Virtual Interviews
Traditional interviews could easily have taken half a day, if not longer. During the days leading up to an interview, and on top of the mental preparation, we’d have to plan through the physical aspects too. It might go something like this:
- Is my suit ready?
- Do I need to book myself into a hotel?
- Do I know where I’m going?
- How will I get there?
- What time are the trains running?
- Have I left enough time for connections?
- Is there enough fuel in my car?
- What if there’s traffic?
- Where will I park?
- Will I be booked on site?
- Do I know who I’m meeting?
If any one of these things go unexpectedly, it could throw you off of your game for the interview too.
However, before I recently joined Kainos, all three of my interviews were 100% remote. There was no need for the physical planning and the anxiety that comes with it, I could focus entirely on my mental preparation to ensure I had the best chance of securing the role.
In addition to the personal benefits of utilising technology for interviews, there are some brilliant broader effects too. These relate to positive environmental and sustainability impacts. I was very pleased to hear about the savings Kainos made in this area by interviewing me remotely:
- Travel to and from interview location – 38 Miles
- Distance flying interviewers to and from interview location – 422.6 miles
This amounts to carbon savings of 2 tree seedlings grown for ten years!
Virtual Onboarding
Since securing my role, I’ve been onboarded 100% remotely too. This includes:
- Everything to do with pre-onboarding
- Laptop setup
- Training
- Induction
- Day to day role
If I were to have been inducted in an office, it would have meant driving to Birmingham Airport, flying to Belfast, catching a taxi to the Kainos office, and flying back to Birmingham airport, before driving home to Wolverhampton. This would have been a 477-mile round trip, costing another 2 tree seedlings!
Day to day work
I work with Kainos colleagues and client staff, at Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). Due to the nature of our project roles, and the quality of our relationships, we stay in constant communication, and all of the great work we do is from the comfort of our homes.
I’ve not had to travel to my base location, or to client site even once since I started in role. Again, this is resulting in huge environmental savings, and in the longer term, the benefits will be greater still.
I live in Wolverhampton, and the Defra office is based in Crewe. If I was not working remotely, I would have travelled to and from Crewe once a week. During the week, I would have stayed in a hotel, and I would have commuted daily to and from the office. The cost to me, and the planet would have been:
- 104 weekly miles to and from Crewe
- 10 weekly miles to and from client site
To date, since onboarding in October, that is a total saving of 2052 miles. This amounts to a huge saving of 11 tree seedlings!
I am immensely proud of being able to interview, onboard and easily conduct my day-to-day business remotely, with little to no negative implications. All the while, resulting in such great environmental and sustainability benefits, saving an impressive 1.2 acres of forest so far!
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