Greenheart is a cultural exchange non-profit. We facilitate life-changing travel for students and professionals coming to the USA and traveling from the USA. So, it is not unusual for Greenheart to test and sample innovative technologies to foster cultural exchange, and to improve experiences.
One of the most recent examples of that is to explore a new virtual hiring technology to ease how our host organizations interview prospective participants. Greenheart recently began using vFairs to coordinate hiring managers and international job applicants for seasonal positions in the USA as part of our Summer Work and Travel Program. Now, in addition to our in-person International Job Fairs, Greenheart offers a simple, easy, and impressive technology to host virtual hiring events. Here’s a little bit about the new technology.
Why Use vFairs?
On the decision to use vFairs, Greenheart’s Tyler Brown, highlighted that “Coming out of the pandemic, we realized that most of our hiring events would go virtual, and like everyone else, we started with Zoom events. However, after only a few events, we realized that the demand was far greater than our capacity and capabilities to hold successful events with Zoom. We found that any event beyond 150-200 interviews would require additional staff, or we’d need to cap the number of interviews. We felt like we were missing opportunities. After performing multiple demos with different software companies, we decided to go with vFairs, the #1 rated Virtual Event software according to G2. It gave us the capacity we were aiming for–the events run themselves and our event staff operates as admins and troubleshoots, as needed.“
Set-up Process
Our Work and Travel Program Manager, Chris Large, shared: “Every step of the way we worked with vFairs to tailor their product to suit our unique needs 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. This is a virtual environment that “feels” like you’re in-person, but with the technology features that make it simple to engage with participants and conduct virtual interviews. 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.“
How did it go?
“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. Instead of waiting 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 only get better as we go,” the Work and Travel team shared.
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 that they are hosting their interviews on this new, easy-to-use platform. It feels more white glove.” – Mike Kneip, 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 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.