These days, conducting remote interviews has become commonplace for recruiters and hiring managers. After all, not only are these virtual interviews more convenient, but they’re also efficient when it comes to screening and employing new talent. However, while some of the skills in recruitment can carry over easily, like making conversation or choosing the right, insightful questions to ask, it also presents its fair share of unique challenges for both the candidate and employer. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of practices that will enable you to build rapport and fairly evaluate prospects without any of the benefits of having a face-to-face interaction. Keep reading to learn more.
1. Preparation is key
There’s no denying that preparation is an integral component of any successful interview. This is especially true when conducting it remotely. Luckily, it’s neither as tedious nor as time-consuming as it sounds. Nevertheless, here are some core requirements that all recruiters must go through before carrying out a remote interview:
- Perform a test of all the technology you’ll be using for the interview, like the virtual platform to ensure that all parties have access to it and that live integration for real time transcription is possible.
- Give everyone participating in the interview information on the attendees and all the pertinent talking points.
- Review the job position description and ensure that all attendees have information on candidates, who they’ll be reporting to, and what the work will entail.
- Assess all candidates’ resumes and compile a list of all the questions you plan to ask during the interview.
2. Remain focused
The traditional process of interviewing usually has informal interactions with the candidates. On the other hand, remote interviewing takes away many of these touchpoints. As a result, it tends to put pressure on the interactions. And if you want to use both your and your candidate’s time effectively, you’ll want to remain as focused as possible on what you want to get before meeting with the prospect.
- Send your candidate and any interviewers who will be there a schedule so that you can stay on the topic and maximize your time.
- Coordinate with all the panel interviewers to ensure that questions are prepared, possibly delegating specific competencies for every interviewer to get into.
- Expand out of the job description to determine competencies, soft skills, and other relevant attributes deemed essential for the position.
3. Over-communicate
Remote interviewing’s digital nature can often leave room for miscommunication. And the best way you can minimize blunders and stress is to keep all candidates well informed throughout the entirety of the process with over-communication. If they have a clear understanding of what to expect, they’ll feel more valued and respected. In turn, they’ll look at your organization in a more positive light.
4. Minimize all distractions
One of the challenges of conducting interviews remotely is that it leaves us more open to distractions than it would have in an office setting. So before you begin, make sure that all chats and alerts are turned off or put in silent mode. Try to do the interview in an area of your home that doesn’t have a lot of traffic. These may sound like minor details but you’ll be surprised at how much of a difference it can make in keeping all parties involved focused on the task at hand rather than distracted by all the noise and movement.
Conclusion
Conducting a remote interview might seem more straightforward than the traditional process, but it has difficulties. So make sure that you follow all of the practices mentioned above. In this way, you’ll have a greater chance of making the interview successful.