How To: Recruit Virtually
How can you maximise the available technology to enhance and streamline a stress-free virtual recruitment system, not just for the recruiter, but for the candidate, too?
Virtual recruitment has been the answer for global companies for many years, when a situation prevents you meeting with a candidate face-to-face, and now, in the current climate, it’s more important than ever to understand how to implement it successfully. In this blog post, we’ll look at the ways in which we can adapt the recruitment process – from CV submission to office tour – to reap the benefits of tools, such as: virtual recruitment events, competency-based interviewing, remote interviewing and more, for candidates and clients alike.
So, what exactly are the benefits of recruiting online? Well, here’s just a few:
More flexible and time-efficient – virtual interviews are much more efficient to conduct and can be arranged around your own schedule, while one-way video interviewing eliminates the need for an interviewer altogether.
Less costly – saving time also means saving money, and moving interviews online removes potential costs associated with face-to-face meetings, and may allow you to reduce your estate of meeting rooms.
More accessible – incorporating technology into the recruitment process makes providing increased accessibility more achievable and ensures that your opportunities are available to those with specific needs.
Next, let’s explore the recruitment process from start to finish, taking note of all the ways you can use virtual recruitment methods to your advantage.
Let’s start at the beginning…
Have no fear, it’s not all a leap into the unknown – the process of finding candidates can still begin in a familiar territory: an advert on your website or Job Board followed by an application form, gathering key information from the applicant including a CV and cover letter, which, once submitted, collates in your recruitment system.
Whilst this process is commonplace, it’s important to discover ways for your organisation to stand out from the crowd and draw potential applicants to available roles. So, how do we use this opportunity to enhance the candidate experience?
Virtual Recruitment Events
Consider asking your team to set aside 1 hour on a chosen date to host a virtual event via Zoom (or similar platform), promoting your current opportunities and speaking with prospective candidates. Share the details of your event across your social channels and mailing list, making sure to include the date and time, information on anything the candidate should prepare, and all relevant software and equipment required. Remember, this isn’t the interview, but a fantastic way to introduce your organisation and potentially discover talent.
When constructing your event, ensure there is a clear and straight-forward flow for all participants. This could begin with a landing page where candidates register and provide their details, opening up to an introduction of your organisation and meet and greet with your team. By using the Breakout Room function, you could then distribute participants into smaller groups, or even one-to-ones with a recruiter to discuss specific roles, and finish up by bringing everyone back together for a Q&A session. As the event comes to a close, run an in-Zoom poll to understand whether the experience was positive and valuable, and follow up with a thank you email.
By hosting a virtual recruitment event, your organisation is taking strides in making the process more physically accessible, and it’s possible to enhance this even further with some platforms providing a facility to offer captioning services to those who may require it, making your event fully inclusive.
Although this may not be suitable to every organisation, by allowing your process to be adaptable, you may discover ways to set algorithms aside and humanise the process.
The Human Touch
Now that technology has a permanent place at the recruitment table, it’s paramount to the efficiency of your organisation that you use it to your advantage. A common criticism of virtual recruitment is that it removes any potential interpersonal connection from the process, so instead of sending emails back and forth and arranging phone calls, consider adopting a video interview facility as part of your hiring process. This will enable you to see beyond words on a screen, and cut straight to simulating as close to a face-to-face interview as possible, whilst simultaneously reducing the candidate’s travel expenditure, and perhaps more importantly, your time to hire.
At Westwood Harris Burns, we use a platform called Hinterview, which allows us to send short videos to candidates and clients, screen potential candidates, and conduct video interviews, which we can then send directly to our client. This feature of our process gives us an opportunity to understand the candidate’s communicative skills and whether they are a good culture fit for the organisation. Additionally, we could assign question prompts and distribute these to applicants, where they could respond via video in their own time, providing flexibility for both candidates and recruiters. For example, after your Virtual Recruitment Event, you may well have discovered a wealth of talent suited to your available opportunities, and if you wish to progress them to a final interview stage, you could schedule an interview with both the candidate and a panel, record it for consideration, and submit this to your client. If you were utilising a platform such as Zoom, you may wish to utilise the Breakout Room facility to run assessments, and also share your screen for presentations.
Overall, the ability to see and hear the candidate allows us to speed up the hiring process and only progress the candidates who we have confidence in. Therefore, offering a facility such as Hinterview will not only make your hiring process efficient, accessible and cost-effective, but also allow you to establish a human connection with the prospective employee.
Onboarding
So, you’ve made your decision and a new team member is ready for their first day at the company. At this point, virtual recruitment has helped both you and the candidate determine that they’re well-suited to the organisation and a good fit for the role, but adjusting to the new working environment might still present some anxiety for your new employee.
With that in mind, here’s a few ways technology can be used to help make the onboarding process as positive and seamless as possible for your successful candidate.
A virtual office tour – record a short video to introduce the new team member to their working environment, explaining where they’ll spend their working day and how the office functions.
Online meet and greets – ask each member of your team to submit a short introductory video, detailing a bit about themselves and their role within the company to facilitate the seamless integration of the new employee.
A day-in-the-life video – it might be useful to take the successful candidate through a typical day in their role, breaking down their general responsibilities, potential issues, and points of contact.
A welcome meeting – finally, why not organise a quick meeting between yourself and the new starter via Zoom or Skype, to answer any questions they may have about the onboarding process?
Final Thoughts
And there you have it. You’ve successfully maximised the impact of your virtual recruitment process and facilitated the seamless integration of a new employee into your team, all from the comfort of your desktop.
Whilst remote hiring might not be every recruiter’s preferred method, it’s important to remember that it is completely possible to match - and even surpass - the effectiveness of the face-to-face interview, as long as we learn to harness the power of technology, maintain a human connection, and consider the wellbeing of the candidate.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss further, please visit our Get In Touch page, where we’d be happy to continue the conversation.
Westwood Harris Burns are specialists in Executive Search and Senior Finance appointments within the Public Sector; with particular expertise in NHS, Housing and Charity Sectors. With over 60 years combined experience, we have extensive knowledge of the market, proven track records and established networks, allowing us to provide a wide range of services to both clients and candidates alike.
To learn more about how we can support you to either build your team or career, visit our Get In Touch page.
