Virtual Whisperer 4 — Hiring, Interviewing, and Ingenuity

Everyone’s now in our new work rhythms, and also realizing that we’ll be “sheltering in place” for at least another month. Some of our clients had open requisitions to fill when this all hit and are wondering how to bring new talent into the culture virtually. Several things have worked for us over the years — it’s “back to business basics” on some of these principles.

Try to Transfer Current Team Members

If this downturn has led you to lay off in some departments, first see if displaced team members can be hired into open slots. Even if this requires a fair bit of training, such moves generate huge amounts of goodwill — especially in this market climate.

Clearly Identify the Hiring Team and Job Description

If you can’t hire from within, clarify who the hiring team will be. Usually, this will be someone in HR, the hiring manager, and maybe two or three others who will be working closely with the hired individual.

Have a clear job description, and make sure everyone knows what aspects they are covering in interviews. Typically, with HR it’s screening, discussing the company and culture, and making sure the candidate is an all-around fit. However, someone must focus on cultural fit and values, someone else on technical skills, and someone else on soft skills. In other words, while everyone is screening for everything, they are also each assigned an “area” to probe and go deep.

Ensure That You Interview Using Multiple Media

Schedule calls by phone and by video, and then perhaps have a group interview as well. If there is a writing test or a creative aspect to the role, or coding is involved, have candidates submit samples. See if the candidates write thank-you notes and, in doing so, evaluate their writing.

By all means, leverage video multiple times. Are candidates showing up? Are they dressed for the interview? Are they making eye contact and sticking with the conversation?

Have a Solid Plan for Onboarding

If a candidate rises to the top and you’re ready to make an offer, remember that in a virtual environment, it’s really critical that the onboarding be purposeful. At Outsell, we use an orientation document that delineates each new hire’s first five days in pretty good detail, with booked appointments and a set course for the first four weeks with specifics that have to happen but with the time not scheduled. We set this up as a self-study guide so new team members can go at their own pace but are clear about what has to happen in what intervals.

Make sure that all aspects of their roles are spelled out, including whatever they need to know about the company and how it operates. Ensure that any systems they need to train on are included and all of that is spelled out in a logical order. Then make sure that this document is shared with them their first day.

Have HR run the first day or so with paperwork, forms, and whatever else everyone has to do, and then make sure the appropriate manager takes over. Managers can meet with individuals at the end of every day in a stand-up and then go deeper when it’s their turn to onboard certain parts of the document. Have the new individual submit a status update on each element of the onboarding document each Friday, no matter how senior or junior they are.

Make Sure Everyone Has a Buddy

This is different from HR or the hiring manager — this is a peer in the company, a “cultural ambassador” who embodies everything right in an individual. You want this person to be the go-to for the odd things a new person wants to ask about but is afraid to look stupid asking about or doesn’t know who to approach. This is a person you know is going to represent the company and its leadership and culture with the best “brand” possible — someone who is congruent with all the ways you value. The buddy system is critical in a virtual world.

Introduce the New Team Member Virtually

Make sure the person is introduced virtually in an all-employee meeting, coffee hour, or virtual cocktail hour. Ask individuals to make sure they take time to get to know the new hires and to receive their calls and video outreach. Onboarding is as much about being accepted and welcomed as it is about training, and it’s critical that people be welcomed with open arms.

Walk the (Virtual) Halls

For the leaders out there, walk the proverbial halls. Be, as one colleague once told me, “deliberately undeliberate.” Check-in on Slack or ask for a spontaneous video call. Call time to meet and greet and make sure the newcomer is included. How you welcome people right now will speak volumes.

And for those of you who have been displaced, I’ve been in awe of the ingenuity I’m seeing. If you can’t find work in your existing company or organization, don’t give up hope. One person’s hairdresser just mixed color and dropped it off to all his clients with a check left waiting and texts keeping the social distancing in compliance while the “hand-off” was made. One small storeowner in Angels Camp, CA, amped up her e-commerce site with Cocooning Survival Kits in her online shop. If you are a dog lover, try a private dog-walking service. I’m not saying this to trivialize what’s happening out there, just to point out that human will and ingenuity will bring magic every time.