A2X Consulting

We know about green jobs, green offices, and green office products, but what about green hiring. Don’t ditch your eco-ideals for the hiring process. There are many ways to keep in tune with your company’s green environment during the hiring process.

In an effort to reduce your company’s carbon footprint, remember that the more you do online the less paper you need. Since it is the norm now to accept resumes electronically, most companies are already on trend with being green by reducing or eliminating altogether the number of paper resumes that it receives.

But what about after you’ve found those top, qualified candidates and its time to interview them? Forego the usual characteristics of most HR managers who enter the interview with a printed copy of the candidate’s resume. Having a tablet, or laptop with the resume loaded and open will eliminate the need to print a resume. After all this may not be the right person for the job after all.

Being polite and accommodating during the interview process doesn’t have to contradict your green efforts. When offering a candidate a drink (coffee, tea or water) pass on the plastic and disposable cups. Offer drinks in permanent dishware that is tossed in the dishwasher and reused. Re-usable dishes eliminate the need for one-time use plastic and paper cups that add to the creation of waste produced by your company.

A great way to ensure a green hiring process is to conduct the entire interview process virtually. Electronic resumes reduce the amount of paper used. Virtual interviews reduce the amount of gas used and emissions put in the air by candidates who eventually won’t stack up. Oftentimes when a company is in the hiring process, a candidate will be required to attend several interviews. This causes the candidate to drive to the office several times before getting the good or bad news. By conducting initial interviews on the phone or via video this saves immensely on the pollution that both, company and candidate are responsible for. A virtual interview also alerts the company as to which candidates are tech savvy.

Another green hiring practice is to make use of recruiting agencies. They are best at managing time, candidates, and getting the most qualified people in front of you. Sometimes a great looking resume does not produce the great candidate that it purports to represent. A professional staffing firm can cut through the clutter and have that initial meeting so that you can have a few less interviews down the line.

But of course the best way to greenify your hiring process is to hire from within. Hiring a current employee eliminates the amount of time and energy it takes to recruit unknown candidates. There is no longer a need to advertise, no longer a need to accept resumes, and no need to set aside hours and days for the interview process. They can narrow down to the slimmest margins qualified candidates. Do if you have specifics such as a need for someone with a social work online degree from your local Junior College, a staffing agent can likely find the three in your budget range.

There are numerous tools to ensure that your company stays green during its hiring process. Many professional online staffing tools can also be used to recruit, track, and hire candidates while reducing the amount of paper produced and the amount of gas used during the process. Going green at your office can easily extend to your hiring process.