Workforce Visibility

Three Talent Engagement Technologies for a New World of Work

AGS_Covid19_TalentEngagement_BlogWith social distancing now a regular part of our conversations, it’s a changed world. And the impacts are far-reaching. As COVID-19 containment efforts continue to unfold, companies, and the workers they engage, face real challenges -- not only in how people function as workers, but also as human beings. Isolation is the new norm, and limitations on physical interaction are forcing many organizations to prioritize virtual work.

Talent Engagement Goes Virtual


Thanks to great strides in technology, several companies are finding ways to take the sting out of isolation. Very simply, they are thinking virtually, and many started doing so long before social distancing went mainstream. Any business wrestling to keep engaged with newly remote talent will soon find itself hunting for solutions, platforms, and applications that bring human interaction front and center in a virtual environment. The good news is these technologies are available, accessible, and more cost-effective than ever. With that in mind, here are three ways companies can apply advances in technology to better connect with talent through recruiting, onboarding, and across key aspects of the worker experience.

1. Reduce the Interviewing Burden on Talent Acquisition

Video interviewing is not new, but advances in technology have made video more practical than ever. At its simplest form, companies can employ video conference solutions like WebEx, Zoom, and BlueJeans or even FaceTime and Skype to mimic the live, in-person interview experience. Alternatively, advanced tools, such as Monjin or AllyO modernize the process.

The modern features of the advanced tools are not always available on the generic video platforms, but those features make a big difference in the process. For example, consider the two main types of video interviews: one-way and live video interviews. Through one-way interviews, candidates can record answers to posed questions at their convenience. This type of approach enables an ease-of-use not found through simple Skype-style meetings. The questions can be accessed anytime, anywhere. The process is identical for every interview, and the results are easy to share and compare.

Likewise, for live video interviews, technologies can now make execution easier than ever, from automated scheduling to inclusion of multiple interviewers and, once again, easy sharing of results and collaboration on hiring decisions. Added to these options, an employer may use the solution to incorporate a video job description or an office tour into the process. Finally, the technology makes the process candidate friendly, with options that help ensure the candidate system is set to the highest quality for lighting and sound and overall quality of communication. You don’t get any of that with the generic video platforms. With today’s solutions, you can:

  • Speed the candidate journey and reduce interview stress
  • Optimize time-to-hire
  • Provide a consistent process
  • Fight conscious and unconscious bias
  • Eliminate geographical restrictions
  • Ease the scheduling burden
  • Enable anytime-anywhere interviewing

A video interview sounds impersonal at first glance but consider the real impact. Candidates can communicate their best message to a potential employer without the burdens, costs, and nerves associated with scheduling, travel, and physical presentation. The result is often a more valuable personal experience that can go a long way to creating a great new worker relationship.

2. Eliminate the Onboarding Experience Slump

Unfortunately, the onboarding process is frequently one of the most challenging stages of the employee (and even contractor) lifecycle. For all the elements at play, from introductions to paperwork, orientation, and IT setup, onboarding is often a tough process to coordinate.

And in a remote work environment, nothing feels more isolating than not knowing your co-workers, or being in the dark about the processing of your paperwork or the setup of your computer. Automated onboarding eliminates these issues through applications that put everyone on the same page and ensure a predictable, transparent, and consistent process. An advanced automated onboarding solution such as Enboarder provides several advantages, including:

  • Customized workflows
  • Mobile-friendly communications
  • Push messaging to all users, with no need to log in or download apps
  • Use of rich interactive and video content

Through a coordinated, automated onboarding program, employers eliminate the negative experience that often hinders critical first days on the job. Once again, technology, by its very nature, reduces the onboarding confusion that becomes a source of potential isolation for onsite and remote workers alike.

3. Add Personality Through a Great Brand Video

Video technology also offers a terrific medium for bringing out the most genuine and compelling voice to current talent, as well as potential candidates. But we all know that all video is not the same. Quality counts, whether producing a video for a job ad, career site page, social media, or a manager’s message to remote workers. Yes, that’s right: video can now replace the email and with much more impact. Advanced solutions can:

  • Create videos through mobile applications
  • Provide video editing features and related training directly to in-house resources
  • Be adopted with little disruption or time investment
  • Support distribution and tracking over social channels
  • Provide an easy-to-use medium for employee promotion

Consider VideoMyJob. This application brings the ability to create professional-looking video inhouse. It delivers all the capabilities of solid production to the mobile platform, and it supports users with the tools and training resources to get it right, from lighting to script creation. Companies can give a face and voice to their virtual presence, providing an advantage for everything from bringing employee stories to life to developing quality training material.

A New World of Connection

In today’s workplace, technology enables face-to-face meetings that span regions and time zones. People expect to be mobile-enabled. They want to hold meetings virtually. They want to interact anywhere, anytime. As consumers, people already buy cars, shop, go to the doctor, and connect with their friends remotely and through mobile devices. When it comes to that standard and expectation, now is the time for employers to finally catch up.

Get an at-a-glance view of the technologies at play: 

Read the Guide

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    Written by Bruce Morton
    Bruce Morton is in his 42nd year in the human capital industry and is well known as a global workforce design and talent acquisition expert. He has designed, implemented and managed some of the largest resourcing solutions across many different parts of the globe and has been recognized as HR Thought Leader of the Year by HRO both in EMEA and in the US. Bruce recently published a relevant book for the new world of work, "Redesigning the Way Work Works," available on Amazon.