The Sustainable Work-From-Home Contact Center: Video Interviewing Provides a Scalable Hiring Solution

FROM THE JUNE 2021 ISSUE

The following Q&A is part of a series on creating a sustainable work-from-home contact center. Each post examines a vital technology that supports contact centers in the transition to a permanent remote-work model. Below, HireVue’s Andy Valenzuela outlines the benefits of video interviewing for a remote-work model. He also discusses the work-from-home (WFH) challenges that a video interviewing solution solves, along with key features, how to get the most out of the technology, and valuable advice on making a successful transition to a permanent WFH model.


ANDY VALENZUELA
Chief Human Resource Officer, HireVue
HireVue Video Interview Software

 

Q. What WFH challenge(s) does it solve?

Despite what seems like constant focus, recruiting for contact centers remains uniquely challenging. Contact center representatives require a unique set of skills, both in communication and in patience. Many contact centers experience extremely high turnover, often over 100% per year. This high turnover is compounded by the average cost-to-fill price tag ($2,500 per role), the 38 days, on average, it takes to fill each role and the WFH challenges of the past year.

As businesses make decisions on how they will reopen, virtual hiring significantly reduces a company’s time to fill by identifying top talent much faster than sifting through CVs (resumes) and scheduling hundreds or thousands of interviews in call centers. Additionally, virtual interviewing allows different stakeholders across an organization to spend more time on candidate engagement and personalized interactions, improving the candidate experience by as much as 52%, according to data from HireVue, which can be the deciding factor in a competitive hiring market.

Key Features

Video interviewing coupled with standardized assessments give each job applicant the opportunity to showcase their skill sets on-demand or in real-time. Unlike in a resume or application, applicants can showcase their past successes, demonstrate their skills, emotional intelligence and problem-solving abilities. In under 30 minutes, organizations can determine who is the right fit for their contact center roles.

HireVue offers a comprehensive suite of virtual hiring and virtual interviewing solutions that are easy to implement, secure and easy to scale. Key features include:

  • On-demand and live video interviewing: By not limiting candidates to business hours, HireVue’s virtual interview solutions open opportunities for a broader range of candidates.
  • Guidance: HireVue’s technology provides real-time evaluation tools and interview guides through Builder, which gives recruiters and hiring managers access to more than 1,000 job-specific interview guides vetted by IO Psychologists, providing more consistency and fairness in the interview process.
  • Standardization: Standardized interview templates (more than 1,000 interview guides), which are vetted and maintained by IO Psychologists, provide more consistency and fairness in the interview process.
  • Easy to use: Organizations can reach candidates where they are, whether that includes engaging with them using conversational AI, SMS or WhatsApp.

Q. How does it add value for end customers?

Coronavirus has drastically changed the way businesses hire. A large telecommunications company closed offshore call centers due to COVID-19, and they needed to quickly fill the affected positions (2,500 total) onshore. HireVue built a scalable hiring solution for the company. The company was able to complete 8,784 interviews in just three days.

Q. Tips for getting the most out of this tool?

At HireVue, we offer a comprehensive suite of virtual hiring and virtual interviewing solutions. For virtual interviews, we’ve identified three types of questions that recruiters and hiring managers might want to ask during a structured interview. These question types allow you to maintain consistency in hiring decisions by having the ability to compare candidates side-by-side and evaluate what matters.

We recommend asking behavioral, situational judgment and simulation/role-play questions:

  • Behavioral questions allow candidates to relate past experiences and challenges, and how they succeeded. This question allows hiring managers to determine how well candidates perform under pressure and glean the candidate’s problem-solving skills.
  • Situational judgment questions allow candidates to respond to hypothetical situations and outline their thought processes. These types of questions methodically give recruiters and hiring managers major insight into problem-solving abilities, communication skills and emotional intelligence.
  • Simulation/role-play questions are a creative way to pitch various situations to candidates. They allow you to gain insight into how much a candidate is willing to learn, how they tend to solve problems, and what their communication skills are like.

Q. Advice for making a successful transition to a permanent WFH model?

As rehiring spikes and office transitions evolve, organizations have the opportunity to rebuild their teams with the talent that will best represent their brands. For the contact center, this means identifying diverse, empathetic and patient problem-solvers as agents to represent your brand. Leveraging virtual interviewing to identify those candidates where they are, no matter their location, will play a key role in hiring today and into the future.

Next up in the WFH tech series: AI-powered virtual assistants