Are Text Interviews the Future of Hiring?

Hiring has experienced a complete overhaul over the past ten years, and if text interviews become the new hiring normal, it will be the evolution icing to the proverbial employment cake.

While HR professionals' initial reaction to text interviews is likely horror, some fascinating text related facts will help you warm up to the idea. Did you know that "only 43% of smartphone owners use their phone to make calls, but over 70% of smartphone users text?" And that it only takes an average person 90 seconds to respond to texts?

Now, I'm not suggesting that you abandon formal and more in-depth interviewing process in place of text interviews because that doesn't make sense. But what about using text interviews as the initial step in your process to weed out individuals that wouldn't be a quality fit? Text interviews can also help so you don't waste time with no-shows or meeting with applicants in person if they don't meet your minimum qualifications. Does that make text interviews a more plausible option? Dr. Sullivan seems to think so text interviews are valuable, and here's why:

Text interviews save you time.

The fact that initial text interviews save you time should be a no brainer. Especially when you take into consideration the stats shared earlier. If a person is almost twice as likely to respond to text messages than a phone call and will respond to texts 10 times faster than phone calls, it's easy to build a case for text interviews and see how they save you loads of time in your hiring process.

Text interviews can also be a huge time saver by easily eliminating candidates that aren't going to be a good fit for your job opening. You ascertain based on the information they provide that they're not suited for your position, and then you simply text them that statement and move onto interviewing the next job candidate.

Text interviews help to eliminate bias.

I know, I used the "B" word. The hard truth of the matter is that we're all guilty of holding unconscious biases that can sway our decision making.

Text interviews help to eliminate this issue because you can't see or hear the applicant which inhibits you from judging their speech, appearance, and accent. It also helps both you and the applicant to focus on the question at hand versus being distracted by thoughts that occur from looking at someone and "assessing" them.

Text interviews provide a "record."

If you're going to engage with a job candidate via text interviews, then you're going to have a documented initial interview.

A documented interview provides some ground to stand on so to speak to support whatever decision you make about their employability. Or, better yet, can help you to verify your "gut reactions" with other individuals (like hiring managers for instance) without the need for them to be present during the interview.

If you're utilizing applicant text interviews, you won't be required to take someone away from their job in order to "interpret" information. They'll have a record of it, and you can get the hiring managers screening questions in advance and provide them with the applicant's exact responses to those questions.

Text interviews help you to hire faster.

Without the need to coordinate three (or more) individuals' schedules, you can speed up the hiring process and quickly eliminate those applicants who wouldn't be a good fit from the get go.

And let's face it, the higher your expectations are for your position, the more likely it is that your job candidate is currently employed. Opting for text interviews for the first phase of your selection process will enable applicants to get through their interview on their lunch break without worrying about the commute time getting to your offices and back.

Text interviewing also opens the doors for global hiring because applicants are available 24/7 for text interviews on their mobile device.

Scared of text interviews, but need to break out of your hiring rut without spending more money? We can help!