If you happen to be traversing the pitfalls of recruitment in a virtual world of remote working, you will likely be well aware of annoyances like poor internet connection and communication barriers.
While in some cases, hurdles are difficult to avoid, there are some great ways in which you can ensure your interviews go as smoothly as possible.
With the help of some easy-to-use online tools and a little self-application, you can start to streamline your efforts in no time.
Here are some tips and tricks to help get you started in the right direction.
Use Video Captioning Services
Using some fast closed captioning services can make the virtual interview format far more accessible for those who have difficulty hearing or benefitting from audio in any way.
Some of the best captioning services can integrate seamlessly with the likes of Zoom and various other communication platforms which essentially means you should not even need to swap over to a new channel.
By recording your interview, you can use the service to revisit the conversation at a later date with ease. This beats having to write up all of your findings from memory, as this is not only potentially inaccurate but also hugely time-consuming.
Create a Structured Interview Plan and Stick to It
Interviews, by their very nature, often tend to find themselves going off on a tangent. While this can be a great way to get to know someone, it can be difficult to navigate and control without the right guidelines in place.
To make sure your interview does not get derailed, creating a structured, reliable plan to support you is a must.
In doing so, you can gently guide the shape and pace of the interview at a time that best suits you.
It is also worth sending a framework of the questions to your interviewee beforehand, so they know what to expect. This does not mean supplying them with all of the questions per se, but it does mean giving them a heads up.
Get the Right Hardware
It is not fair for a candidate’s interview to suffer at the hands of poor tech on your end, so at the very least, you should make sure your computer, mic and camera is up to the task.
While built-in mics and cameras can get the job done to a high standard, especially on newer laptop models, it might not be good enough to support your efforts in a professional arena.
Job interviews are hard enough at the best of times, and that’s without having to worry about the restrictions brought on by outdated hardware.
Stay Focused
Perhaps one of the hardest parts about remote interviews is focus demanded by the setup itself.
After all, staring at someone’s face on the screen for a lengthy period of time is fairly intense. This is certainly worth thinking about in terms of how long you want the interview to run on for – you may find that shorter is sometimes better, particularly if you introduce a second stage at a later date.