It is not new to Greenheart to use the most innovative technologies to foster cultural exchange, and improve, if not, advance the host organizations and prospect participants’ overall program application experience! vFairs is a virtual events platform, but what do we really know about vFairs? Virtual hiring requires the same, if not more, coordination with both the hiring managers and international job applicants. In this blog, we will share Greenheart’s successful experience using vFairs for the first time to hire international students for seasonal position in the United States, as part of the Work and Travel Program. We will let you learn more from both Greenheart staff and host organizations who participated in the recent hiring events.
Why Use vFairs?
On the decision to use vFairs, Greenheart’s Teach USA Manager, Tyler Brown, highlighted that “Coming out of the pandemic, we realized that most of our hiring events would go virtual, and with the rise of Zoom events, we started there. However, after only a few events, we realized that the demand for these events was far greater than our capabilities to hold successful events with Zoom. (We needed staff to welcome host organizations and participants to every event and “move them” from one breakout room to the next, rename attendees if their Zoom name didn’t match our roster, answer host questions, troubleshoot any audio/video issues, etc.) We found that any event beyond 150-200 interviews would require additional staff, or we needed to cap the interview count. After performing multiple demos with different software companies, we met with vFairs, which just so happens to be the #1 rated Virtual Event software according to G2. It gave us the capability to let the events run themselves and for our event staff to operate as admins and troubleshoot, as needed.“
Set-up Process
Our Work and Travel Program Manager, Chris Large, shared: “Every step of the way we’ve been asking vFairs questions to help them tailor their product to suit our unique needs as a pseudo third-party/middleman in the interview process. We took what we learned in the Zoom interviews, and what we like about the in-person interviews, and worked on making the best of both worlds. A virtual environment that “feels” like you’re in-person (at least more than a Zoom call does), but with the technology features that make it simple to engage with participants and conduct virtual interviews. Where all stakeholders can be in the environment together, and they don’t need to use other platforms for communicating with one another in real-time.“
Organizers spend time in the backend of vFairs to organize the schedule by noting confirmed reservations as well as availability of hiring managers from different host organizations. The main intention is to “develop a well-crafted interview schedule with buffer times for breaks, if needed”, as Tyler describes it.
How about the role of international sending partners in this process?
Partners are responsible for registering each participant , and to log in to schedule each interview.
How did it go?
Tyler happily emphasizes that “feedback is great! Hiring host organizations have more control over their interview schedule and experience. Some love that they can engage with a participant right before their interview via chat, so they’re not just popping onto their screen. They also love the unique experience and how easy it is for them to log on and their schedule is ready to go! Partners are able to participate on the platform as well. (They used to be waiting on Skype for our team to update them about scheduling or attendance.) Partners have their own log-in as well to see which participants are in the event and connect with them pre- and post-interview if they like. Greenheart is also able to track everything from an admin view and see attendance records, chat logs, etc. For the most part, things are running smoothly and should get better as we go.“
What did our host organizations say about their experience?
“With our other sponsors, we have to do a lot of the legwork of coordinating every participant interview on our own and operating on skype, which is a bit outdated. I love that Greenheart arranges everything for me, including helpful tutorials, and hosting their interviews on this new, easy-to-use platform. It feels more white glove.” – Mike Keip, The Abbey Resort
“This process went VERY smooth for me. The setup was very user friendly, and I was able to keep on track with everything! This was much better than the Zoom/Teams style!” – Heather Wagner, Noah’s Ark
Thank you Tyler and Chris for sharing your vFairs experience with us! We are grateful for our host organizations for their patience and flexibility during the process, using the new technology. We are happy it has been a great experience for everyone, including our international partners and participants!
If you are a business who would like to host international seasonal staff for a cultural exchange, please visit HirewithGreenheart.org to learn more.
To learn more about Greenheart’s Work and Travel program visit GreenheartExchange.org.