Simplifying Interview Process: An overview of technology-driven modern and remote interviews

Online_remote_interviews
The technology driven transformation of interview processs

The interview process evolution

Do you know who conducted the first-ever interview?

Thomas Alva Edison.

Edison created a written test to evaluate the depth of knowledge of the candidate who was appearing for the interview, this was back then in 1921.

This is how the interview process came to birth, and today we are here in the 21st century with the modern-day interview tactics, shaped over time.

On average, 118 people apply for a job post, out of which only 20% of the candidates get to appear for an interview. 

1 in 7 applicants gets to appear for an interview.

With this setup and routine life, hiring was going well. 

The HR would post a job opening, screen the applications received, the selected people would appear for the set rounds of interviews, and if all goes well the right talent would be aligned to the proposed opportunity.

This has been the scenario till March 2020, for most organizations.

And, the pandemic happened! 

Things went on a toss and by far it seems that it has changed forever. 

The Pandemic changed the ways interviews are conducted

Technology adoption reched its peak during pandemic

With the newly imposed restrictions, probably for the first time recently, it was difficult to cope and digest.

Almost 90% of industries were closed for a long while as physical gathering at a workplace was not an option available.

For industries like IT,  Work From Home setup was suitable, and the job function started gripping pace.

But, hiring was still a big concern as understanding and gauging the capabilities of a person virtually seemed challenging and inappropriate.

With the pandemic around, it was next to impossible to travel to appear for a job interview. People were cautious about their lives and no one wanted to act courageously for something like a job interview.

According to a report, 86% of companies transitioned to Virtual Interviews and 85% of the companies planned to use Online Platforms for onboarding candidates – Gartner Study.

About 58% of recruiters started using Social Media Analytics Artificial Intelligence and texting to connect and attract potential hires.

Despite the Virtual Hiring Support and On-boarding tools, it didn’t seem to be a good fit for all the industries.

Companies operating in domains such as Manufacturing, Agriculture demanded Face-to-Face interviews and Onsite onboarding.

This stood tall as a challenge for them.

Challenges of the Remote Interview Process

To solve the problems, it is must to analyze the problems

Connectivity Barriers:

Connectivity is a thing that one can’t be held responsible for. With the Work From Home set up, yes of course things have shifted, but uncertainties can not be avoided. Especially, when going through an interview process connectivity issues are the real enemies that can destroy it all for you in minutes!

Well, we need to understand that this can happen from either end and no one can be held responsible for the trivial output.

Lack of Digital Infrastructure:

This may not be the case for all the roles, but in some technical cases, the candidate appearing for the interview has to have certain software or hardware support in place to appear for a test. Lack of infrastructure shouldn’t be a hurdle when gauging the capabilities of a candidate.

Wrong Hire:

A lot of times, organizational management has strict deadlines for hiring which often results in a wrong hire.

With the set expectations, when a recruitment professional starts scouting for the right candidate, it is important to have an appropriate candidate screening and interview process, especially for technical profiles.

With remote hiring, at times it is difficult to gauge the technical capabilities with a few assignments. 

According to a survey, 3 in 10 Indian companies, that is 29% of companies reported that a wrong hire costs an average of over INR 20 lakhs to the company.

It is always better to rely on a great process and supportive tools instead of going for the wrong hire. 

Disguise:

Around 60% of HR managers prefer to use Video Interviews as a part of standard practice while conducting interviews. 

And, on the contrary, there are candidates who seek disguise as a method to pass an interview. 

According to a survey, 29% of people get nervous during an interview.

With remote hiring and video interviews, people who are scared of interviews have got an opportunity to stay away from the feeling of nervousness. That may not be the right practice, but using disguise as a method to pass an interview isn’t the right thing one should be doing.

Ultimately, when it comes to getting the actual things done, things would not be the same as they were expected to be.

With the help of the right tools, HR professionals can definitely tackle this. 

Bulk Hiring

There are companies who prefer to hire in bulk, and with the remote hiring, this sits as a crucial challenge right next to the HR professionals.

Screening tons of candidates and handpicking the potential candidates is one of a task in itself, and no one can assure the accuracy of it, with the remote hiring procedures.

No, this doesn’t mean that bulk-hiring is easy with the offline setup!

The difficulty exists, just the filtration becomes a little easier with the offline interviews.

The consequences that the company has to face are very severe if bulk hiring goes wrong. Inefficient talent hired for a crucial project sums up to the loss of a high-paying client, which no organization would appreciate. 

As we analyze the problems, it becomes easy to solve them, now, let us understand how technology can help you to overcome the problems often faced in remote hiring

How technology has simplified Remote Hiring?

Online Assessments with AI-powered Remote Proctoring

pre-recruitment assessment to get the right candidate hired

As per the HR Survey conducted by Gartner, about 86% of organizations are conducting Virtual Interviews to hire candidates.

Here are few reasons that are leading proctored online assessments popular among corporates

When we say virtual interviews it involves digital modes of conversations, may it be video or audio.

AI-powered Remote Proctoring offers a truly secured environment for conducting interviews where the whole interview process is closely monitored for unusual activities. 

Depending on the role and responsibilities it is not always essential to check for the technical abilities alone. Body language and gestures are something that justifies the behavior and character of the person undergoing the interview process.

Audio Assessments for Bulk Interviews

Audio based bulk interviews for efficient candidate screening

For a broader number of applicants, there has to be a mechanism to filter and move ahead with the suitable candidates, so Audio Assessments for Bulk Interviews.

When hiring a set of people for a particular project, an HR professional is handed over a list of requirements and a bunch of questions. 

To put automation at work, what happens with Audio Interviews is very simple yet powerful.

We need to create a Screen Test which will be sent to all the aspirants. They can appear for the test using a computer or even a mobile phone.

The questions are prompted on the screen, one after the other, and the candidate has to record an answer for each of the questions.

These answers can later be evaluated at any point in time by the concerned technical authority and the shortlisting can be done.

The shortlisted candidate then move up the interview process and those who fail to meet the expectations are filtered out.

This not only saves effort and time but also ensures that the right talent gets the opportunity to get ahead and shine.

The Future of the Interview Process

Social Media Explosion will bypass Resumes

Will social media profiles replace the resumes in future?

This trend has already started spreading its roots in 2022, itself. 

Traditionally, the HR professionals used to screen a candidate’s profile based on the resumes posted on various Job Sites and sources. Also, a candidate would be evaluated on the basis of the things mentioned on the resume. 

With the groundbreaking competition, a radical shift has been observed. 

Recruiters are not relying on the candidate’s resume alone, to back the candidature they are now using social media sites such as Linkedin.

According to research, there are currently 550 million-plus Linkedin users and about 97% of recruiters are using Linked in and other such applications to screen candidates for the opportunities. 

Job Auditions

Yes, you read it correctly!

Auditioning can soon be a part of the interview process where the employers would want the screened candidates to showcase the skills that they say they possess.

E.g If a company is recruiting for a Sales Executive Position, the candidate will have to ideally prepare and pitch the product/services of the company itself to the panel. If it goes well, then only the candidate will move up the ladder. 

It appears to be very simple, but a result-driven approach is something that the companies would love to rely on, of course with the cutting edge competition. 

Using AR and VR in the Hiring Process

Augmented and virtual reality to assess the candidate personality and behaviour remotely

With technology expanding every passing day, we soon will experience this thing replacing the traditional interview processes.

With the younger generation being more comfortable with the digital environment, this approach is going to be apt to get ideal talent on the team.

With ever evolving Virtual Reality technology, employers would create a certain situation and surrounding where they can test the capabilities of the candidate. 

Given a task or exercise to be completed in a simulated environment would not only motivate the candidate to perform at peak but also will give the authority to the employers to see how a candidate performs in a specific environment.

This way, the interview processes are largely getting evolved, making them more efficient and convenient as well. The modern remote interviews have multiple advantages including broader candidate reach, efficient screening, process transparency and reduced cost to count a few. As the technology keeps evolving; the interview processes are expected to largely transform in upcoming times.

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