As a human resource professional, your challenge is to find qualified candidates with the necessary skills to do each job and who will thrive in the company’s culture. You can help managers identify the most qualified applicant for each position by building relationships with candidates during the interview process.
Creating a balance between learning about each candidate and filling the open position quickly is important too. Current technologies transforming the hiring process help you research each applicant thoroughly before the first meeting. Advanced software also shortens interview and paperwork turn-around times.
Video Interviews
Phone calls are an inexpensive way for employees to pre-screen candidates before scheduling job applicants to come into the office for an interview. Video conferencing with free software like Skype and FaceTime allows your hiring team to expand the at-home interview process. You can also purchase a video service and record interview questions ahead of time. Candidates can play back the questions and record answers at any time.
Video offers a more detailed experience with the candidate than a phone call can provide. Interview staff can read facial expressions and see if the candidate dresses professionally. Candidates benefit from video interviews too since they do not have to travel and take time off work for meetings.
Digital Signatures
In the past, asking candidates to sign paperwork for job offers, background checks, and payroll meant mailing or faxing paperwork and waiting for the applicant to send it back. Today, technologies like e-documents and digital signatures significantly streamline the paperwork process.
Printing hard copies of agreements and waiting for prospective employees to sign and return offers could take days. Using digital signatures, you can complete the paperwork process in minutes. To get started, email a link to secure document to the candidate. The applicant can sign the documents online using a digital signature and save the agreement as a PDF file. Digital signatures can shave days off the hiring process timeline, save money, and save paper.
Social Media
Before social media became popular, staff and job applicants had limited information about each other before the in-person interview. Today, applicants and job posters can communicate via social media accounts before meeting at the office.
Candidates can connect with you on LinkedIn, follow the company’s social media posts, and read Glass Door and Google reviews to learn more about the enterprise. Hiring managers can search social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to gain insight into the job applicant’s personality.
Online Personality and Skills Tests
If you administer pre-employment tests for certain positions, you can leverage technology to save time. Use email and cloud-based software to send tests to applicants before scheduling the first interview. Online tests also help each applicant keep the job search confidential. Candidates can take tests at any time and in the privacy of their homes.
Job Board Aggregators
Job boards save time when you need to post multiple job listings. Job board aggregators simplify job posting even more. With an aggregator, you post the job once and it is automatically copied to multiple job boards. Likewise, job applicants can search a single site to find job postings from various sources.
Email Reference Checks
Contacting an applicant’s references could take days when you had to connect with busy professionals by phone or mail. Emailing effective reference questions is fast and lets each businessperson respond at a convenient time. Sending reference requests by email also gives previous employers more time to think about each question and provide complete answers. Thorough responses allow the hiring manager to learn in-depth details about the job candidate’s work history.
Technology continues to evolve and streamline the hiring process, allowing staff, job applicants, and companies to save time and money. Social media and video interviews allow applicants and hiring managers to learn details about each other before the first interview.
Enhanced software capabilities offer convenience and privacy too. Leveraging the latest technology helps you make sure that the candidate will be successful and happy in a new position at your company.
