Interviewing without meeting:
Tips for the Virtual Interview
In 2020 the phone interview and the in-person interview have been replaced by the Zoom* interview. (*The growing list: Skype, Go ToMeeting, Bluejeans, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams… add your favorite.)
As you prepare to meet your next candidates in a round of interviews, here are some virtual interviewing tips to keep in mind as you start your journey with your next team member.
- Be as punctual, professional, and prepared for a virtual interview as you would for a face-to-face. This includes having materials on hand that you need such as interview questions, the job description, and an easy way to take organized consistent notes. Decide if there are documents you will want to screen share.
- Be present. In the instance when you won’t be meeting in person for some time (if ever) make an extra effort to convey your company’s culture and brand. Convey the personality of your department. Wear what you would for an interview in your office; consider wearing (or ordering up) your company’s logo shirt.
- Be patient with technology. Log in early and be prepared for technology mix ups. They happen. Power goes out and the Internet seizes up. If possible, have a back up device. And be forgiving if the candidate has a similar issue.
- Be cognizant of time zones. Double check that a potentially all-remote candidate is in the same time zone so you avoid any surprise time zone differences.
- Don’t schedule back-to-back. Avoid the situation where a late start or technical snafu will compromise the next interview. Allow plenty of padding between the interview slots.
- Don’t go all Zoom-crazy. Phone interviews still work. Don’t burden yourself or your candidates with unnecessary video interviews for early round interviews.
Remember it’s not the same for the candidates either, so extra effort to put all parties at ease is especially welcome and ultimately will help you make your best hire.