New Tools Help Deliver Better Candidate Pools And Improve Virtual Interviews

How to prepare for the ‘new ‘normal’

Today’s employers continue to refine their processes for making educated, hiring decisions and are constantly looking to improve efficiency and the quality of hires. As a result, background screening and employment verifications are on the rise. 

In fact, a 2020 survey released by HR Research Institute and the Professional Background Screening Association found that 94 percent of employers are conducting at least one type of employment background screening. The same survey showed employment verifications are up 17 percent from 2019 to 2020. 
 

Some of this is due to the fact that many HR teams are working virtually, and hiring more remote employees. A virtual hiring process can require additional due diligence, which may help explain the rise in employment verifications. When HR teams are dispersed and working remotely, it can be difficult to validate applicant data by phone. 

Small businesses and HR teams at mid-size businesses have to set aside time to verify work histories. Automating that process means that owners and hiring managers can tap into digital tools that can often deliver needed clarity, and they can typically do it whenever they need and from wherever they are working. 

Pre-employment verifications can also help businesses guide virtual interviews based on insights from employment histories. A (pre-pandemic) Equifax study of pre-employment data for a large national restaurant chain found that nearly one-quarter of their new hires were concurrently holding another job. That is significantly above the January 2020 national average of 5.1 percent, as tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such information can be confirmed through pre-employment verifications and can help hiring managers guide conversations around scheduling needs, in the hopes of attracting the best candidates and increasing retention by offering a workable schedule. 

New tools that can be easily incorporated into existing processes and adapt well to virtual hiring will be critical as our “new normal” continues to accommodate more and more remote work situations. Technology, automation and access will be key as hiring and onboarding become more virtual.  Integrations through APIs that can quickly “plug in” to existing ATS and HCMs can be more effectively used to augment existing processes adapting them to virtual hiring programs; helping to quickly and simply add better insight and efficiencies to the process of creating and confirming valid candidate pools. 

Kristi Kovalak is Vice President, Strategic Communications, at Equifax Workforce Solutions. Kristi focuses on the insights that help Talent and HR teams influence organizational success through digital-first processes and data analytic services. Visit www.equifax.com  Connect Kristi Kovalak