Josh TolanAs a staffing professional, you strive to make the recruiting process as easy and efficient as possible for your clients. This is why you’ve started using — or are considering using — virtual interviews to quickly vet candidates. But whenever there is change, it can take people time to get excited about the coming improvements.
Chances are your clients don’t know that much about virtual interviews and all they have to offer when it comes to talent acquisition. Luckily, here at Spark Hire, we’re well-versed in what features staffing clients end up loving. By knowing what will win your clients over, you can better explain why you’re using virtual interviews and how that decision will benefit their organization.
Here are four virtual interview features that will make your clients smile:
1. They’re personal
In a traditional interview, you physically shake the candidate’s hand. You look them in the eye as they answer your questions. Many companies feel this is the only way to really get to know a candidate. So they assume the presence of a screen between you and the candidate makes the interview less personal.
In reality, virtual interviews establish a stronger connection with candidates earlier in the hiring process. Conventionally, employers don’t get to see a candidate until the last few rounds of in-person interviews. With one-way video interviews, both you and your client put a face to the name right away.
Your client can get a feel for candidates’ nonverbal cues and how they present themselves. Their degree of professionalism comes through in their posture and word choice. They can even gauge how excited the candidate is about the position by reading their expressions. While the candidate isn’t right in front of your client, they can still get all the information they need about who the individual is as a person.
2. They augment in-person interviews
Often, when technology comes along, it makes the old way of doing things obsolete. Email has replaced letters, GPS apps have replaced maps. This leads many staffing clients to think virtual interviews are taking over for in-person interviews. But this is not the case.
Virtual interviews work best as a complement to traditional interviewing practices. They are an effective early screening step that helps ensure you and your client only move forward with the best candidates.
Explain to your clients that a virtual interview is an enhancement to your assessment process. It gives you a more complete picture than a resume or phone interview. And it’s more cost and time-effective than inviting every candidate to the office for a chat.
3. They save time
One of the reasons employers choose to hire a staffing firm is because they don’t have the time or expertise to fill vacancies on their own. They turn to you to help them find qualified employees as quickly as possible. Virtual interviews allow you to deliver exceptional candidates in an even shorter period of time.
When your staffing firm uses virtual interviews, there is less back and forth with both candidates and clients. This means you can give your clients a list of the top candidates in no time. And since the videos are easy for employers to review, they can make decisions about who to move forward with quickly with better information about the candidates.
Don’t just tell your clients about how virtual interviews will save them time. Prove it with data. By tracking time-to-fill and sharing that information with your clients, they will see the virtual interview process makes their lives easier by allowing them to make much quicker hiring decisions.
4. They make assessing candidates easier
With traditional initial-interviewing steps, it can be difficult to accurately compare candidates. Days can pass in between one candidate’s phone interviews. If there are multiple people on your client’s hiring team, it can be next to impossible to ensure everyone is available for every interview.
With virtual interviews, however, your clients can assess all the top candidates you present in a matter of minutes. Seeing candidates answer the same questions back-to-back allows clients to make decisions with all the information fresh in their minds.
It’s easy for staffing professionals to see all the benefits of virtual interviews. But sometimes, it takes your clients some time to fall in love with a new platform or process. By understanding the top virtual interview perks for your clients, you can get them on board with the process and meet their staffing needs faster.
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