The Wall Street Journal Say : Recruiters Are Screening Candidates With Text Interviews

 “People don’t want to have that 10-minute [phone] conversation any more if they could just reply with a quick text,” said Kirby Cuniffe, chief executive of staffing firm Aegis Worldwide LLC. After Aegis recruiters reported that fewer potential hires were answering their phones, the firm decided to try texting. Since March, Indianapolis-based Aegis and Priceline Group’s restaurant-booking service OpenTable have been using Canvas, a messaging app from Canvas Talent Inc. for text-based job interviews.”

3 reasons why text interviews make good sense

1. Improving the time to fill rate.  It has been taking companies longer and longer to fill jobs. In fact, the average time-to-hire for white-collar positions is now at 68 business days, or 26 days longer than it was in 2010. I don’t know how much that early stage text interviews are going to improve that, but they surely are one step that will help to get people hired more quickly — and improving time to fill.

2.  A better candidate experience. That’s not a big surprise, but what is a shock is that more organizations aren’t using text interviews, and text communication in general, to stay in close touch with candidates. It’s a perfect way to not only engage them but also to make the candidate experience just that much better.

3.  It adds a very personal touch. Texting is a lot more personal, and anything personal gets the candidate out of the environment that seems to permeate so much of the recruiting scene today. When you can get more personal, you learn a lot more about the candidate. In my experience, that dramatically improves your hiring batting average.

The time is right for shifting to an “interview from anywhere” approach, where text-interviewing is one additional option. Even if you use face-to-face interviews for the final interview, consider text interviewing for at least the initial interview. This is because it has so many advantages, including a higher quality of hire, less bias, a lower cost per hire as a result of lower travel costs, a reduced environmental impact, an improved candidate experience, and a shorter time to fill.

At a time when texting is all the rage, jump on the bandwagon and add it to your list of interview options.”

Better get going before you get left behind.

Credit information : The Wall Street Journal

Credit information : Recruiting daily