Recruitment processes have changed drastically over the past few years. Again, the pandemic situation has forced candidate assessments and interviews to occur tenuously. If a proper approach is carried out, virtual hiring can prove to be a superior way of hiring candidates compared to in-person interviews. No doubt, virtual hiring lacks the benefits of in-person interviews, but it still allows observing certain essential things, for example, how the candidates react during team settings if they would adopt the company culture and many more. Again, considering the current scenario, organizations are now changing their recruiting strategies by hiring candidates without even meeting them once face to face.

Are you also looking forward to hiring a top-notch candidate through virtual hiring? Through this post, let’s work on how you can attract the best talent to your organization through a fine-tuned virtual hiring process.

Virtual Hiring Process

The virtual hiring process is a recruitment process that takes place distantly rather than face-to-face interviews. Thanks to the internet and advanced technology, which has made the entire process completely smooth as well as has improved the scalability and productivity of the company too. The virtual hiring process comes with a bunch of benefits. It also saves the interview cost, traveling expenses, and time for both the employee and employer. Also, an improved plan, using the right technology such as Recruiting CRM software and Applicant Tracking System, and increased consistency at the time of the interview process can help in reducing hiring prejudices and improving miscellany.

To get the best candidate through virtual hiring, employers need to work on their virtual hiring process. Virtual hiring comes with its own set of challenges, including reduced in-person connection with the employee, technical issues, dependency, and much more. And to overcome these challenges, here are some quick tips that would help in hiring the best candidate for your organization.

Upgrade your technology

Is your organization’s technology up-to-date for supporting all the requirements of the virtual hiring process? As there would be no in-person meetups, good-quality video conferencing software is required for interviewing the candidates. With the help of the latest technology, organizations can also go for the option of receiving recorded videos of the candidates in the initial recruitment stage for pre-screening the candidates. Again, if the organization is receiving a high number of applications, using advanced technology like Facetime, Zoom, Chatbots, etc., for reducing the workload through scheduled interviews, answering FAQs, etc. As per LinkedIn Report, 58% of Candidates prefer self-directed programs for the recruitment process. So, make sure you have the latest technology ready to help you make the recruitment process easy.

Allow the candidates to know your company’s culture

Merely questions and answers are sure to end up the virtual hiring process as a complete failure. As the candidates wouldn’t meet the employers in person, they fail to learn about the company and its culture in person. Again, the employees love to work in a company whose values are similar to their own. This makes them work efficiently and maintain a work-life balance. Hence, once the candidates are shortlisted, make sure you give them an idea of the culture of the organization. Invest some time in explaining to them the benefits of working with the organization. For this, allow them to meet the existing employees, allow a virtual tour of the organization, help them with the essential initiatives the organization is currently involved in, etc. This would also help them in getting engaged with the workplace in a meaningful way.

Look for hosting virtual hiring career events

Many organizations are benefiting from hosting virtual hiring events, seminars, webinars, FAQ sections, networking events, and much more by using the technology. This is a good way of expanding your organizational reach and attracting diverse talent to your company. Hosting virtual hiring events is a very easy and cheap way of getting complacent. Through such events, the organizations would easily get prospective applicants. The events should be well-structured, fun to attend, concise, and involve the employees of the company. Make sure to add a certain variety to the events by including different sessions to the event. Lastly, look for different ways to get feedback from the candidates, as this would help in improving future events. Also make sure the attendees get all the information, insights, and experience they might be looking for.

Stay connected with the candidates

Once the process of virtual hiring begins, make sure you are in continuous touch with all the shortlisted candidates. If this is not done, the candidates would feel secluded. For this, keep all the communication channels open, give regular updates to the candidates at every stage of recruitment, and try to accomplish their expectations. The candidates should receive all the details about the different stages of the entire recruitment process along with the tools they would require as well as the estimated period of receiving any response from the company. This would help the candidates with the required time to prepare for the virtual interview. Again, this is the best way of solving any query they might have in mind regarding the company or the recruitment process at any time during their preparations. 

The organization, while conducting a virtual hiring process, shouldn’t miss out on checking for certain qualities in the candidates, like good communication skills, robust collaboration skills, good organizational skills, management skills, accountability, and self-discipline.

Apart from all these, the organizations can also work on other aspects like telephonic interviews, video interviews, remote onboarding, arranging personality tests, accurate job ads, etc., to have a determined and structured virtual hiring process. The work of a manager during the recruitment process never truly ends. The organization, at regular intervals, needs to incorporate advanced assessments, work on how to include additional human touch to the process, or review the interview questions. Obtaining feedback from the candidates and analyzing the success or failure of the recruitment process also helps in planning a well-organized virtual hiring process.

Hiring someone virtually isn’t easy, for sure. But a tactically developed virtual hiring process would surely help you get the right talent for your organization.