Conducting job interviews involves managing several disjointed activities like juggling calendars, reserving meeting rooms and dealing with unexpected no-shows. With remote work quickly becoming the new norm, why not kick your talent assessment tactics up a notch? Digital interviews make the whole process quick and easy. So, bid adieu to scheduling hassles and hop on the digital interview bandwagon.
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In this article, we’ll spotlight everything you need to know about digital interviews and ways to leverage virtual interviews to find top talent.
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What Are Digital Interviews?
Digital interviews, also known as virtual or online interviews, are job interviews conducted remotely during the candidate screening process. The digital element saves time and travel costs for both employers and candidates, making virtual interviews ideal for remote hiring. Recruiting teams use online conferencing platforms or video interview software to organize virtual interviews and assess potential hires.
Types
While the term “digital interviews” seems self-explanatory, virtual interviews come in different forms, each with its advantages and applications:
- On-demand or One-way Interviews: Candidates record and submit responses to preset questions, typically without an interviewer or hiring manager present. This format is suitable for the initial screening process when the goal is to shortlist candidates whose answers align with the job requirements from large talent pools.
- Live Interviews: When you conduct live interviews, you can meet with your candidates face-to-face using video conferencing software. This approach lets you evaluate your candidates’ personalities and ability to think on their feet, helping you determine who will likely be a good addition to your team.
- Audio-only Interviews: These interviews are essentially telephonic interviews done over the internet. You and your candidates can converse in real time through a voice channel without visuals. This format is handy when evaluating communication skills, particularly for roles that don’t require visuals or tech skills.
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Primary Benefits
There’s no denying that in-person interviews have a humanistic approach that online interviews try to replicate. Still, online interviews have their unique benefits that address many modern interviewing issues. Here are the top benefits the digital approach brings to the table:
Increases Efficiency
Recruitment is expensive, and the longer a position remains open, the higher the costs escalate. However, SHRM suggests that certain expenses cost more than cents and dollars. Hidden costs like the time, effort and energy you invest make it crucial to hit the mark with every hire.
Here’s how you can escape the frustrations of in-person interviews by using live video and on-demand interview tools:
- Expedite Hiring: Screen multiple candidates faster by systematically planning interviews. Additionally, dealing with no-shows will have minimal impact on your resources.
- Collaborate With Teams: Avoid scheduling conflicts by using digital calendars accessible to everyone on your team.
- Add Structure: Streamline interviews by using interview agendas and preset questionnaires.
Improves Flexibility
Hiring top talent in a tight labor market has its fair share of challenges. Traveling to your company office or the chosen location during normal work hours can be inconvenient for job seekers, especially if they have to take time off from their current job or arrange childcare. Talent is always fleeting, and it’s up to you to quickly spot and acquire the best candidate.
Here’s how online interviews can help:
- Logistics: Virtual interviews alleviate logistics issues by simply moving the whole process online. Now you and your potential hires join from any location and anytime without the complications of running around town.
- Adjustable Schedules: Confirming interview timings is relatively easy with online interviews. All you need to do is add the timings and the interview link and send it to your applicants.
- Pre-recorded Interviews: If you’re dealing with lots of candidates, pre-recorded interviews are a convenient solution. Let your potential hires record and submit questionnaire responses, which you can review later.
Enhances Candidate Experiences
With job seekers having more options than ever before, companies need to stand out from the crowd to make a lasting impression. Ensuring positive candidate experiences can increase your chances of acquiring talent and enhance your company’s reputation across the job market.
Online interviews bring several elements to the table that can boost candidate perceptions:
- Ensures Accessibility: Online interviews eliminate unnecessary hiring barriers and open your company’s doors to a broader community of job seekers. Wider candidate pools increase your chances of finding the right candidate.
- Fosters Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Building inclusive workforces starts with your recruitment process. A great way to amp up your DEI tactics is leveraging online interviews to include specific job seeker communities in your talent pools.
- Promotes Objective Hiring: Standard questionnaires, post-interview analytics and on-demand recordings leave less opportunity for unconscious bias and add much-needed accountability in interviews, resulting in better candidate experiences and quality hires for your organization.
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Process
Remote hiring is not just a mere pandemic byproduct. Even as lockdown restrictions ease, American employees still prefer remote or hybrid work and will prioritize employers that offer flexible work options. Adapting to this trend is vital for all businesses, and it starts by incorporating the right online tools in the hiring process.
Here are the steps to conduct online interviews:
1. Select Candidates To Review
The first step is to review applications and identify the candidates to interview. Evaluate resumes thoroughly and prioritize applicants with skills and experience matching the job requirements.
Software to Use: When screening potential hires, your good ol’ recruitment software will do the trick. Leverage built-in applicant tracking tools to collect resumes and build talent pools. Next, filter the misfits and create a shortlist to proceed to the next step.
2. Define Hiring Criteria
Your goal is to find the best fit for the role, and knowing your talent requirements will help you ensure that your efforts hit the bullseye. Note the qualifications, expertise, technical know-how and people skills required for the open role. You can fairly compare potential hires when you know what skills you’re after. Your goal is to find the best fit for the role, and knowing your talent requirements will help you ensure that your efforts hit the bullseye.
But hold on! Selection criteria are not a one-size-fits-all approach. Talent requirements are like the height limit for a roller coaster. Only those who reach the bar can get on, but that doesn’t mean everyone who does is a good fit.
So, keep an open mind, and remember that only some candidates will meet all your requirements, but they may still have the essential qualities and potential to succeed in the role.
Software to Use: You can use the analytics modules built into your recruitment system to identify grading criteria. But if you want to step up your talent selection game, consider implementing talent assessment tools.
These systems use talent intelligence models to analyze internal team dynamics, role-based success factors and industry standards to generate grading criteria tailored to the specifics of your company. Next, I/O psychologists bring a humanistic approach by validating selection criteria as an additional quality check.
3. Schedule Interviews
Next, contact shortlisted candidates via email or phone to decide on a timing that works for everyone involved. Use email to send the invite link with clear details on accessing the interview platform.
Also, check time slot availability and confirm the decided timelines with hiring managers.
Software to Use: Interview scheduling system streamlines internal and external communications so that everyone is on the same page. The system provides built-in company-wide calendars that make schedules visible to everyone.
4. Develop Questionnaires
Next, generate suitable questionnaires before conducting interviews. Having questions ready in advance helps guide conversations during interviews.
It’s important to ask questions that go beyond just the basics. When creating questionnaires, include standardized and deeper, more exploratory questions to help you identify clues about the candidate’s future performance and behavior.
Asking a balanced mix of both question types makes it easy to evaluate all candidates consistently while gaining an in-depth individualistic understanding of their compatibility.
Need help creating questionnaires? We’ll get into the specifics of digital interview questions soon! Scroll down to Best Practices to see the sample questions immediately.
Software to Use: While some recruiting tools offer customizable question banks, consider doing your homework to find ideal questions to ask. You can also implement behavioral assessment tools to access interview guides rooted in people analytics. These systems provide targeted questions to help you assess skills and compatibility levels.
5. Conduct Interviews
Now, it’s time to put your detective hat on and solve the mystery of finding the right candidate by interviewing your prospects. Leverage your questionnaire to guide conversations and assess responses. Actively listen to answers, ask follow-up questions and take notes so you can remember important details.
Lastly, leave the floor open to your candidates to clear their doubts. Be courteous and conclude by thanking your candidates for their time.
Software to Use: Video interview software offers advanced tools to help you conduct efficient online interviews beyond your average online conferencing platform. Notable features include live video interviews, asynchronous video interviews, recording databases and shareable notes.
6. Evaluate Candidates
After the interviews, it’s time to decide who gets the job. The goal is to make the best decision, so thoroughly evaluate how each candidate compares with the preset requirements. Also, review the notes taken during the interview and additional materials like references and portfolios before deciding.
Discuss the results with your team and hiring managers to make collaborative hiring decisions.
Software to Use: Recruitment tools like video interview software and ATS provide candidate scorecards, notes and comments features to enable collaborative hiring and comparable candidate profiles.
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Best Practices
Whether you’re a seasoned hiring professional or new to recruiting, there are always things you can do to improve how you conduct online interviews. Consider following these tips to step up your interviewing game:
1. Test Your Tech
Hiring managers know the importance of first impressions. But did you know your potential hires will also likely develop early perceptions about you and your company during the interview? Technical complications and connectivity issues should not be why you miss out on a potentially ideal candidate.
So, take some time to check your internet connection, camera and mic, and troubleshoot issues well in advance. Testing your equipment will help you avoid any last-minute technical issues during the interview that might throw you off your game.
When things run smoothly, you can focus on getting to know the candidate and showcasing your company confidently rather than worrying about nitpicky tech glitches.
2. Set the Stage
It’s tough to connect with someone you’re not meeting in person. So, it’s vital to enhance your surroundings to eliminate distracting factors:
- Choose a quiet room with a simple, clutter-free background to help candidates focus on the interview.
- Check the lighting and ensure the room is bright enough for good visibility. If possible, allow natural light to flow in or position the light source to face you to avoid camera glares.
- Dress professionally and start the interview by introducing yourself and with a quick walk-through of the structure.
3. Convey a Polished Image
According to a recent study by Careerplug, 50% of job seekers who ghosted potential employers did so after the interview phase. The same study found that the top reason for ghosting was negative experiences during the interview (22%).
Addressing your potential hires can make or break how your candidates perceive your employer brand. Here are some tips to remember while conducting online interviews:
- Use a Conversational Tone: Unsurprisingly, job interviews can be extremely stressful for potential hires and can throw them off their game. Focus on building a rapport to put your candidates at ease and encourage honest dialogue. Your conversational tone plays a vital role in alleviating interview jitters.
- Maintain Professionalism: At the same time, it’s important to maintain a level of professionalism throughout the conversation. Avoid slang or overly casual language, and make sure your responses are always well-structured and on-topic. Respect your candidates’ time by avoiding rescheduling or canceling interviews at the eleventh hour.
- Be Mindful: Avoid making assumptions or jumping to conclusions based on age, gender, race or ethnicity. Strive to remain objective throughout the interview by using standardized question sets and evaluation criteria for all candidates and steer clear of any prejudices that could influence your assessment.
4. Ask Suitable Questions
Asking the right questions is an effective way of getting the most out of your virtual interviews. Include questions that scratch more than the surface and evaluate cognitive abilities, knowledge and values.
Questions that provide insight into candidates’ personalities, behavioral tendencies, creativity levels and problem-solving skills are the foundation of well-rounded assessments:
- Problem-solving and Cognitive Skills: How likely is this candidate to spot problems and develop creative solutions?
- Values and Interests: Does this candidate’s values align with the company’s culture and mission?
- Knowledge and Experience: Does the candidate have the right technical skills, expertise, and qualifications for the job?
- Work Style and Communication: Can the candidate have what it takes to work independently or in a team and manage their time effectively? Do they have the required people skills and EQ levels?
Here are some sample virtual interview questions that cover the above topics:
- Can you tell me when you had to think outside the box to solve a problem?
- How do you handle uncertainty or ambiguity in a work environment?
- How do you approach working in a team with diverse backgrounds and skill sets?
- What motivates you to do your best work?
- Can you tell me about a project you worked on that aligned with your values?
- What kind of work do you find most fulfilling, and why?
- What experience do you have with [specific technical skill]?
- Can you walk me through a technical challenge you faced and how you overcame it?
- What technical skills do you hope to develop in the future?
- Have you ever faced any conflict involving a colleague or supervisor? How did you navigate the situation?
- Can you give an example of when you had to adjust your communication style to connect with someone with a different perspective or background than you?
- How do you manage stress or pressure in the workplace?
5. Follow Up
Candidates often have a lot of anxiety regarding the hiring process. Providing clear next steps when you can help keep the stress at bay. When you give your potential hires a tentative date of when they can expect to hear from shows you value their time, effort and interest in the position.
In your haste to share the good news with the selected candidate, don’t forget to follow up with the ones who didn’t make the cut. Your past applicants are likely awaiting a response and might put other offers on hold. Sending prompt rejection emails provides unsuccessful candidates closure while demonstrating your commitment to fair practices.
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Next Steps
Adapting to technological changes is a necessity in this fast-paced world. Businesses are always looking for ways to optimize core business functions. Online interviews are a step in the right direction when effectively managing your time and resources. Evaluating your options using our comparison report is a good starting point if you’re considering implementing software to enhance your talent assessment efforts.
Did we skip any key element of the digital interview process? Let us know in the comments!