Assess for personality and soft skills.
It’s tempting when we’re hiring for a remote position or conducting virtual interviews to focus more on hard skills than soft skills. If a candidate’s going to be working from home, it’s important for us to know they’ve got the right skillset to do the job.
At the same time, though, skills like organization, communication, and time management are essential for employees who aren’t coming into an office every day. At Risch Results, we have a number of different assessments and tools we use to assess soft skills, motivation, and personality.
- Have a virtual onboarding plan.
Once you’ve made an offer, have a plan for getting your new hire acquainted with the systems, processes, and people they’ll need to know within your company. Will you need to set up Zoom meetings with teams? Do you need to create tutorial videos for programs or systems? Will they need to sign paperwork virtually? Set clear expectations for their first 30, 60, and 90 days, and help to facilitate the process.
We love tools like Loom for creating and narrating easy screen-recording videos or sending video messages. Google Drive and Dropbox are great places to share files, and Docusign makes it easy to receive e-signatures.
- Build your company culture into the virtual hiring process.
Finally, remember that candidates are also interviewing you. If you want to attract the right talent, showcase your company culture throughout the process. Can you display the company logo proudly in the background during the interview process? Do you have effective processes in place throughout the hiring process that make you an attractive company to work for? Have you found ways to include team members who can give a sense of company culture? Are there virtual welcome meetings or team building activities after you make an offer? There are plenty of creative ways to weave your culture into a virtual landscape.
If hiring virtually feels overwhelming, we’re here to help. Contact us with your virtual hiring questions!