GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., December 19, 2022 – As 2022 draws to a close, and US-based restauranteurs continue to battle unpredictable labor markets, recruiting technology company Wedge offers a ray of hope for those needing a more efficient and less disruptive hiring solution: “self-service” interviewing. With Wedge Video Interviewing, restaurants can now use the same QR code technology behind contactless menus to make first-round job interviews entirely self-service.

“We like to say candidates go ‘from interested to interviewed in minutes,’ and for businesses facing a labor shortage, the benefits of allowing candidates to self-interview are hard to overstate,” shared Matt Baxter, CEO of Wedge. “Our owner/operators’ customers are able to recapture hours each week from low impact recruiting tasks that they can now use to work on their businesses. This is time they used to spend scheduling first interviews, dealing with no-shows, or talking with candidates who in two minutes they could see lacked the energy or sociability to excel in a service role.”

The way it works for job seekers is easy, familiar, and fun. Self-service hiring starts with a candidate responding to a “Now Hiring” sign (or job ad) by scanning a QR code. However, instead of linking to a job description that invites the candidate to submit a résumé and schedule an interview, the QR code link immediately kicks off a self-service interview: from their phone, and with no app required, candidates are guided to record short video answers to interview questions, asked via pre-recorded videos, with text subtitles. These prompts give candidates a chance to see and hear their future manager. For a world acclimated to Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, Wedge’s video-based format generates more genuine responses.

For the owner/operators, the process is similarly easy, receiving a notification any time a Wedge is completed, which they can review at the end of the shift, the end of the day, or right away if they have a moment. Many Wedge customers report that the solution allows them to reply personally to candidates within 48 hours about next steps and reduce overall their “time-to-hire” by 50 percent or more—offering good news to employers as they close out another dynamic year for hiring.

About Wedge

Wedge builds dead-simple video interviewing software to help hiring managers and talent acquisition teams build an efficient, authentic hiring process. Wedge’s flagship Interview product takes candidates from “interested” to “interviewed” in minutes and is the easiest, most genuine way for companies to meet and screen top job candidates in fast-moving, high-volume environments.