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We talk to HR departments every day, and a puzzle that took awhile to understand was the mix of HR departments that are forward-thinking with regard to the use of technology, versus those that are pre-disposed to keep their processes status quo. The truth is that no HR department should make a process change just for the sake of using more modern technology. Changes should be driven by solutions that improve efficacy in terms of average time-to-hire, candidate quality, compliance, and other observables.

Today we bring you 5 key ways that HR can avoid losing the talent game, based on measurables that we’ve tracked in our platform’s usage, in surveys to job candidates at large, and in publicly available employment data. With these tips in hand, you are one step closer to success in this competitive hiring market.

#1
Add Flexible Scheduling
We surveyed a group of candidates about what feelings they experience when they receive an interview invitation that is for a date and time that they are expected to be at their current job.1 87% of responses included anxiety, concern, stress, or fear. And why not? You are asking a candidate to risk rocking the boat by being absent from their current role, to consider the opportunity you are presenting. Lets start things off on the right foot: many pre-screens can be completed successfully with 1-way interviews that are available to the candidate 24/7 so that they can complete it without undue and unnecessary pressure.

 

#2
Consider Remote Candidates
You might think that your position is unlikely to be attractive to a candidate that would need to move in order to accept the position, but odds are that you underestimate the willingness to relocate. Amongst candidates we surveyed, we found that 73% would consider positions that are 50 miles or more from their current residence. However, you might not capture that candidate pool if you skip out on doing online interviews during the pre-screen process – many candidates are willing to work through the logistics of an in-person interview when it’s later in the process and they’ve already had positive interactions with the company during a remote pre-screening process.

 

#3
Be Consistent
Ever conduct a set of interviews to fill a position, and find yourself wondering whether the interviewers that helped, conducted the interviews consistently? We get asked that all the time. Turns out that HR folks doing an 1-way written, audio, or video interview using our system are mitigating that concern with great success. For example, on average each 1-way video interview question gets reused over 200 times as the search for the right candidate progresses, and as future positions re-use the same interview question. Knowing that the question was asked precisely the same way every one of those times, can be a huge relief.

 

#4
Get Rid of the Paperwork
Amongst candidates we surveyed, there was an extreme preference for answering informational questions via online forms rather than a PDF suitable for print-and-complete. 89% of those surveyed favored the online form.1 If you’ve got any paper in your HR process for hiring, be it the initial application or the information needed for a background check, we suggest moving to 1-way written interview questions that can be completed online.

 

#5
Compete Vigorously
Average job tenure is steady at 4.6 years2, but unemployment is near a 7-year low.3 These two facts, combined, mean that the competition for quality candidates has never been higher. Don’t let logistical matters such as time-of-day and a candidate’s geography get in the way of landing the best hire for the job.

 

1RIVS Interview Preferences Survey (N=223)
2Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 18, 2014
3Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, May 2015

If you aren’t yet following the above HR best-practices, you aren’t alone. Most of our clients start out with a process that isn’t satisfying to either the candidate or the interviewer, before making the decision to begin leveraging the benefits of digital interviews. Need help with that? Swing by for a demo.

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