In-person interviews are considered a mandatory step in the hiring process today. Traditionalists argue that meeting someone in-person is the best way to assess whether a candidate is the right choice for a job — but it’s no longer the only way.
In recent years, in-person interviews have become completely optional. Newer and more effective means of screening prospective employees have come to the forefront, eliminating the necessity for in-person interviews entirely.
Now, interview automation software has streamlined and simplified the recruiting process. This type of sophisticated hiring software allows you to assess and refine the candidate pool long before you spend all that time interviewing multiple applicants in-person — saving time and resources in the process.
While many hiring managers still insist on in-person interviews, some of the most successful businesses out there have accepted the undeniable benefits of recruiting remotely. With the right system in place, automated hiring and remote interviews can work wonders for your company’s team.
Attract Top Talent
It’s only natural that the rising acceptance of remote workers has given way to growth in remote hiring. Remote workers are well on their way to becoming mainstream in the business world, and if you’re hiring a remote team, you can also interview those same candidates remotely. In fact, the interview will show you how well a candidate can communicate while working outside the office, helping qualify them further for the role.
Remote hiring also makes it far easier to attract top talent from all over the world, including workers who are already accustomed to remote life. Rather than struggling to compete for a small pool of talent in a saturated market like San Francisco, you can attract the best candidates from around the world to your team.
Even if you’re hiring for an in-house team, remote hiring can be a useful option. If, for example, you’re asking a candidate to relocate for a role, remote hiring can save you the expense of flying multiple candidates out for a final interview. You can still evaluate their skills and suitability for the role without shaking their hand in person.
Save Resources
One reason for the growing popularity of remote hiring is that it’s easier than ever to do. The necessary tools to conduct remote interviews are incredibly accessible, and chances are, you already use them. Of the ways that you can connect with an applicant, a phone interview is probably still the most common. However, the rise of video technology — like Skype, Google Hangouts and GoToMeeting — has made video interviews a cinch to do. On some level, it’s simply a matter of preference on the part of the employer.
In addition to a simple video interview, there are more cutting-edge options like interactive question and answer sessions, or full hiring automation. Using systems like Google Docs or Slack, you can “chat” with applicants, allowing them the opportunity to answer questions in the moment. If you use automation for your hiring, you can also let your hiring software take over, providing timed questions and skill tests to applicants through a multi-stage screening process.
By testing the skills of candidates, hiring automation helps you decide on the very best candidates with minimal personal interaction. In many cases, this may eliminate the need for you to actually participate in the interview process until the very end. Imagine the time you can save without having to set aside time on your schedule for even a phone or video interview with applicants. This makes remote hiring an especially useful tool for startups that so desperately need to keep expenses and wasted time to a minimum.
The Time Has Come
We know that change can be intimidating, especially when it comes to something as vital to your business success as hiring. But updating the way you tackle recruitment is no longer a luxury — it’s an absolute necessity to survive the competitive job market and attract the top-notch talent your business needs to thrive.
Hiring has evolved into an art all its own, one that every company might approach in slightly different ways. Yet, the fact remains that the winds of change are afoot in hiring today and you can either adapt, or stay static. There’s never been a better time to implement remote hiring as part of your strategy.
