Remote interviews have become quite popular due to the recent pandemic. Interviews are an extremely useful tool to judge a candidate’s expertise and capabilities. However, most of us aren’t very familiar with taking remote interviews because they weren’t necessary before. An interview helps you to judge whether a candidate is the right fit for your company. That’s why you want to make sure that your remote interview goes as smoothly as possible.
If you’re a bit nervous about conducting your next interview, this blog is for you. We’ve listed all the steps that you need to take to plan your next remote interview:
1. Plan the Interview out well in advance to give the candidate enough time to set up.
Remote interviews can be quite tricky to arrange because you need a quite empty room to conduct them. This means that you’ll have to be flexible with your interview timings. Try to plan out a schedule for the candidates a week or more in advance. If you do this, your interviewees will have enough time to organize everything or reschedule their interview to a better day.
2. Have a Procedure ready in case of any Technical Failures.
The main downfall of remote interviews is the potential for technical failures. There is a multitude of problems that could occur. Your microphone might suddenly stop working, or perhaps the candidate’s internet connection goes off mid-way. A good tip for dealing with these difficulties is to have an alternate way to connect to the person, like their phone number.
To avoid wasting too much time, draft a message in advance to inform candidates about what procedure must be followed if the interview has any technical difficulties like a complete loss in connection. Minor issues can be solved on a case-by-case basis. For example, if video interviews aren’t crucial, you could continue an interview without it. Just make sure to keep an open line of communications with your candidate so that there’s no confusion.
3. Screen Sharing will allow you to check the Candidate’s Proficiency in certain tasks.
Some job interviews may require a bit of hands-on work to test the candidate’s abilities properly. This can seem hard to do during a remote interview, but there is a solution.
Many online video calling apps let you share your screen. Therefore, if you want to check how the person works on a certain task, you could ask them to share their screen. Inform the candidate about this test in advance so that they can keep all the necessary tools available.
4. Keep a Note of the Ability of the Candidate to Communicate Effectively in a Remote Setting.
If you’ve started to organize remote interviews, then there is a high chance that your company is moving towards remote working.
In that case, you must check how well your candidate can communicate via digital platforms. You could ask them how familiar they are with certain applications and what tools they would be most comfortable using. Just be sure that your candidate is able to maintain an open line of communication because that is one of the most crucial components of any remote workspace.
Ultimately remote interviews aren’t vastly different from office interviews. Simply be prepared to reschedule an interview, should you need it. Additionally, you’ll want to ensure that the person has all the tools necessary to work remotely, so ask questions that will allow you to confirm this. Just keep all the tips above in mind and approach this new form of interview-taking with confidence.
About the Author
BCjobs.ca is Western Canada’s largest job board, with majority of the jobs coming from Vancouver. For nearly 20 years, BC Jobs has connected job candidates with companies looking to add talent to their team. Here at BCJobs, we understand that looking for a job is difficult. To support our candidates, we recently launched a podcast to help you stand out during your job application.
Listen to weekly episodes on our podcast to hear what recruiters are thinking and what companies look for when considering their next hire.
