In the Age of Zoom Interviews and Phone Screeners, Here’s How to Hire Employees Online
Today’s market is more competitive than ever, and if you’re looking to recruit for a remote position or interview potential candidates from across the country, you’re going to have to get creative about the way you hire candidates online.
You don’t need to hire a recruiting firm when so much of the recruitment process has evolved to be fully digital these days. Job seekers today are savvy on how to search for open positions on social media, so recruiting candidates online need to use digital tools (like resume screenings, online skill tests, and virtual interview platforms), and take advantage of the job board sites that offer them.
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Still not sure how to hire employees online? You’ll first have to figure out how to make your listings rise above the pack — not only do online job search sites like ZipRecruiter have millions of monthly visitors, many will let you post for a wide variety of roles, or even let you post for the same kind of role multiple times. This can be advantageous if you’re looking to volume-hire, but might pose a problem if you’re not using the right keywords, or aren’t posting for the right audience.
If you want to take your hiring operation 100% digital, you’ll also need to make sure you have the employees are screen properly online off the bat, and that any skills tests or necessary information can be facilitated through a virtual application. Think about whether you have the infrastructure to handle completely virtual video interviews, too (or at the very least, that you feel confident you can judge whether someone is right for the company culture over a screen).
With the right tools, you can find just as qualified candidates as if you were recruiting in person. Not sure where to start? These are our best tips and tricks that’ll help make the virtual hiring process even easier.
1. Join Job Posting Sites with Online Hiring Tools
To find the most qualified candidates, make it easier on yourself and create a listing through job posting sites. You’ll want to look for job search sites that offer premium services on the business end that you can use to filter for the necessary qualifications, handle the interview process, and have a resume database at your fingertips to find the right candidate.
There are hundreds of sites to choose from, but one particularly helpful site is ZipRecruiter, which offers customizable templates for job descriptions, different positions, and screener questions that simplify the processes of posting listings, so you can get them up quickly and hire in no time.
There’s two plans available, a Standard and Premium job listing plan. While they don’t list their official pricing online, the Standard plan is for more budget-friendly hiring, and will give you distribution to 100+ job sites, unlimited candidate applications, and one reusable job slot. Before you start looking over your qualified candidates, you can always try this #1 rated hiring site free with ZipRecruiter’s free trial plan.
2. Use Keywords to Draw Attention to Your Listing
Optimizing your job postings with keywords and phrases is important not only so that your listing will show up on the relevant online searches, but so your posting will be seen by as many relevant candidates as possible. While you may think that going broad in your job title and description will yield higher views, it pays to be specific in key areas of the listing so that only job seekers with the most relevant experience in their field will apply.
One way to do this is to go general in the job title, such as “Sales Manager” instead of “Retail Sales Expert,” but get specific in the actual description itself in terms of job-related duties, necessary skill sets, and tools. Check to see if your job posting site has customizable templates to help with this.
3. Adapt Your Listing for Social Media
Social media is actually where a good chunk of job seekers are being hired from nowadays, so you’ll want to craft a listing that reads just as well on a job board site as it will on social media. Make sure to post current job openings on your social media feeds, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and link out to your company’s page for applications. You can narrow your search for the most relevant candidates by posting the job to specific professional groups for your field.
There are also tools, like ZipRecruiter‘s “TrafficBoost,” that give your job posting a little extra boost, including increased placement and visibility across their linked job boards. TrafficBoost helps secure more eyeballs too without purely relying on your SEO skills, since the tool will promote the position until it receives the number of views you’re aiming for (100-300 views per post), or for up to 30 days.
4. Make Sure the Entire Application Process Can Be Handled Virtually
For all the steps involved in the application process, you should make sure they’re able to be handled virtually. If there’s a skills test, can it be transferred online? Do you have a method for scheduling phone interviews, and does your company have a preferred video conferencing software?
That being said, if you know your interview process is still extensive despite being online, and that might turn away potential employees who are applying remotely. But there are still passive ways to bring the candidates to you — ZipRecruiter uses a powerful matching algorithm and AI technology to create instant matches between your listings and the right candidates. It takes information about a job seeker’s skills (such as education, skills, and experience) and connects all kinds of businesses, including yours, with millions of potential applicants currently on the web.
5. Ensure Your Brand Has an Accurate Online Presence
One of the best ways to be proactive about hiring online is by managing your company’s reputation and digital presence. Sites like Glassdoor offer analytical tools to determine who your target market is, candidate demographics, and how potential candidates are engaging with your job listings.
You can use all this information to your advantage to tailor your brand’s profile and your job listings with specific keywords, and even use social media to your advantage. Many job boards too will let you add-on targeted advertising to display your job posting with the right kind of messaging (i.e. mentioning the job is hiring remotely, completely online, etc).
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