Hiring virtual agents that work from home is a recruiting scenario here to stay. Gartner reported 80% of company leaders “plan to permit employees to work at least part of the time remotely.” As businesses begin to reopen and start the hiring process again, they must reevaluate recruitment in the contact center needs to support the work-from-home (WFH) model. COVID-19 is motivating contact centers to develop a new talent acquisition strategy that includes virtual interviewing.
Pre-pandemic contact center recruitment often deployed the “post and pray” strategy: post a position and pray a favorable candidate would apply. Contact center leaders are leading business transformation by utilizing virtual interview tools that focus on identifying and hiring high-performing representatives with the skills and abilities needed to deliver exceptional customer service, both at home and in the office. They’re also recognizing the inefficiencies of traditional interviewing. However, virtual interviewing takes more than just sending a Zoom invitation.
Virtual interviews simulate in-person ones by combining video capture technology with structured, behavioral interview questions to increase consistency, accuracy, and fairness. This new approach requires IT, human resources, and operations to work together to develop the process and tools to find and recruit qualified candidates. Some organizations have jump-started the process by engaging an employment simulation and assessment provider.
One such company,
Employment Technologies, is helping to streamline the recruiting process with one way and on-demand video platforms. Applicants can pre-record interviews at their pace, and managers can review them on their schedules. Typically used for first interviews, the process allows for a significant number of candidates to be screened without overwhelming recruiters. Also, having a structured, collaborative interviewing process across the organization helps to ensure compliance with regulatory guidelines.
The numbers tell the real story. A leading global outsource service provider struggled with time-to-hire as its screening process was lengthy and labor-intensive. Using EASyView, one of Employment Technologies’ proprietary platforms, they saw 35% more candidates and a 50% reduction in interviewing time and associated cost based on a 3-month predictive study with 5,300 participants. Equally important were the candidates’ positive reactions saying, “I liked the fact of having a job interview at any time, which was very convenient.”
In case you still aren’t convinced about the advantages of switching to virtual interviews, consider the time and costs savings. Virtual experiences, whether live or recorded, reduce the time burden for the manager in coordinating schedules and lowers related expenses (mainly travel), which SHRM reports is around 42 days at an average cost of $4,129. And finally, it engages the candidate and gives them the best opportunity to project their personality and presence along with their voice, further enhancing the hiring manager's ability to know the candidate and make a confident, well-informed decision.
SCTC Perspective" is written by members of the Society of Communications Technology Consultants, an international organization of independent information and communications technology professionals serving clients in all business sectors and government worldwide.
