How to Use a Video Conference to Improve the Hiring Process

How many times have you pre-screened a candidate over the phone only to realize in person that you only got half the story? Your time is precious and hiring the ideal employees is central to every business’ success. Today, all of the communication tools you need to truly get to know a candidate are available to you. Ensure that recruiting mishaps don’t happen to you. Take advantage of a video conference to find, recruit and interview optimal candidates who will become successful long-term employees. 

Video Conferencing and the Hiring Process

It is the rare individual who doesn’t benefit from technology at work and leisure. Many of us can’t imagine an aspect of life in which we don’t utilize an app or an Internet of Things device. In today’s workplace environments, emerging communication and collaboration software is used at every level and across every department, including Human Resources. By leveraging video conferencing technology, employers of all sizes and locations are able to recruit top-notch employees, onboard them successfully into their organization and retain them for the long term. 

Video conference technology can be used by HR at three stages of the hiring process: Pre-screening, Interviewing and Onboarding. In all three instances, video conferencing saves time and money, while providing similar, if not a better experience to the in-person interview.

Pre-screening applicants by video conference is advantageous to both parties. Especially for prospective candidates who aren’t local. Human resources and hiring managers who meet with a prospect have the opportunity for a real-time live interaction where they can read a candidate’s body language and demeanor. In 2013, Aberdeen Group reported that 68 percent of HR respondents think live video interviewing is a key capability in their hiring process.

With online meeting technology, the hiring department can create video and audio recordings of the interview. Video recordings provide a more accurate account than just note taking or an audio-only recording. Moreover, the video can be shared internally with other human resources managers and relevant executives who weigh in on the hiring decision. As a bonus, the verbal content of a video conference can be transcribed and incorporated into a candidate’s application file. If the candidate is hired, the documents can be transferred to their employment file. 

Screen Sharing for Candidate Presentations

Video conferencing also benefits candidates who are required to prepare and share presentations or portfolios as part of the interview process. Screen sharing technology enables candidates to present their materials to various HR personnel, hiring managers and decision-makers who are virtually sitting in on the presentation from any location. Whether corporate or creative, a presentation via video allows potential employees to show off their skills and make a positive impression.  The presentation can be viewed in a huddle room as a group on a large screen or individually from any computer. Either way, the result is an efficient process. And a real-life representation of how the candidate will present to team members or clients.  

You’re Hired! Onboarding Employees with Screen Sharing

A video conference is an effective way to onboard new hires, especially those working remotely or in satellite offices. New hires can preview shared company-related materials on policy and process from their home office. In real time they can receive file transfers. In addition, they have the flexibility to digest shared content on their own time. This allows new employees to ask questions and clarify any potential areas of misunderstanding before their first day of work. 

Attracting Remote Top Talent

One of Marissa Mayer’s first moves as the newly-minted CEO of iconic but troubled tech company Yahoo! was to discontinue the policy of allowing employees to work from home. In a leaked and widely published 2013 internal memo the policy explained: “We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.”

The change in policy generated backlash both inside the company and externally. Industry analysts and observers speculated that the move would ultimately backfire due to regressive thinking that would adversely affect management’s ability to attract productive employees.

Remote work policies are an established trend that continues to grow. Across all industries and employees, i.e., Millennials, working parents, global talent and freelancers, are taking advantage of this opportunity. Workplace Trends says nearly one-third of 25,000 survey respondents worked remotely. And, a whopping 98 percent said that collaborative technologies such as video conferencing made it easier to cultivate and nurture relationships with colleagues, whether they work in the same office or half a world away. 

Retaining Team Members You’ve Invested In

Companies encouraging remote workers are often able to retain top-level talent even after individuals relocate away from the company’s brick and mortar location. For example, someone following a relocating partner need not lose his or her job thanks to video conferencing and online technology. Instead of losing a great team member, the company retains someone who is acclimated to the company’s policies and processes and has a trusted relationship internally and with clients. A win-win for both sides.

Harvard Business Review reports that employees allowed to work remotely are more productive and less prone to turnover than those who are not. Companies with flexible policies also enjoy a broader hiring pool, potentially extending worldwide. On the other hand, companies which fail to offer flexible employment arrangements such as remote working facilitated by video conferencing, web meetings or other collaborative technologies risk losing top candidates to companies willing to make such accommodations. There’s no denying that the benefits of remote work are popular.

Ensure Consistency Between On-site and Remote Workers

Video conferencing with screen sharing helps to maintain consistency and uniformity. Even when employees are physically separated. During live video conferencing, everyone shares the same material in real time, reducing the likelihood of confusion and redundancies. As a result, remote employees follow the same procedures and policies as they would if located in-house. 

Building Relationships with Video Conference Technology

One of the motivations behind Mayer’s move to eliminate remote work at Yahoo! was to generate a spirit of collaboration among employees. A similar motivation drives open office plans and even more radical arrangements where employees don’t have permanently assigned desks. However, this exercise in organizational psych has proven to be a failure, actually decreasing interaction and collaboration.

40 percent of responding organizations in a TechTarget study claim that unified communication technologies such as video conferencing improve collaboration. More than 70 percent are using video conferencing specifically to boost productivity. What’s more, collaborative technology provides a close approximation of face-to-face encounters at a fraction of the cost of gathering participants from remote locations. Impromptu video conferencing can provide an atmosphere similar to dropping by a colleague’s cubicle or water cooler chats. Always-On video portals also enable on-the-spot interaction between linked offices. This access promotes a sense of camaraderie among colleagues that may be separated by hundreds or thousands of miles. 

Top Talent is a Video Conference Away

In the 21st century, collaborative technology has emerged as a business best practice. The 9 to 5/40-hour work week is no longer standard for a significant segment of the working population. Thanks to online meeting services the modern workplace is not strictly defined by physical space. 

Employers understand that top-level talent can and will gravitate toward work environments that provide the flexibility and perks they demand. Younger workers especially are rejecting the rigid definitions of work and processes of past decades. Video conferencing technology has made it easier and more efficient for companies not only to attract the best talent but to also evaluate prospective candidates, onboard new hires and retain workers for the long haul. Meanwhile, companies that insist on clinging to old models risk losing their best workers to organizations that are more flexible and accommodating.  

Whether you are seeking to hire new talent or need to communicate with a far-flung workforce, the means exist to get the job done. Companies large and small, located in major metropolitan centers or remote rural areas can obtain the video conference capabilities to attract talented workers, communicate with those workers efficiently and effectively and retain them long term.     

Have you successfully used video conferencing in your hiring process? Share your hiring tips with us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.