Recruiter Uses After-Hours Text Test to Weed Out Candidates

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^{This article was first published business insider.}

You go to a job interview at 1 p.m.

Around 10 p.m., you receive the following text: “Hi Tim. This is Ben. I work at Vanderbloemen. I haven’t left the office today. I heard you were there. I heard everyone was very impressed with you. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you. I would love to hear from you sometime. I hope it goes well. ”

Do you want to reply? If so, how long will it take?

Your decision can affect whether you get hired.

The creator and occasional proctor of this test is William Vanderbloemen. He runs an executive search firm in Houston. Mr. VanderBloomen’s company conducts text message tests after interviews for specific roles at his high-demand company and jobs where clients expect employees to be extremely responsive.

At least at Vanderbloemen’s 45-employee company, replying quickly may improve your chances of getting the job.

Sounds very simple. But the text also serves as a reminder of the constant pressures some workers are under. Ditch hustle culture. The text message trial joins other quirky quizzes to help job seekers decide whether they should receive an offer. There will be a spouse interview over dinner.And there it is coffee cup test: Recruiters show interviewees where the kitchen is, offer them coffee, and then reject those who don’t bus food.

The text message test is also a reminder of how that can be accomplished. difficult to get a job This is despite the fact that the overall unemployment rate in the United States is low and conditions are tough for workers in many industries. But in sectors like technology, many large employers have cut jobs over the past few years, leaving some workers on a temporary basis. Huge number of resumes. And when a job seeker gets a part-time job, Interviews may take a long time every round.

VanderBloomman is quick to point out that how you respond or don’t respond when someone texts you “I’m at his company” after hours won’t prevent you from getting a job. do. And he said that even if they respond within 24 hours, most candidates will be far ahead of their competitors. “We’re just bad at dealing with it as humans,” he says.

But do his sales and marketing teams need to respond within a minute? “It will be,” Vanderbloemen said. “Is that normal for every job? No. Does it work for every company? No.”

The test comes after VanderBloomen hired some promising candidates but was unable to meet the company’s customer demands, which is essential for some roles. . That’s why Vanderbruman decided that jobs in areas like sales and marketing needed to be up to speed before hiring.

So about 10 years ago, Vanderbloemen asked one of his team members to send a text message to someone who had done a great interview. The colleague sent a text message around 10:30 p.m., and the candidate responded immediately. bingo.

William Vanderbruman. Provided by: Vanderbloemen Search Group (via BI)

Vanderbloemen, founder and CEO of Vanderbloemen Search Group, decided that a text message test could be a good gauge of whether a candidate would mesh well with a client with an agile culture. He likened it to finding compatible tissue and performing a successful organ transplant. “Oh, you’re doing things their way,” he said. “It’s not normal. It’s not right. But you guys look like each other.”

Change of interview location

VanderBloomman isn’t just relying on text message tests. One day, he was turned around in New York City and realized he didn’t have time to go to a coffee shop where he was scheduled to meet a job applicant. So he contacted the man and asked if he could meet him somewhere else. The man replied, “No, I don’t mind. I like change.”

Vanderbruman was impressed. Nowadays, we sometimes change the interview location 30 minutes before the interview starts to see how the candidate reacts.

He said that’s not something he does all the time. Depending on your job, you may not need such flexibility or speed. Even with text messages, he says, it’s often someone at his company who sends them, not him. As his boss, he realizes it’s more intimidating if it comes from himself. “It’s not fair because it’s like I’m writing my name on the door and now I’m just being abused,” he said.

set some rules

Vanderbruman, who holds a degree in religion and philosophy, said his company has guidelines aimed at protecting employees from the need to work full-time. He said after-hours emails should be answered within 24 hours. Slack messages in the evening are rare, but “it’s like DefCon 3,” he said, so you should expect a response that evening. “Defcon 2 will probably mean that if you send an email outside of business hours, you’ll need a response like now,” he added. “If you call outside of business hours, please answer.”

He said the company enforced the rules. So he and some colleagues had to stop group texting about “Game of Thrones” on Sunday nights.

VanderBloomen said text message testing still has a place in a world where some workers are trying to avoid being on call all the time.

“For us, and especially for certain teams within the company, this is a direct indicator of whether you are as dysfunctional as we are,” he quipped.