As a business leader, have you had an opportunity to set up and use a Google Hangout yet? This free video conferencing service offered by the world’s leading search engine is becoming a hot spot for those who want to be heard online. At the same time, a few smart recruiters are also finding ways of utilizing Google Hangout for scheduled recruiting campaigns.
Video Recruiting and Google Hangouts
In a recent article, we talked about the use of video recruiting tools as part of your staffing strategy. Video recruiting using Google Hangout provides many unique benefits for vetting the best candidates. These benefits include the following:
- The ability to both see and hear each candidate before sending for an in-person interview
- Reducing costs and time for interviewing activities by eliminating the need for physical travel
- Enhanced sharing tools for reviewing candidate documents and online HRMS tools
- Live streaming to mobile devices on YouTube for on-the-go recruitment activities
- Coordinates several hiring managers at once for live interviewing and feedback
- Restrictions on who can attend and participate in live interviews and panel discussions
So, how are today’s recruiters using Google Hangouts for various recruiting activities?
The great thing about Google Hangouts is that it links into the other free Google tools that are offered to anyone on the Internet. This allows recruiters to take advantage of the benefits of Google Hangouts as the full suite of Google applications continue to evolve. Time-challenged recruiters are using Google Hangouts as a platform for getting in touch with talent, and having the face-to-face conversations with them to bring them on board with their clients faster.
Using Google Hangouts allows for adding people to a group, setting up a branded Google recruitment page, and then sending email invites out to prospective candidiates to participate in a special Hangout session. Recruiters can review the Google + profiles of talent ahead of time, weeding out those who do not fit the bill. Google calendars can be used for scheduling and getting updates on interviews. Using Google search can help bring recruiters and candidates together in a matter of minutes. All of these factors combined make Google Hangouts a valuable tool for connecting the skilled talent of today and companies who want to hire them, in real time.
9 Best Practices for Using Google Hangouts in Recruitment
Several steps are used when making the leap to video interviewing with Google Hangouts. Follow these guidelines for more success:
1. Set up a branded Google Hangout for your company or recruitment agency.
2. Create a Google web-page or add your Goggle Hangout link to your corporate career portal.
3. Integrate your Google Hangout links within other branded social networks.
4. Review the Google + profiles of potential candidates (passive and active) by searching using industry keywords.
5. Use a high speed connection in a professional environment with quality headphones and mic.
6. Invite Google + members to join your Google Hangout with a future date for an event.
7. Schedule a recruitment video event using Google Hangout and prepare with interview questions and activities.
8.Hold the event, introducing the company and inviting eligible candidates to pair off with your recruiters (our outsourced recruitment team) for a follow-up video interview.
Maintain a calendar of recruitment events and publish your Google Hangout event schedule there.
Learning How to Use Google Hangouts Effectively
For more information about how to use Google Hangouts for technical interviews, check out this video tutorial from Google’s team here:
