4 Remote Hiring Tools Helping Recruiters Save Time & Make More Placements

It’s safe to say our “new normal” isn’t very new anymore. As a result of the pandemic, 88% of organizations have encouraged or required their employees to work from home, and 74% of companies plan to shift to remote work post-COVID permanently.

For recruiters, this has meant a rapid overhaul of their hiring processes. The shift to remote hiring has been impending for years, but the pandemic and first quarantine expedited that change, forcing it to happen essentially overnight.

Even now, after months of testing different approaches and learning countless lessons about what does (and doesn’t) translate well virtually, 74% of companies are increasing their investment in recruiting tech. This begs the question – which remote tools have the best bang for their buck?

Here are the four tools that recruiters are using to make more placements today (and at a faster rate) than ever before:

1. To plan: automated schedulers

Scheduling is consistently a timesuck in the hiring process, not to mention error-prone if you’re still creating manual invites – even the most seasoned recruiter from time to time is bound to confuse a time zone or forget a meeting link in the invite.

Automated scheduling tools allow you to send calendar invites at the click of a button, mitigating potential miscommunication and confusion. It’s simple – just sync your calendar with the platform, then send candidates a link or SMS message that lets them choose an interview time based off of your availability. The days of scouring your calendar for a meeting time are behind you; just keep your calendar updated and the software takes care of the rest.

On average…

• Businesses reduce time scheduling interviews by 84%
• Recruiters are able to interview 30% more candidates
• 80% of candidates schedule their interviews within 24 hours of being invited

2. To prepare: question set builders

Preparing for every individual interview is an intensive (and time-consuming) process. Countless elements inform how recruiters develop questions for a req, like role responsibilities, team culture, and seniority level.

With interview guide builders, you have access to thousands of questions that are targeted at determining skills, competencies, and cultural fit that you can use to create candidate evaluation frameworks. Developing criteria from the start is a surefire way to cut time on administrative tasks, while ensuring consistency (and removing bias) across interviews.

On average…

• Recruiters interview 20% more top candidates
• Well-designed guides disqualify bad candidates more quickly
• Informed questions build trust with candidates

3. To screen: one-way video interviews

One-way video interviews go a step beyond resumes, and even phone screens, to bring a candidate to life while significantly reducing the time that recruiters spend on the screening process. Instead of scheduling a phone call, taking copious notes, and sending follow-ups, video recordings are available at any time, any place, and to any one on the hiring team.

Skip the formalities and get straight to the core of a candidate. Video offers a comprehensive view of a candidate’s communication skills, personality traits, and baseline knowledge, so that you can make well-informed decisions without spending a minute longer than necessary evaluating applicants.

On average…

• Recruiters spend 80% less time on each interview
• Phone screens last 30 minutes, despite only needing about 90 seconds to determine a candidate’s fit
• Recruiters view 10 one-way interviews in the same time as a single phone screen

4. To interview: live video platforms

Connecting with candidates via video isn’t often optional at the moment, but that doesn’t mean in-person interviews will ever return to the fold for all companies. Recruiters are now taking the time that they used to spend giving office tours and shaking hands with candidate after candidate to source, attract, and hire even more talent. Plus, live video interviews are recorded, leaving little-to-no room for error when it comes to making a hiring decision.

You can replay interviews at will, or share them with a colleague who may be able to provide further insight if you’re on the fence about a hire. Video interviews are also a great way to train newbies. Incoming recruiters can join you for an interview and watch the hiring process go down in front of their very eyes, or watch a great interview after the fact via recording (when it’s conveniently tucked into their onboarding schedule, of course).

On average…

• Time to offer is reduced by 58%
• Video interviews compel 81% of candidates, providing a competitive advantage
• Recruiters opt to replay, share, or request feedback from their peers

What saving time & making more placements means today

The shift to virtual hiring has been a long time coming, yet many businesses found themselves scrambling to move their hiring initiatives to a completely remote environment earlier this year. That’s because the move to fully-remote hiring is less about adopting new habits and more about discovering tools that increase hiring success.

To ensure the most effective hiring process possible, recruiters need more than just a way to interact with candidates – they require an infrastructure developed for interviewing that reduces administrative tasks, improves knowledge transfer, and streamlines interviews.

Once you’ve got the right tools for recruiters in your belt, you’ll be able to outpace the competition and lockdown talent more quickly, while maintaining the integrity of your hiring standards.

Don’t just take our word for it – chat with a client success expert today to see the results for yourself!

About The Author

Alex is an Enterprise Account Executive at interviewstream. Outside of the office, his favorite ways to rewind are by listening to old vinyl records and spending quality time with his one-year-old daughter, Sofia.