Virtual Hiring during the COVID-19 Pandemic
How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted companies and their employment practices? Some major employers have furloughed their workforce while other major employers have urgent need to hire additional workers to meet demand for essential goods and services during the pandemic. Many small business employers are not expected to recover from loss of business and some small businesses have closed for good.
Regardless of size and industry, it is not business as usual. Business policies and practices have been revised and new practices implemented by companies as they adapt to changing conditions during challenging times. There is a new normal in business practices. Technology enables many companies to maintain business continuity. Many employees now work from home to maintain core services to clients and customers.
For hiring employers, technology is the driving force behind innovative measures to hire additional workers. A new normal of virtual hiring makes possible the actual hiring of much needed workers since traditional person-to-person hiring practices are no longer viable. With creative technologies and adaptive processes employers are meeting the challenges to produce and deliver needed goods and services while implementing safe practices to protect the health of their employees and their communities.
Virtual hiring processes can shorten the time to hire. Anecdotal news stories have reported employers being able to shorten time of candidate engagement to employee on the job from two weeks to two days. Although time is of the essence as the focus of these hiring needs, the legal compliances and general business standards for employment screenings are still applicable and remain in force for all phases of the hiring processes, digital or traditional format.
The following discussion highlights some of the virtual hiring practices in recruiting and interviewing.
Virtual Recruitment
Not surprisingly the applicant pool has increased in size. Newly displaced workers and those workers with permanent job loss have swelled unemployment numbers. Employers needing to hire for temporary, part-time, or full-time work now have access to an applicant pool whose members are actively seeking work for immediate engagement. The formerly employed workers have been previously screened for background checks and references and this could be of benefit to hiring employers as a way to more quickly integrate them into a new workforce.
A virtual hiring process allows an online connection to be established between a recruiter and a potential job candidate in a safe manner and in a relatively short time. Some employers encourage interested job seekers to send a text to a recruiter to begin screening for possible employment.
The hiring process has been streamlined to eliminate customary formal interviews and written job offers. If an applicant and hiring manger reach a joint hiring decision, the applicant can receive a verbal offer of employment followed by email confirmation. As required by the employer and as allowed by applicable laws, reference and background checks are conducted following the verbal offer of employment. The new employee can be on-boarded, trained and at work in a short period of time.
Recruiters can organize online career fairs to promote job opportunities, identify potential job candidates, and schedule follow-up virtual interviews. Candidate outreach efforts can also utilize various social media platforms to recruit job candidates.
Social media is another opportunity to attract and engage a large audience, many of whom could be in the applicant pool but a number of them may be employment prospects now and in the future. Employers should utilize available tools for the various social media platforms to strengthen and enhance brand awareness and create interest for job opportunities. Social media may also be a good way to attract passive candidates for certain skill positions who might not otherwise be easily identified as a prospective candidate.
Virtual Interviewing
The traditional face-to-face employment interview has given way to video interviews between candidate and hiring staff. The change in format has been well received by job candidates and could be a sign that for the foreseeable future employment interviews will be conducted by video conferencing as standard practice.
Video interviews can help increase hiring personnel productivity by allowing greater flexibility in scheduling interviews from any staffing/remote work location and eliminating the costs of travel and down time to meet and greet a job candidate in person. Some employers have been able to utilize a pre-recorded video message that gives the candidate background on the organization, and relevant job information. As a screening tool, a video interview can help increase staff productivity in advancing qualified candidates forward in the hiring process.
There are best practices for virtual interviewing. While video conferencing is not difficult to master, it does require familiarity of the video teleconferencing program and the ability to instruct the candidate how to access the videoconferencing program and whether software must be downloaded. It is a good idea to test the equipment prior to the interview and have the candidate do a self-check of his equipment. Professional courtesy should be extended to the candidate by giving the candidate advance notice of how the video conference works, what to expect from the interview, and what might be the next step in the hiring process.
Virtual interviews are conducted to the same required business principles and legal compliances as in-person interviews. That is, standardized policies and practices including written interview questions relevant to business necessity that do not discriminate on the basis of a candidate’s race, color, religion, sex, including pregnancy, national origin, age 40 or older, disability, or genetic information. A video interviewer should ask each candidate the same questions in the exact same manner to reduce possible claims of discrimination. Appropriate questions are those permissible questions justified by job requirements for qualified skills and abilities to perform safe and efficient work practices. Questions that are non-permissible are those inappropriate to business standards and discriminatory in nature.
In preparing for the video interview, the interviewer should be familiar with the information on the candidate’s resume and application. Additionally, the interviewer should be familiar with the details of the open job position, such as the job description, requisite candidate experience, education, training, specialized skills, and other job requirements. Interviewers should allow the candidate adequate time to process questions as they are asked and in turn make a timely responses.
In accordance with applicable laws for disclosures, notifications, and consent forms for business practices including screenings, the hiring employer should ensure hiring personnel or outside vendors have the required authorizations, waivers, or releases acknowledged in writing or in a format required for digital compliance in place before proceeding with interviewing and screening practices.
Technology assisted practices can provide more effective business operations particularly in view of health and safety directives for mitigation of community spread of COVID-19. Going forward, businesses may find that digital practices in areas such as hiring and employee on-boarding are more efficient and can increase productivity. The flexibility to change with new directives and adapt to new practices is important to business continuity in traditional work environments and certainly a business necessity in the new normal business mode.