The first thing most people want to do when they get a bunch of applicants to their job post is schedule Skype interviews.
Don’t do it.
Here’s my experience (and thousands of other people’s experience).
You have 10 applicants.
You ask them to schedule a Skype call.
5 of them don’t schedule. You lose them.
5 of them schedule with you.
3 of those who schedule don’t show up. You lose them.
You waste your time waiting for those 3 to show up.
2 show up. They’re not the best ones for the job, but they’re the ones who are most willing to get on a phone call.
You lost 80% of applicants for a position which doesn’t require them to be on the phone.
And, it’s not that you “weeded out the bad ones” and ended up with the 2 best. You very well may have weeded out the best ones.
Why is this the case?
There are a number of reasons.
1. A lot of Filipinos are scared of doing a call with a potential foreign boss.
2. They’re worried you won’t understand their English (even if their English is great!).
3. They’re worried about their internet connect.
4. Dogs and chickens!
Here’s what my VA wrote about dogs and chickens:
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Do all Filipinos have dogs and chickens?
No. We don’t all have dogs AND chickens. Some of us only have dogs. Some of us only have chickens.
Joking aside, I know it seems like every Filipino VA out there has a loud dog or chicken in the background. It’s not true. But I can understand why it seems that way. Our pets are really loud. And there’s a reason for that.
Those that have chickens for pets often also raise fighting cocks. Cockfighting is legal in the Philippines and deeply embedded in our culture. If you’re going to have fighting cocks, might as well raise chickens for meat and eggs. And what most people don’t know is that roosters crow any time of the day or night. Hens cluck non-stop. So the more chickens you have in your yard, the louder things are going to get.
Now, about our dogs. Like in the US, we have dogs for companionship. They’re part of the family. But some of us also get them for security. Burglary is a common crime here in the Philippines. A guaranteed deterrent for thieves is when you have a big, loud, angry dog. People would think twice about stealing packages when they know that house has a dog just waiting to attack. Plus, there’s the added benefit of being a furry doorbell. So the bigger and louder a pet dog is, the better.
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If you don’t need the Skype phone call, skip it.
This is one of the big mistakes people make when hiring that you’ll avoid when you use the One VA Away Challenge.
John