It was all change in 2020, and suddenly video-based interviews weren’t just a new concept, they were reality. Today, we’re much more used to this idea, and candidates expect to be interviewed in this way. Not only does it keep everyone safer in terms of the global pandemic, but it opens up recruitment; candidates can be interviewed across the world, and, with remote working becoming the norm too, working from across the world as well.
If you’re holding an interview via Zoom and you want to get the best out of it so you can find your ideal new employee, here are some useful tips to help you.
Perform A Test Run
We cannot state this enough; perform a test run before the real thing. Whether you connect with your spouse, your parents, your friends or neighbors, or even a colleague, make sure you can use the technology effectively and that you can troubleshoot it if you need to. Remember, more than simply an embarrassing slip up, not being able to connect or having a poor signal, or being unable to come off of mute reflects very badly on you and your company, and the ideal candidate might decide they don’t want to work with you.
Some tips before you start include:
- Make sure your device is fully charged
- Check you can share your screen should you need to
- Ensure the camera and audio are working
- Check your internet connection is stable
Leave Enough Time
Interviews can sometimes take longer than expected, so make sure you always schedule enough time for each one. If you have more than one per day, leave a big enough gap for them. You’ll find that Zoom interviews can often go on for longer than face to face ones, due to technical difficulties and the fact that, being at home, a candidate may well feel more comfortable and talk for longer.
And on a separate but related note, always give separate login details to each candidate – in other words, create a new meeting room per interview. If you give the same entry details to everyone, it would be very awkward if an organized candidate logged in early so they were ready and found they were sitting in on the end of someone else’s interview.
Prepare Questions Ahead Of Time
This tip is useful for any kind of interview, so it’s handy to have here as a reminder. When you’re conducting an interview, don’t try to wing it. Don’t try to make it up as you go along. The only thing that will happen is that you’ll have a lot of awkward silences and you’ll realize after it’s all over that you forgot to ask something important.
If you don’t want to get right into the questioning, start with some icebreakers. Remember, even if you’ve carried out several video interviews, this might be the candidate’s first, and they will be even more nervous than usual.
Lighting
Lighting isn’t something you would normally have to even think about in a standard, face to face interview. You either have the light on or off, and that’s the only choice you’ll have to make, except, perhaps, for closing the blind a little on sunny days.
With a Zoom interview, the lighting question is an important one. Even if you think the lighting in your room is adequate, you’ll probably need more than you think to ensure you’re not covered in shadows which can be off-putting. Equally, too much light can make it hard to see you at all.
Practice with some different setups, moving lamps around the room until you’ve got it as you want it, and it will be a more comfortable experience for everyone.
