Are you in hiring mode? Even if you’re not at the moment, as we are six months into the pandemic at some point you’ll need to add some staff, especially if you have strategic or even immediate needs.
Not all companies have returned to their physical places of work, and as a result, your interviews and hiring decisions are likely to be made based on video calls.
When you set up video interviews, do your part by making sure that you present the professional image that is representative of your company.
Keep in mind that the major job placement/hiring web sites, such as indeed.com or linkedin.com, have tips for candidates who are doing video interviews, so at a minimum your candidates should be prepared based by having done some homework ahead of time.
+ By now, any candidate you speak with should be familiar with video calls and the interface should be relatively seamless. If the person is late for an appointment because of technical fumbling, it may be a legitimate problem or it may simply show a lack of advance preparation.
+ How do the candidates present themselves on video? Are they dressed in a professionally appropriate manner or are they showing up in “chillaxed” mode?
+ Eye contact can be challenging on a video call. It will be difficult for you to maintain eye contact with the candidate as you will also want to observe the person’s body language and gestures. Maintain the best balance you can.
+ As you go through your typical interview questions, be prepared with even more follow up questions than usual. This will make the discussion more conversational, which will help dilute the digital barrier.
+ If you want to move forward with a candidate, set up a small group interview next so that you can observe the person’s interaction with a team. This will give others the opportunity to weigh in and will show you how the candidates interact on video with a group (since this is likely to be normal under current circumstances).
Although video interviewing may be outside of your (and your team’s) comfort zone, do your best to get used to it. After all, you want to get the best people for your available jobs, and this may be your only option in the short term.
Next time, we’ll discuss issues related to virtual onboarding, which present an entirely new set of challenges as well.
