Employers Trying to Recruit in Tight Job Market Hiring Some Candidates Sight Unseen

Employers trying to recruit workers in the tightest job market since 1969 are hiring some candidates sight unseen, at times after a single phone interview, reports the Wall Street Journal . The practice has become most common in seasonal work, especially retail, although it is becoming more commonplace among certain in-demand white-collar roles, such as engineers, IT professionals, and teachers. For example, CVS Health is trialing a program in which workers at some distribution centers do not meet with a human until the day they begin their jobs, with recruiters basing hiring decisions on candidates' performance in a "virtual job tryout" and online evaluation. CVS' Jeffrey Lackey stresses that the company still requires in-person interviews for jobs such as cashiers and corporate positions. He notes shortening the time it takes to hire a qualified employee is essential when an applicant could land a job elsewhere. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated about 1 million more job vacancies than unemployed Americans at the end of September, and the unemployment rate is at a 49-year low of 3.7 percent. University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Professor Peter Cappelli calls multiple personal interviews overrated, saying most companies are "so bad at interviewing, and the interviews are so full of bias, that it's not crazy to just ignore them altogether."