Companies Tap Digital Tools to Hire Grads, Host Interns
May 26 2020 - 5:59AM
Dow Jones News
By Jared Council
The spring interview season, a rite of passage for college
students and recent grads, has gone virtual. In the midst of
coronavirus lockdowns, companies, including Ford Motor Co. and
Kraft Heinz Co., are leaning on a host of digital tools to
interview, vet and host internees and new hires.
Hiring executives say the shift to video chats to evaluate
potential candidates can't replace in-person connections. But the
process may become more of a fixture after the pandemic subsides,
they say, as a way to expand recruiting reach, cut travel costs and
increase work-from-home flexibility.
"We all crave, obviously, some of that in-person touch and
feel," said Lena Allison, the U.S. talent acquisition and
onboarding lead at Ford, which is hosting more than 600 interns
virtually this summer and preparing to conduct career fairs online
later this year.
"But more and more we'll be very comfortable with using digital
technologies and we'll make them part of our process versus an
exception to our process."
For the time being, however, companies have no choice but to go
completely virtual.
Kraft Heinz in April scrambled to virtualize in-person
assessments scheduled to be held in Europe and Australia for about
175 graduates applying for the company's entry-level trainee
program. Traditionally, assessments required that candidates engage
in group projects and participate in a final round of in-person
interviews, said Pieter Schalkwijk, Kraft Heinz's head of
international talent acquisition.
To conduct those events virtually, the company initially tapped
three video-conferencing tools: Microsoft Corp.'s Teams for opening
remarks, Zoom Video Communications Inc. for group projects and
HireVue Inc.'s service for interviews. Mr. Schalkwijk said his team
recently consolidated all video activities on Microsoft Teams.
One challenge has been trying to evaluate how candidates
collaborate on assessment day group projects via video calls,
because the dynamics of taking initiative and interrupting are
different from in-person interactions, Mr. Schalkwijk said.
But video does allow the company to get a sense of a person's
strengths and weaknesses, such as how creative they are in
brainstorming sessions with their peers or how they problem-solve
when encountering a challenge, he said.
"I think we need to see the results," Mr. Schalkwijk said about
using technology to conduct hiring virtually. "But I do think it
will change hiring in general for everyone."
Lauren Smith, a vice president in Gartner Inc.'s human resources
practice, said companies had been increasingly conducting video
interviews before the pandemic as a way to reduce hiring time,
decrease costs and expand their candidate pool beyond traditional
locations. She expects continued usage there, as well as in tools
such as game-based assessments, chatbots that help with the
application process and collaboration platforms that help new hires
build their networks remotely.
"The practice of hiring virtually has moved from being a 'nice
to have' to a 'must have' for most organizations," she said.
Before, most new hires or interns were expected to physically
appear in the office on the first day, even if most of the hiring
process was digital.
American Family Insurance had selected many of its interns
traditionally before the pandemic struck, with some in-person
interviews. The interns chosen are now checking in virtually to
work.
The Madison, Wis.-based company expects this year's interns to
make between two and four Zoom video calls per day to their
managers and colleagues, up from one per week last summer and none
the year before, according to Kristi Milbourn, the firm's campus
recruitment and university relations manager.
In addition to business meetings, the company also uses Zoom to
host rotating coffee chats -- where an intern in one department can
connect with a business leader in another department -- and virtual
game sessions with activities such as scavenger hunts and
Pictionary.
Katherine Krska, a 20-year-old marketing major at the University
of Wisconsin Madison who is interning with American Family, said
that although she would prefer working in an office with
colleagues, the virtual experience has value.
"I know when I go back in the fall to school we'll be adapting
to, definitely, a hybrid environment of virtual learning and
in-person learning," she said. "And this experience ... really
allows you to develop those interpersonal skills that it takes to
work in an environment where you are working alone yet staying
connected to so many people."
Write to Jared Council at jared.council@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2020 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
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