Remote work is great, right!? The majority would answer with a resounding yes; however, with remote work and remote hiring, candidate fraud, professional interviewers, and fake candidates increased.
Here’s a recap of a session hosted by Ben Walker from the World Staffing Summit with James Simmons, VP of Talent Acquisition at Droneup, Megan Smith, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Modis, and Maran Henderson, Program Director at Pontoon.
The panel discusses how their brands address the challenge of growing candidate fraud and fake candidates during the screening, interviewing, and hiring process.
How do you Widen the Candidate Funnel to get Qualified Candidates to the Bottom of the Funnel?
Megan Smith: There is a talent shortage. So, companies must look at more than ‘must-haves’ for widening the candidate funnel-like culture fit, soft skills, adaptability, problem-solving, collaboration, and dependability that resonate with them. Additionally, previous applicants and candidate referrals are a great consideration too.
This is how Modis academy procures candidates who are 80% fit with the client company, besides upskilling them.
How does Droneup Ensure a Solid Talent Pipeline for Team Building?
James Simmons: Droneup is relatively new, but has a hyper-growth mode. Therefore, the talent pipeline is examined from two dimensions:
- Emerging skillsets for a drone pilot
- Functional roles in IT, finance, and others
We need candidates that are well versed in hardware operations and know FAA regulations. Therefore, as a part of sourcing talent and skill assessment, we use Glider AI. Being a great talent quality platform, Glider helps us in building a dedicated set pilot assessment and rate and rank the drone pilot candidates (in terms of skill sets and experience).
Nowadays automation makes it easy to find recruiters in the market. Droneup uses ATS and Glider AI for recruitment automation. Besides, Droneup has an internal teamfor API development and integration with other applications as well.
How does Pontoons Ensure sufficient Candidate Volume to meet the High-value Global Requisition Programs?
Maran Henderson: There is always a need to balance betweenquantity and quality and candidate hiring is no exception. From an MSP perspective, Pontoons encourages an active candidate pipeline for proactive recruitment. But MSPs need forecast data from their clients. Therefore, Pontoons keeps the clients connected with its major hiring projects through regular conversations. It helps in gaining firsthand knowledge about candidate expectations, especially contingent labor. It immensely helps MSPs and their staffing partners.
Pontoons uses Glider AI for pre-screening candidates. It is the best way to test candidates and advance them for further rounds.
A Recent Study by Glider AI witnessed over 92% of Candidates Compromise on Test Integrity and Commit Fraud during Skill Assessments. Does this Case Resonate everywhere?
Megan Smith: Yes. There have been many examples of proxy resumes and impersonation recently. They are escalating due to remote and virtual hiring processes.
James Simmons: There are similar cases of assessment fraud, searching for answers on Google, etc. But Glider AI’s proctoring feature is a great help for Droneup. It tracks cheating cases accurately.
How do Managers Tackle such Situations during Video Interviews?
Maran Henderson: There’s always a potential for imposters, irrespective of the interview type (‘in-person’ or video). The Covid pandemic has made us agile and fluid in terms of attracting and retaining talent. As a step towards risk aversion, many companies either added a step or added control to reduce cheating in a remote environment.
Also, many companies are completely doing away with the traditional multi-interview processes. Group interviews like coding and technical interviews are becoming the norm. They not only help managers assess candidates on the same day, but also extend offers to candidates much faster.
How do you Address a Cohort of Candidates that are asked to Take a Test in spite of Having a Stellar Resume and Decent Work Experience?
James Simmons: Candidates respond in two different ways. Either, they opt to take the test willingly or get offended because their caliber is questioned.
Irrespective of their responses, our answer remains the same. We convey those assessments are a part of the interview process, but not barriers. It is always good to see one’s position in the spectrum of other candidates that have come for the same purpose.
Interestingly, there are some senior candidates who don’t score well in comparison to some mid-level candidates because they are not as involved in that on a day-to-day basis. So, it is always an interesting opportunity for them to expand their skills as a part of self-assessment.
How do you Encourage the unwilling Candidates to Complete the Test?
Maran Henderson: It’s all about how you approach the candidate. Glider is a part of our assessment process. We explain the value of assessments, albeit it takes extra time. Later, we speed up the further interview processes which are just to gauge the ‘cultural fitness.’ This way, we show where the value lies.
Megan Smith: The key lies in how managers convince the uninterested candidates about the assessment and the opportunities for them in the next round.
The ‘Work from Anywhere Policy’ has greatly Impacted the Ability to Screen the Contingent Workforce and FTE employees. Has it Made things Easier or more Difficult?
Maran Henderson: There has been a bigger thinking approach, since the onset of Covid. As MSPs, we rely on our supplier partners to screen candidates through technologies like Glider AI, before the latter reaches us. Innovative screening methods make it easier for approaching candidates in a remote environment. We also make internal collaborations like expert advice and discuss them with our clients. Strategies like these help us fill candidate seats in a tight labor market.
Megan Smith: It depends on the client industry. Most of our hi-tech clients are very open-minded about working anywhere. But engineering and medical industry clients need candidates to work on-site. So, it was challenging. Conversely, industries like finance and insurance verticals are willing to have candidates who can work off-site.
What Challenges do Recruiters Face in Screening Candidate Capabilities?
James Simmons: Recruiters should have inch-depth expertise in understanding what clients are looking for. It is also necessary to the recruitment technology individually and in groups. Glider has given the recruiters the ability to ask in-depth questions and get a good solid answer. Assessments also create an interesting conversation in the interview process. Overall, this is how recruiters find the best candidate with confidence at Droneup.
How do you Keep the Recruiters Motivated?
Megan Smith: Modis has invested immensely in recruiter’s personal and professional wellness during the pandemic. We hired additional recruiters to balance the workload and keep up the peak volume in demand.
How are you Measuring the Quality of your Workforce? What are the Creative and Innovative Ways you have Adopted in your Program?
Maran Henderson: Repercussionslike candidate resignation or underperformance are always a great concern.Therefore,Pontoons is keenly monitoring the great resignation. From a manager’s perspective, a candidate’s honesty builds a perception of the candidate’s quality of performance. Assessments from staffing partners like Glider AI are a real gamechanger in this regard as they check a candidate’s quality performance in real-time.
How does Modis Academy make the Candidates Industry-ready for the Future?
Megan Smith: Modis Academy addresses the skill gap in the talent environment in two ways. Firstly, the candidates are trained with contemporary skills and values to fill the gap. Next, they are also reskilled in terms of technical aptitude.
We partner with a lot of associates who create customizable training programs (virtual or on-site) for potential candidates. They are helpful in terms of fill-in ratios, retention, and also DE&I initiatives.
How does Droneup Internally Upskill its Employees?
James Simmons: As a startup, Droneup provides opportunities for ground pilots to upskill and become experts. We have partnered with a university program (launching in May 2022) for L and D. The candidates are assessed and interviewed through Glider AI. Then, they are put on on-the-job training for necessary skills as delivery partners.
Have you Seen any Clients Relaxing with their College Education or Degrees and Putting Competency over Credentials?
Maran Henderson: This trend has been escalating positively over the last few years. Many companies are now doing a lot of conversions through specific skills. They are doing away with Bachelors’ or Master’s degrees as a baseline.
What Role and Requirements do you Look for in a Candidate? Are Academics still Mandatory?
James Simmons: It depends on the role, hiring manager’s assumptions, and experience as well. It’s all about how a candidate fares in the interview process, the “culture fit” and how adept one will be in the environment. So, we look holistically.
Also, from a company perspective, nobody remembers your college name or degree, they remember your performance. That is what matters at the end of the day.
