Recruiting tech company introduces immediacy to interviewing with QR code functionality
As 2022 draws to a close, and US-based restauranteurs continue to battle unpredictable labor markets, recruiting technology company Wedge offers a ray of hope for those needing a more efficient and less disruptive hiring solution: “self-service” interviewing. With Wedge Video Interviewing, restaurants can now use the same QR code technology behind contactless menus to make first-round job interviews entirely self-service.
“We like to say candidates go ‘from interested to interviewed in minutes,’ and for businesses facing a labor shortage, the benefits of allowing candidates to self-interview are hard to overstate,” shared Matt Baxter, CEO of Wedge. “Our owner/operators customers are able to recapture hours each week from low-impact recruiting tasks that they can now use to work on their businesses. This is time they used to spend scheduling first interviews, dealing with no-shows, or talking with candidates who in two minutes they could see lacked the energy or sociability to excel in a service role.”
The way it works for job seekers is easy, familiar, and fun. Self-service hiring starts with a candidate responding to a “Now Hiring” sign (or job ad) by scanning a QR code. However, instead of linking to a job description that invites the candidate to submit a résumé and schedule an interview, the QR code link immediately kicks off a self-service interview: from their phone, and with no app required, candidates are guided to record short video answers to interview questions, asked via pre-recorded videos, with text subtitles. These prompts give candidates a chance to see and hear their future manager. For a world acclimated to Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, Wedge’s video-based format generates more genuine responses.
For the owner/operators, the process is similarly easy, receiving a notification any time a Wedge is completed, which they can review at the end of the shift, the end of the day, or right away if they have a moment. Many Wedge customers report that the solution allows them to reply personally to candidates within 48 hours about the next steps and reduce overall their “time-to-hire” by 50 percent or more—offering good news to employers as they close out another dynamic year for hiring.