Hiring in Lockdown! Is it possible?

LinkedIn is littered with posts about ‘business as usual’ and ‘lets carry on regardless!’ But it’s just not possible. Multi-tasking has reached a new peak as people are trying to fulfil their work responsibilities, educate their children, navigate the supermarket and keep a sense of humour within the same 4 walls.

It’s tough and we have to adapt to thrive.

Realistically we know that life will return to normal, eventually, and those things that were put on hold are still there. The vacancies you had a few months ago will still exist but you will need to review your recruitment policies to makes sure that you have access to the best candidates for your business.

We are all getting used to socialising on video but it is clear that this will become an even bigger part of our lives and if you are hiring you need to build confidence so that you are still making the right decisions.

If you are remote interviewing for the first time these are our top tips.

1. Check that your tech works
2. Set the scene – make sure you are interviewing somewhere that isn’t distracting to the interviewee
3. Take time at the beginning to settle the interviewee – interviews can be stressful, remote ones more so
4. Speak clearly and make sure the questions you are asking are fully understood
5. Be fully prepared – know what you need to ask and if you are unsure of anything at the end ask again.

Critical to this will be building rapport with the interviewee at the early stages. Make sure you have some questions prepped to ask to help you to get into a rhythm. In a personal meeting you rely on chemistry and gut instinct to know what’s right – building rapport early on a video interview can help with that.

Be forensic when reviewing the CV and check out LinkedIn as well, write down any questions you have and go over them at the end before signing off.

Take time after the interview to reflect and again, make notes! A person might not be as memorable via video as if they are sitting in front of you so make notes to remind you.

It’s time to adapt how we work so that we can finally say – business as usual.