5 Tips to Conduct Victorious Video Interviews

The unpredictability in the post-pandemic working world has posed a challenge to the usual hiring practices, particularly in interviewing potential candidates for a role. Many companies have turned to video interviews to keep their recruitment process moving. It is also a good way to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of the company. Here are some tips to conduct a video interview efficiently and landing yourself a suitable candidate. 

Choose a Platform

Finding the right platform is the most important step when conducting a video interview. There are many options available such as Skype, FaceTime, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, among others. It will be great to find out if your candidates have access to certain tools depending on their location. Communicate with candidates to know the best platform for both parties before beginning a video interview. This will avoid any technical issues and put candidates at ease for a smooth interview process as much as possible. 

Prepare Well

Conducting a video interview in a style and format that resembles a physical interview would be great even though it feels different. Technical difficulties during an interview may be unpredictable so it is good to fumble on the software being used including soundcheck. Besides, both you and your candidates should dress formally even though it is a video interview. Find a clean, quiet area and make sure to pay attention during the interview. Turn off your phone, email notifications and any other distractions that can happen. 

The Company Culture 

It will be splendid that you can convey the best of your company culture to candidates such as career pages or in LinkedIn during this time. You can encourage your team members to record video messages to introduce themselves and discuss what is it like to work in the company. By this way, the candidate can have a rough feeling of the company’s culture. As physical interviews are advised to be avoid, you may need to figure the best ways to think of your company’s value proposition and culture by sharing facts and figures that portray your company in the good light. Please make sure that the candidate has ample time to ask questions on the subject too so that they can understand your company culture better.

Be engaged

It is good to practise notetaking during a video interview but it is also important not to reduce the engagement with the candidate. Pay attention to little details such as how your candidate come across over the camera in terms of body language, tone of voice and their level of engagement. Working remotely could feel more relaxed but it is important to have the right balance being the real you and reflecting the level of professionalism. Avoid side conversations, checking your phone or emails. Give candidates a heads up that you will be taking some notes during the interview to avoid any misunderstanding of your actions. Be mindful to always maintain eye contact with candidates and try not to interrupt as much as possible. 

Don’t Rush to Review 

With video interviews, it is easy for you to get preoccupied into other tasks and any thoughts you might have during the interview session could get lost. Therefore, it is crucial to take some time and review how the interview went. During this time, everything that you have taken note during the interview process will come in handy.

The bottom line 

The pandemic has made many companies preparing to deploy their return to work strategies, routing ways to continue their hiring processes a step ahead as companies want to make up for the loss of productivity during the peak of the pandemic. The fundamentals of a video interview are not very different from an in-person interview, but there are a few things to bear in mind to conduct an effective video interview. Choose the right software and if you follow these practices, you and your candidates will have a happy experience.