Like remote work, remote hiring is here to stay. Recruiters in a post pandemic world often express their desire to go back to in-person interviews and their demands are justified because meeting a candidate helps to get to know them better. It is also a great opportunity for the candidate to watch and understand the work environment and know if they would be a good fit for the organisation. However, remote working has opened several doors for hiring opportunities - recruiters can now hire exceptional talent from different cities and even internationally. With the increasing popularity of remote work, more so because of the pandemic, recruiters will need to adapt to and improve their remote assessment strategies.
Remote assessment of candidates has its challenges - including technical disruptions, not being able to read the candidate’s body language, inability to gauge their soft skills, good candidates being uncomfortable with the interview format and candidates not being able to experience the company culture. While these challenges exist, screening technical candidates can add another layer of difficulty as they must be evaluated not only on their soft skills and cultural fit but also their technical competencies.
Along with assessing them technically there are some key qualities to look for in candidates in this day and age. Remote working has meant employees have less face-to-face interaction with their teams and new starters have fewer opportunities to engage with their teammates. In such a scenario, it becomes important for the candidate to be efficient in relationship building and independent, he/she should be able to actively seek out teammates to get advice and support and at the same time be independent in their problem solving approach. Remote working also means being open to distractions and being away from constant purview of the leadership, in this instance it is vital to have employees with independent motivation and drive to produce honest and efficient work. Your new starter should also possess qualities of adaptability and resilience because in these turbulent times most new employees would be joining organisations that are constantly changing their operations to meet global requirements.
In the case of technical vetting of candidates, some technical evaluation techniques can be optimised to meet the challenges of remote recruitment.
Efficiency of Applicant Tracking Systems
The technology market is fast paced and tech candidates are in high demand. In this candidate driven market, it becomes imperative to optimise your ATS processes to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Workflows need to be defined for each step and application processes need to be connected to alerts and be regularly tracked. You should know at all times, what stage of the application process the candidate is on and based on this information next steps should be defined and every communication should efficiently reach the candidate. You should arrange additional tests and interviews for tech candidates to vet them on their technical expertise - including skill based tests, small time constrained tasks to be completed or technical interviews with skill specific questions. The ATS should be optimised for each of these steps. Whether you want to assess a candidate through group interviews which include hiring managers, tech supervisors and company leadership or you want to introduce different levels to the interview process involving different people, each step needs to be tracked and the candidate should be aware of the whole process down to the T.
Remote interviews
Remote interviews can be interactive or video based. Interactive interviews are recommended for technical assessment of candidates as it ensures skill based questions are answered from practical knowledge. However, for behavioural assessment, candidates can be asked to respond to questions through a video and that allows multiple parties to evaluate the candidate because of the shareability of the video.
Technical assessment
Pre-employment tests are a great unbiased way to assess a candidate on their technical skills. Key technical competencies essential to the job should be identified early on and tests should be prepared to identify if the candidate can successfully complete tasks. These tests reduce the risk of a bad hire and employee turnovers and can be prepared in various formats like - case studies, multiple choice quiz, problem based case presentations, software based tasks, reports or mock day-to-day tasks.
Lastly, technically vetting a candidate is a crucial step in the hiring process and it is highly recommended to leave it to the experts in the field. Savant can support you with exceptional talent in the technology industry and our candidates are thoroughly technically assessed through our partnerships. Savant has partnered with Cloud Gaia and its experts who assist our technical hires and ensure that we provide the best talent to our clients. Our efficient processes and close relationships with our partners ensures the technical assessment process is time efficient, effective and has faster conversion rates. If you need help with a technical hire, reach out to us at technology@savantrecruitment.com for a free consultation.
