Although we have many reasons to feel like life has simply stopped, it has rather just slowed down its pace and turned on its head. But we have the best chance to survive this enormous change if we adapt to all conditions — temporary or permanent — as soon as possible. We at Indivizo have been working for years on the digitalization of hiring and on developing online tools that make recruiting provably more efficient, so have collected 8 tips for you to be able to continue your work as a recruiter even during the quarantine. On top of this advice, we have now made our Automated Video Interview tool free for a month for every company, for one position, to provide not only theoretical but also practical help in these difficult times.
1. Don’t stop.
Due to the various measures, the circumstances change day-by-day, hour-by-hour, and so do the structure and needs of the job market. This is both a difficulty and an opportunity since we might be able to discover candidates we couldn’t reach before.
2. Make use of the fact that everyone’s at home.
Yes, this is a completely new experience, and many of us are still adjusting to home-office, but it also means that both candidates and decision-makers are likely to be available online. Although this is a sad situation, it also implies that there will be fewer obstacles to coordination, while applicants and those making the interviews can all structure their days more flexibly.
3. Use Automated Video Interviews instead of Skype.
When thinking of having to conduct interviews remotely, we probably think of Skype, Zoom or other video chat sites at first — besides the good old telephone, of course. These work, but their use is significantly more difficult than that of Automated Video Interview, an online tool we developed specifically for this purpose. The biggest difference is that it doesn’t require the applicant and the interviewer(s) to be at the same place at the same time. The candidates receive their invitation to the online platform and can record their interview wherever and whenever they wish. After this, the decision-makers can also choose the time and place freely to watch and evaluate the recorded videos.
4. Don’t waste your time on arranging interviews.
On this platform you only have to provide the questions, the list of candidates and the system automatically takes care of sending out the invitations and making the interviews. No need to make phone calls, coordinate the participants’ calendars or deal with technical details. Furthermore, if you include the link to the Video Interview already in the job advert, the applications can be made in the system from the very beginning.
Although this is a sad situation, it also implies that there will be fewer obstacles to coordination, while applicants and those making the interviews can all structure their days more flexibly.
5. Focus on competencies.
Video Interviews are great for measuring competencies, and not only knowledge. How well do your applicants communicate? How can they adapt to new technologies? How flexible are they? These are only a few from the long list of competencies we can examine with the help of this new tool. Be it physical or intellectual work, we can get a much fuller picture of the candidates than any written CV could ever provide. We can catch a glimpse into their personalities and have a better chance to decide whether they are a good fit for our team.
6. Give equal chances to all applicants.
Although we — hopefully — all strive towards this goal, in practice it is very difficult to exclude all of our personal biases. But during a Video Interview, every candidate gets to answer the exact same questions, thus we will be able to compare their answers much more objectively than during personal interviews, where the conversations are also led by interaction.
7. Make joint decisions.
During many hiring processes we often face the dilemma of who to involve in the decision-making or the interviews. On the one hand, there are the team leaders and members, and the supervisors that will all work together with the new colleague in the future. Their opinion would be of crucial importance but we cannot take a lot of time from their work for making numerous interviews. Not to mention that the more people we involve, the more difficult it gets to coordinate everyone’s time for the interview. With Video Interviews these problems don’t exist. Every participant gets immediately notified when an interview is done, and using the online platform they can evaluate and comment on candidates independently from each other, whenever and wherever they like, making the final decision significantly easier.
8. Don’t forget your employer brand.
The reaction of a company in crisis can significantly strengthen or weaken its brand as an employer. If during a difficult period we manage to give the impression and communicate that we adapt quickly, do not get disheartened from the change and find the solutions, this might become an important factor for the candidates when making their decisions.
As a summary, the most important thing is not letting the current situation paralyze us; we must adapt and make the most out of it. For the free Video Interviews get in touch with us via hello@indivizo.com and we’ll send you the details of your personal access.