Face to Face Contact in Online Hiring

by Frank Mulligan, Talent Software

People crave human contact. It’s the most basic need we have, after food and shelter. I am pretty fond of it myself ....

At the same time many of us are tired of the technology substitutes for contact. This includes voice-mails, phone-tag and multiple options like ’Press 1 for accounts, 2 for sales...’.

We are so bored of repetitive TV adverts we buy machines like the Tivo that offer us the chance to get rid of them. Our email systems offered us the chance to conveniently communicate with many people but now we are overwhelmed by junk mail.

None of these newer technologies seems to give us what we want. They solve the information communications problem but they don’t decrease our sense of isolation, they increase it.

So in our rush to automate the hiring process we need to ensure a minimum level of person to person contact for candidates. Real, honest human contact unfiltered by the fear of telling it as it actually is in our companies.

It is even more important in China where power is firmly rooted in relationships, and less so in processes or contracts. Studies on internet usage in China tend to support the idea that immediate human contact is preferred over anything else.

Despite what many people believe, an online hiring proces offers opprortunities for real person to person contact. Here are some options that come to mind:

- Add an MSN chat option in your Careers@ or mini-hiring site. MSN includes video now so keep a USB camera permanently connected. You’ll be surprised how often you use it.

- Change your Job Descriptions from a list of ’must haves’ to a conversation so that you are talking to your target audience before you ever meet them. This is easier said than done and it requires the skills of a Copywriter, not a Recruiter. John Sumser has more on this.

- Put in a mandatory scripted phone screen for all positions, irrespective of level. Record it and give line managers a chance to get a feel for a candidate before they meet them.

- You might like to try recording interviews as short videos but it can put people off so it probably should not be used in a formal setting like your office. Newer systems like Hirevue allow candidates to create an interview video at home using a USB camera. This is definitely an option in China where so many people are online and cameras are very cheap.

- Invite all candidates to do their pyschometric or skills tests in your office, instead of online. Doing tests online is fine from a technical point of view but you can never be sure that the person doing the test is the one you are targeting. Plus you get to see them.

- Stop talking at candidates through your JDs, marketing brochures etc. and start talking with them in a more interactive way. A video of the ’Day in the Life’ of one of your staff will serve you much better in this regard than a glossy PDF marketing brochure.

- After a face to face interview use your ATS to automatically prompt a follow up call by the HR staffer or Recruiter. It’s supposed to be done in most companies but how often is it actually done in practice? Online hiring systems could be the enabler.

- When you make a Job Offer schedule a Job Offer Test Phonecall to be sure that the offer will be accepted when it is sent. Turnover in China is so high that this is a good idea in itself but it also increases the volume and quality of your conversation with the candidate. Keep them talking and you are more likely to keeping them moving throught the hiring process.

- After the candidate has accepted the job offer prompt the line manager to organise lunch or dinner or some other face to face meeting with the new employee. HR should also be in contact with this person for no other reason than getting a sense that they will turn up when they have promised to. It’s all about contact.

- Lastly, do a Follow Up Interview three months after the person joins your company, and do an Exit Interview with everyone that leaves your company of their own accord.



Each of these suggestions is doable using current online hiring technology. If implemented they should ensure that candidates and staff get what they want; more people time.

Let’s start a conversation.

Comments to: frank.mulligan@recruit-china.com