In amidst the global pandemic, remote working has become the new ‘way of life’ and as employees, you either love it, or you hate it. Feedback from candidates over the last 12 months has shown me that the most popular option is a ‘mix of the two’. Candidates prefer to be in the office at least a couple of days a week to gain that office interaction, speak to colleagues and have just general ‘chit chat’.
So, when it comes to interviews, how did we manage to overcome the barrier of ‘stay at home’? Well, we switched to video and telephone interviews. At first, I think it took candidates by surprise the thought of interviewing for their dream role over a video call from their kitchen or their bedroom, but like anything, we soon adapted.
From a recruitment perspective, I am a little on the fence with video interviews. I like the flexibility of them in that candidates don’t need to book time off in advance to interview and so they can be available to interview quickly and at short notice which can speed up the whole recruitment process. However, it can then cause delays in the process as a ‘face to face’ meeting is still required after the initial video call.
I have made many placements during this pandemic straight from 20-minute teams interviews and it’s great to see the video interviews going so well and proceeding to offer stage.
It will be interesting to see if we return back to just face to face interviews once everything returns back to ‘normal’ or if we will continue with initial video calls.
Top tips to remember when interviewing via video:
- Ensure you have a quiet environment, with NO distractions
- Lighting – check the lighting beforehand, test your camera
- Be aware of your surroundings, make sure there is nothing in the background i.e., if you are in your bedroom, make sure the bed isn’t directly behind you, it’s not the most ideal background for an interview!
- You still need to dress smartly; it is just as important (if not more) to dress smartly as it will be harder to make an impression over a video call.
- Make eye contact, you still need to look at the camera and be interacting with the interviewer
- Practice! Make sure you don’t have any technological issues on the day (Here at Eventus we do all interview preparation on Microsoft Teams or Zoom) so there is a chance to make sure everything is working fine.
Be yourself, and most of all Good Luck!
For any interview advice, tips or techniques, please do not hesitate to get in touch.