The Recruitment Challenge
Once you start hiring again, you could very easily find yourself overwhelmed by a ton of resumes from smart, talented people who suddenly, through no fault of their own, are unemployed. To make matters worse, you can’t rely on much if any face to face communication. What’s the solution? You’re going to have to figure out ways to quickly and efficiently filter and screen candidates and then move them through the process virtually, without overwhelming your frontline managers.
- Filter Job Applications
We’ve all just experienced the most shocking whiplash of our professional lives—just a few months ago we were living through historically low unemployment and now state officials have been hit with record-breaking jobless claims. If your company needs to hire, expect more applications than you know what to do with. First step is to filter with recruiting software that can get granular. First, narrow down job seekers who meet the minimum qualifications for your organization and then for a particular role. If that doesn’t narrow the field enough can factor in a behavioral or skill assessment…
(If you aren’t seeing the number of applications you’d expect, consider an employee referral program.)
- Candidate Skill Tests
You can learn a lot about candidates by testing for key skills or behavior (great recruiting software can make this easy). You can test for software knowledge, cognition, or an assessment of how an applicant’s personality and motivation match up with their potential role. The goal is to continue to winnow. You want a manageable pool of candidates for your frontline managers to consider.
- Skip the Phone Interview
Next, you’ll want to learn more about the remaining candidates. Typically, hiring managers might choose to do this by phone. The problem is, phone calls are awkward (young people hate them) and hiring managers have a tendency of not showing up for the calls, especially when there are more pressing problems (like a global pandemic). Your recruiting software should be able to automatically send out requests for further info, so you can reach out electronically to your candidates and ask them the things you’d normally ask over the phone:
- Tell me a bit about yourself.
- Why are you looking to make a move?
- What do you know about our organization?
- Tell us about a time where you had to deal with an unhappy customer.
- What kinds of jobs are you applying to?
- Are you currently talking to other companies for an open role?
When you get answers back, your recruiting system should score them so that you begin to see a natural hierarchy emerge. Chances are, your winning candidate is in this pool.
- Text, Don’t Just Email
People are bombarded with email these days, and it’s all too easy for important messages to get lost. We recommend sending candidates texts at each stage of the process instead. This speeds up candidate response times and keeps the hiring process moving.
- Make Use of Zoom
Remember when video calls were awkward? We’ve all had a crash course in Zoom, so might as well jump on the bandwagon. is your friend. (Paycor Recruiting integrates with Google and Outlook to simplify interview scheduling.)
- Don’t Rush Background Checks
Some things never change. Background checks are still important, so don’t skip this step. Criminal history is the obvious one, but there are actually quite a few background checks you can run. Check out this article for a quick overview.
- Sign Documents Remotely
One of the biggest challenges to hiring remotely is logistics. Getting candidates to sign on the dotted line can slow down the whole process. Don’t force candidates to come into the office to sign. Instead, send a digital offer letter to close the deal immediately. (Paycor Recruiting partners with DocuSign for reliable remote document signing.) View more hiring tools here.
How Paycor Can Help
Paycor Recruiting was built by recruitment professionals, who understand what an Applicant Tracking System needs. To learn more about how we can help you streamline and optimize you recruiting process, talk to a member of our sales team.