In our current climate, recruitment has evolved faster than it ever has before. By now, most of us would have had to pivot our recruitment processes to include virtual recruitment. But that doesn’t mean the transition has been smooth for all of us, or that we have all achieved success.
In this article, we’ll look at some steps you can take to make sure your virtual recruitment processes land you the perfect candidates.
1. Invest in your recruitment marketing
Ever tried to write about a role you need filling but had difficulty standing out from the crowd?
It can be tough to know where to start, especially if it is your first time recruiting virtually. Another element in the mix is that candidates are now needing more motivation to work for a particular employer – in other words, they need to know why they should work for you. What kind of culture and benefits can you offer (be specific about these!), and what values do you live by that will make you the best choice for them?
So, show them why they should be interested. Start off strong by attracting them from the get-go with specialist-written role postings. As an example, Scout Talent recruitment marketing specialists can ensure your virtual recruitment campaign begins on solid footing by creating role postings that capture your organisation identity, the role description and prerequisites, and what you’re offering in an effective way. Try to think about what would be most important to your candidates (for example, job security, competitive remuneration, and so on) and let your recruitment marketing specialists know to include these points in your role postings.
Be sure that you are ruthlessly authentic in the way you are represented: you want to attract the right candidates with your authenticity and put off the wrong candidates who won’t be the right fit.
By outsourcing this work to the experts, you can make sure your role postings are enticing and hitting the right mark – and free up your time for other important steps of the virtual recruitment process.
2. Be creative with virtual interviews
Thanks to great tools like Zoom, you can still meet and connect with candidates by holding virtual interviews and group assessment days. But what do you do when according to the MIT Sloan Review, 80% of candidates consider Zoom interviews boring?
For one, you can incorporate activities that achieve two things: enjoyment for candidates and a gauge for their commitment to the opportunity. For example, if you are holding a group assessment day with your candidates on Zoom, you email them a set of fun questions beforehand to answer at the start of the day; and at the end of it, set them a short quiz where they must answer questions based on their peers’ answers earlier. Doing something like this is not only fun and engaging, but will show you things like the level of involvement each candidate has invested; and their attention towards their peers, which could be an indication of how they would work in a team – all things you would usually have to meet someone in person to gauge.
For the sake of professionalism, there are some things you can keep the same virtually. With dress code, for example, you can maintain a professional standard by treating a virtual interview the same way as you would a pre-COVID one: set expectations for dress code before the interview. Look out for consistency, too: if you have multiple interviews, take note of if the candidate upholds the expectations both times. From this, you will be able to tell their level of professionalism, how they follow a brief and how much they care about landing your role.
On your end, make sure that you have everything organised and prepared beforehand – check that your Zoom links work, your sound and video quality are good, and you are on time. You don’t want to be caught unawares when meeting candidates!
3. Make use of virtual testing processes
You may think, with ever-changing restrictions on travel and contact, that the closest look you’ll get at a candidate’s job-specific skills is through their CV and samples of work. But you can do so much more.
Just like with virtual interviews, you can use a variety of different virtual recruitment testing methods to further narrow your list of candidates.
If you are hiring them for an information-dense role, for example, then over a Zoom call, you could set them the task of researching a topic for a few hours; when the time is up, you can reconvene for another call so they can present their findings.
And what about if you are hiring for a role that is dependent on their skills in-person – say, for roles in hospitality or retail? In this instance, you could identify what traits are most important in the role you are hiring. If it is the ability to work in a fast-paced environment, you could set them a series of scenario-based questions that assesses their work pace and customer service skills all at once. If it’s dealing tactfully with customers, you could send your candidates a complaint email from a customer and get them to respond to it.
These examples show that virtual recruitment does not have to be boring, and that the scope for your screening process is only as limited as you want it to be.
Lastly, if possible, you should make sure your candidates can complete your exercises on a range of devices – laptop, mobile phone, iPad, and so on. Making your virtual recruitment tests accessible will allow you to cast your net wider for a larger pool of candidates.
4. Reaffirm your expectations
Once you have your shortlist and are on the home stretch towards selecting your successful candidate, you should let your potential candidates know what they can expect of working conditions moving forward. What this means is: is this virtual recruitment process the only thing they will ever have to engage in virtually? Or will they have the option to work from home?
This may be a step you have already taken and addressed during the role advertising period, but it’s always good to reaffirm – you never know if they may have misunderstood, changed their mind or want to surprise you with their work-from-home arrangement expectations.
Reaffirming expectations is also important because if you do have remote work options or requirements, then you can take this time to let your candidate know what kind of equipment and training they will need to complete their work remotely.
It’s important to remember that setting expectations is a two-way street: you should also be sticking to the expectations you set for yourself. What that means is, if you have told the candidate you will get back to them in five days, then make sure you keep your word. If you can’t stick to your timeline, communicate that clearly so they aren’t left in the dark – something as simple as, ‘We wanted to reach out to let you know we haven’t reached a decision yet, but wanted to keep you in the loop’ will help to keep your virtual recruitment process professional, respectful and clear.
By doing reaffirming your expectations and sticking to them, you can make sure you and your candidate are on the same page.
5. Most importantly – remain personable
This may sound like a given but if you’re not careful, virtual recruitment can become a dry, impersonal process – and that’s not what you want in a time where many of us have been isolated for long periods of time from human interaction.
Yes, you are hiring and are mainly interested in what skills and experience they can contribute, but sticking just to questions you can answer from reading their CV will make the experience feel like a robotic question-and-answer process.
Remind your candidate that they are being seen and heard by an actual person by just having a conversation with them. Ask them about themselves, give them room to explain what they mean; by establishing a flow in the conversation, you’ll find that there is often an organic opportunity to ask the questions you need to ask. As Georgette Pascale says, having a conversation “helps to not only identify their qualifications, but gives you a feel for whether they could easily mesh into the company dynamic”.
All the while, make sure you, as the employer, look after yourself in the interview process, too. Avoid burnout by ensuring you take small breaks between interviews, keep plenty of water and healthy snacks on hand, and allot an appropriate time for each interview slot to stay on schedule.
Finally, at the end of your interactions with your candidates, be sure to show them you value their time and contributions by giving them the opportunity to give feedback. The best way to do this is to attach a link to a survey in your final email with them; this way, whether they are successful or not, they can give you feedback on your virtual recruitment process while the experience is still front of mind.
By taking the time to have a conversation with your candidates and inviting them to give feedback, you are showing them that you are sincere and committed to facilitating a pleasant candidate experience. And those things, as much as the actual role and organisation, will get you a long way in attracting high-quality candidates.
Rochelle Auman is the Assistant Editor of Recruitment Marketing Magazine. She has a keen interest in a wide range of fields, having worked across the hospitality, retail, fashion and media industries—to name a few.
Thanks to her experience running a business and managing teams of staff, Rochelle understands the importance of attracting the best talent and retaining them by creating an environment where they feel empowered.
When she is not writing about the recruitment marketing landscape, she likes to disappear for hours at a time to play Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or read the latest Sarah J. Maas novel.