With the advent of virtual recruiting, why would finance and accounting recruiters like us still advocate face-to-face interviews? Well, the short answer to this question is that virtual recruitment does boast plenty of advantages but a hybrid approach has been proven to be by far the best way to recruit for both employer and candidate. For candidates to feel valued and engaged, and to know where they stand, it takes a personal connection and adequate feedback. Ideally, virtual recruiting should only serve as part of any employer’s recruiting strategy. Face-to-face interviews facilitate an honest, personal connection which can’t be beaten and won’t be achieved with a recruitment process that takes place wholly online. Of course, for some companies, it will be necessary to adopt a fully remote approach as the employer operates on a fully remote basis or the specific candidates they are looking for are living in another location entirely.
So how do you make the virtual recruiting work for you? Well, for any employer, adopting certain virtual elements as part of their recruitment process will enable them to save time and money but a hybrid approach will enable them to retain the personal touch. Here’s a few ideas that we’d recommend as finance and accounting recruiters.
- Make sure that your website is up to date and firing on all cylinders! A virtual hiring approach leans heavily on the strength of your website as candidates will be relying on it to gain additional information about your company. If its mission and method of operation are poorly designed or out of date you may lose a potential candidate.
- It’s a good idea to run an online hiring event or even a networking event or info session. By marketing online events you can expand your reach to more potential job seekers and by gathering email addresses you can even build a database of potential job seekers. Just make sure that you follow up. If you’ve done a great job keeping candidates engaged during a virtual recruiting event, engage them afterwards.
- Incorporate ways to introduce candidates to your company culture by taking them on a virtual tour of the office, and allow them to ‘meet’ the team. This can be done on the website, before they even think about applying for the job. You can also showcase your organisational culture through social networks (e.g. TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook).
- When there is a higher volume of applications for a job, get your web chatbot involved as a virtual recruitment assistant to save time. You can program your bot to answer frequently asked questions and/or redirect candidates to where they can find the help they need. Your bot could even ask candidates to pre-record an interview as a preliminary stage before progressing to in-person interviews. This would save time and create a low-pressure environment for nervous candidates.
- If you go down the route of giving a list of questions or a preliminary video to candidates before the interview or ask them to pass an assessment before considering them for the position, do it in the friendliest, most efficient way possible. Asking candidates to jump through too many hoops right at the outset can feel quite impersonal so buy in reliable, dedicated hiring software that aids the process and offers a great user experience. Preliminary testing can help to ascertain a candidate’s level of soft skills as well as to see if they are suitably qualified for the responsibilities of the role.
- If you are hiring remotely for a role that is going to be undertaken remotely it’s a good idea to diagnose how sound a candidate’s tech knowledge is at the outset and how reliable their internet connection is. It could affect the company’s productivity quite negatively if the new hire is completely stuck when they have connectivity problems or tech issues.
- Lastly, make sure that you have made the job specification abundantly clear. Where there is a lack of face-to-face contact, there is a much greater possibility that there will be some form of misunderstanding. Being precise and specific about responsibilities and qualifications for a particular role is crucial, as is a list of employee benefits.
All that said, if you are still struggling to find the right candidates to fill an important finance role within your organisation, it could be time to call in the finance and accounting recruiters for a white glove service that will help you to complete your team. At Core3, we believe that good service is, and always should be a given and we always go the extra mile to recruit the right person for the right role. With over seventy years of experience in the local Finance and Accounting market, and a belief in the value of meeting face to face, we can guarantee that we will be able to help you find permanent and interim talent for accountancy jobs at all levels from purchase ledger to CFO.
We’ll use technology to amplify your employer brand with dedicated landing pages, employer brand videos, virtual job descriptions and social campaigns. We function as an employer’s cheerleader in the marketplace and at the same time we work tirelessly to nurture our candidates’ careers and be their trustworthy advocate in the market.
Our clients will tell you what a huge relief it is to be able to pass on the responsibility of finding their next hire to the professionals. Whether that’s year end deadlines, maternity cover, or to ease some pressure on the team – we’ve got you covered. We can also help you with permanent solutions for finance and accounting talent, delivering an in-depth qualitative service, within a time frame that suits you. Whether your company is fully remote or working in person, and whichever method of recruitment you favour, online, hybrid or in person, we’ll use technology to make the most of the hiring process on your behalf.
