Hiring in the time of corona

Face-to-face interviews are a cornerstone of the traditional hiring process, but life under forced social distancing is requiring organizations to adapt. Can you still make a good hiring decision without sitting across from your candidate?

Tõnis Arro
Co-founder, Wisnio and Executive Lab

Hiring a person into an organization is an act of trust and hiring managers do their best to gather data from various sources to make an informed decision. By the time a candidate is sitting in the office for an interview, the hiring manager has completed the usual due diligence of verifying credentials and following up with references. The in-person interview is normally the final step before a hiring decision is made.

The reason why face-to-face interviews still rank high among hiring professionals is because it’s believed they allow an opportunity for a more in-depth assessment of a candidate’s character and presentation. A popular axiom among business gurus is that over 90% of communication is non-verbal; however, this presumption was recently debunked, so how valuable is an in-person interview?

There are still good data points to be gathered from meeting face-to-face with a potential hire, but it definitely doesn’t tell the full story about what a person can bring to a company or team. In-person interviews can create anxiety that make a person act differently than they would in a normal setting. Face-to-face interviews are also susceptible to the unconscious biases of the interviewer.

What advantages do remote interviews provide?

Remote interviews using phone and video have several advantages over in-person interviews: candidates are less prone to anxiety since they are in a comfortable, familiar setting. Their conversation will be more natural and free-flowing, allowing the hiring manager to learn more about them. Remote interviews also have no geographical restrictions which allows for greater flexibility in scheduling.

However, getting a good understanding of the deep-level characteristics (e.g. personality, values, competencies) of candidates via video requires a much more structured approach and thorough preparation.

Here’s how hiring managers are getting more value out of remote interviews.

As the business community shifts toward relying more on remote interactions, hiring professionals are using Wisnio to remove both the guesswork and personal bias out of the hiring process. Wisnio is an easy-to-use talent analytics tool that helps the hiring manager to develop a deep understanding of the values, behaviors, and competencies of the existing team and to use that insight to make an objective, data-driven hiring decision.

Here’s how hiring managers typically use Wisnio:

  1. The immediate team members who will be working with the new hire are invited to create a profile on Wisnio.
  2. The hiring manager and key leadership at the organization analyse the values, competencies, and personality of the existing team to define critical elements of the team culture and identify potential gaps in the team.
  3. Critical competencies and characteristics required to succeed in the role are defined by the hiring manager and their executive search partner to create a “Success Profile” of an ideal candidate.
  4. Candidate profiles created in Wisnio are reviewed to gain insight about how each person would best complement the team and meet the requirements of the role.
  5. A structured behavioural interview is conducted using personalized interview questions generated by Wisnio.
  6. The hiring manager uses the insight gained from the candidate profile and the structured interview to make a decision based on the predefined success criteria.

Using this approach, hiring managers will develop a clear understanding of the characteristics that will help a candidate succeed in the role. The structured interview guide and decision-making process, together with the team assessment, ensures that the new hire complements the team in critical areas and brings in a unique perspective to team discussions. Finally, going through the process helps to get all stakeholders on the same page and makes them feel confident that they have made the best decision, even when hiring remotely.

Are you ready to use Wisnio to make your next hire? Book a free demo with a Wisnio specialist today!

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