The pandemic has managed to cause the labor market to change in ways no one was expecting. The unemployment rate increased, and the hiring process has become entirely remote. COVID-19 has changed the ways companies are going to operate in the future. Even when things start to go back to normal, the remote workforce will continue to remain.

Remote working has managed to prove itself successful for many companies. It is something of a work style that is going to continue being used by plenty of organizations. If your organization is one of the many companies that has decided to fully adopt remote working, then you are more likely looking to build your remote workforce to expand your business.

Once you have managed to start gathering a pile of virtual resumes from potential employees, you are going to need to screen them. Of course, managers won’t be able to use the same screening process they did during their office working days. They need to consider some new methods and ask different questions to make sure the person they are interviewing can work independently and hit deadlines. They should also be capable of collaborating with other employees who are hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Screening these applicants may be a bit challenging when done remotely, but there are ways to assess them and find out if they fit with your company. What if you could leverage social games for remote applicant’ screening?

What kind of employees are you seeking?

Before you can begin the screening process, you need to consider what type of remote employee you want to hire. Take the time to brainstorm with a group of other managers or business leaders to receive a wide range of ideas. Consider the qualities, skills, and personalities you want to recruit for your remote team. The purpose of these social games is to deduce what type of person they are and if they can fit with your team. You can also use it as a way to find out if they are knowledgeable about the industry that your company is part of.

Interview questions

Asking questions to the interviewee is a well-known process for screening an applicant. Remote hiring has not changed that factor, and managers will have to ask questions that allow them to assess these potential candidates. Of course, these questions can be about almost anything that offers a more social environment instead of something more serious.

The interviewee may become more honest and open when they are comfortable with the person that is interviewing them. That way, you will be able to deduce what type of person they are and if they will fit in with the rest of your team. One social game that most people play is icebreakers. They offer everyone a chance to ask each other some questions that offer them the opportunity to get to know each other better.

Managers can apply these icebreaker questions in the interview processes to gain more insight into the applicant and ease them into the interview. However, you need to come up with questions that can ease them into the interview and provide you with some basic information about the person applying for your company.

• What’s your favorite activity to do alone?
• What’s your favorite thing to do when you have time off?
• What do you like to do when you have free time?
• What do you like to do that’s fun and relaxing?
• What qualities do you like in a friend?
  

These are just a few of the questions you could ask them to ease them into the interview and gain insight into their life. The questions are easy to answer and don’t probe too much to make them feel uncomfortable with answering.

Group interactive interviews

If you have too many applicants to screen, you could consider shortening the list down by conducting an interview. You can also use this for people you have already interviewed but wish to see how they would react in a group setting, instead of one on one with you,  the managers.

Regardless of how you decide to pull this off, these group interactive interviews offer you the chance to make these applicants interact in a way that gives you insight into how they would do in a group setting. Since they are joining a remote team, they need to be able to stay in contact with the rest of their colleagues. They also need to be capable of working with others during projects and tasks that require teamwork to accomplish.

Social games like Werewolf or Mimic could grant you the opportunity to see how these groups of people interact. Since they do not know each other, that increases the opportunity to see how well they all get along well enough to accomplish the goals of these games. For example, Werewolf is a social game where everyone is kept guessing. They need to survive through the night as either the villager or the deadly killer. The team needs to work together in figuring out who the one killing each player.

If you want to further spice things up, you could also include some of your own remote employees into the game. That way, you can gain additional information from the perspective of another person. The employee may spot something you could have missed, and their insight will grant you the information you need to decide if any of them can fit into the team.

Trivia

Besides learning if they are entirely capable of fitting in with the rest of your existing team, you want to make sure applicants can do the work required in your company. While their resume says they have the skills, there are people out there who are willing to falsify information and are slick enough to lie their way through interviews. Depending on the job you are offering, they may get through the application process and get a job not suited for them.

One way to learn if they are knowledgeable about the position you are offering is to conduct a trivia contest. This social game puts a person’s general knowledge to the test. They will compete against others to see who knows the most out of everyone. Of course, instead of asking just general questions, you want to make sure these questions are answers centered around the job being offered.

For example, if you are hiring for a coder, ask them trivia questions related to something in the field. Take the time to set up questions that they need to know when it concerns the position they are interested in and potentially about the industry they will become a part of. It’s a great way to interview a group of people and see which ones know what they are supposed to be doing and which ones are lacking in the knowledge area.

Social teamwork games

Teamwork is an essential part of remote working. Without ensuring that your team can work together, productivity will fall, and clashes among team members are likely to occur. The tasks and projects that your team needs to perform require them to work together to accomplish their goals and meet deadlines. These applicants need to be capable of getting along with others and working as a team. If you hire someone incapable of working with others, then trouble will start to brew eventually.

Social games are an excellent way to have these applicants practice teamwork with each other. It will let you know which ones are willing to team up with someone and get the task at hand done. Regardless of the people they are working with are strangers, they need to show that they can pair up with someone and adjust to each other as they go about their work.

Games like charades can be an excellent way to see how well everyone works together. They will need to stick their minds together and figure out what the word is. The quicker they managed to find the answer, the more points they managed to earn. This game also places the players under pressure. Since they need to come up with an answer as quickly as possible, the weight of losing will linger behind their heads. It is a great way to gain insight into how they will do during moments of pressure and if they can keep their heads cool.

The initiative

Since some of these social games require teamwork, these games are an excellent way to see if any of the applicants have the potential for a leadership role. The ones that take charge and can get everyone working together as one unit will be invaluable to your remote team and organization as a whole.

It also offers you the chance to see how well others react to being told what to do. If someone has issues with being ordered around, there is a good chance they may have issues with their managers in the future. Having someone on the team that questions every facet of the process will be detrimental to the team and the culture of the organization.

Conclusion

Social games are capable of providing some excellent leverage for screening remote applicants. It offers insight that you may have not initially gotten if you conducted a simple interview over a video call. Knowing that the people you are hiring can fit with the rest of the team will ensure they integrate smoothly into the organization. Getting your current team members involved also makes sure that their transition from applicant into an employee is much smoother once they introduce them to the rest of the remote team.