HireVue- Maintaining Stable Hiring During Uncertain Times

March 26, 2020

 

Businesses around the world are taking decisive action to protect their people by preventing the spread of COVID-19 . For HR and Recruiting leaders, you have the tough job of maintaining or in some cases accelerating hiring continuity while also ensuring the safety of both your hiring teams and your candidates.

In HireVue’s most recent webinar, HireVue’s VP of Solution Architecture, Dina Taylor was joined by CDW’s Jared Bazzell, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition – International and Strategic Initiatives, and ARUP Laboratories’ Misty Smith, Talent Acquisition Manager, to discuss how their organizations are continually evolving processes in the face of the virus – their strategies and tips can be used across industries, now and in the future.

Process changes can yield unexpected benefits

While unanticipated changes aren’t what any business hopes for, Misty from ARUP Laboratories shared how their hiring managers are taking the changes in stride. In fact, during the webinar, she specifically used the word “gratitude” to describe how teams are feeling about adopting and expanding digital solutions so that hiring can continue in spite of the virus.

When ARUP’s team halted all travel for out-of-state interviews and implemented HireVue Live interviews, they didn’t foresee any benefits given how quickly the change needed to take place. But it turns out that a clear advantage of the Live video interview is that members of the hiring committee who aren’t able to attend can simply view the recorded interview afterward. The ability to watch interviews at a later time has actually decreased the scheduling time required for interviews because the entire hiring committee is no longer required to participate at once.

Candidate experience remains intact

Your company has worked hard to create a candidate experience that attracts and retains best-in-class talent, and the good news is that a virtual interview experience doesn’t have to sacrifice any of the personal touches and brand experience your candidates expect – it’s just that all of it can happen virtually.

At ARUP Laboratories, they’re implementing intro and outro videos to introduce their hiring teams, as well as showcasing company culture through videos to ensure that candidates know if their company is a good culture fit.

And at CDW, they’ve worked to virtualize not just their interview process, but also their onboarding, which means the deployment of end-to-end collateral that they call “quick guides” and “job aids.” Now, instead of face-to-face onboarding, company laptops, and new hire welcome packages are shipped straight to employee’s homes, and they’re prepped for all of these steps during the interview process.

Remember that communication is key

Communication in the hiring process has always been important, but increased uncertainty and more anxiety for hiring teams and your candidates means it’s more critical than ever. Jared and the CDW team advocate an open, honest communication style with all stakeholders. Remember that no matter the mode of communication, whether it’s custom messaging within HireVue products or a simple phone call, acknowledge to candidates that COVID-19 is an unprecedented event and provide as much information as you can to guide them on what comes next. The same level of communication applies to your teams as you transition to virtual processes.