How To Conduct A Successful Remote Interview
Content
With today’s technological advancements, more and more companies are offering remote working solutions, and this opens the door for talented employees worldwide. When managed properly, candidates report that online interviews are actually more enjoyable than in-person interviews. Digital interview tools help move the hiring process along more quickly, and job auditions can keep candidates engaged from early in the hiring process. If your candidates will be in all-day virtual interviews, check in regularly to make sure they’re comfortable—i.e., do they need a quick break to use the bathroom or to get a drink of water?
- The bright side of an interview is that you’ll realize when you touch your face and hair or adjust your glasses, because you’ll be looking at yourself.
- Do you need to articulate your words more carefully or slow your pace to sound more assertive?
- Gaby Suarez, a senior technical recruiter at Remote, recommends candidates look for everything they can find about the company, both on its website and on external sources.
- You should also schedule regular check-ins with them, for example, after two weeks, a month, etc.
- While the project is certainly an important piece of the process, it is not the sole determining factor for moving to hire.
As any hiring manager knows, an interview (whether remote or in-person) will reveal much more than an interviewee’s answers. It will ultimately showcase a person’s communication skills and ability to think on the spot.
Career Advice Menu
For the sake of this walkthrough, we will assume you’ve decided to accept a job offer with Atlassian. The next step in the process is pre-boarding followed by on-boarding. You could also do a technical trial run before the actual interview to get acquainted with your tool and avoid any technical problems from interrupting the interview. And have a plan B ready in case something does go wrong on either side. Therefore, ensure you find a quiet, clean place within your home to conduct this interview. Once you fit the ideal profile, you will likely be contacted for an interview.
And try not to hold any technical issues against the candidate; simply because they may not have a fast internet connection or access to the latest technology. Ultimately, the hiring process should give you some insight into how the company treats not only its applicants, but its employees as well.
Ask What The Remote Interview Process Will Look Like
You can eliminate much of the confusion and errors that come from this transition by using reliable tools. Avoid confusion, especially with interviewers, by keeping the process clear and structured.
Hiring virtual employees for dislocated teams requires even more attention to communication than office settings. How a candidate interacts with you and other team members is a key indicator for future collaborations. You’ve come to your senses, and you’ve realized that remote hiring is the answer. Plus, it can’t be that difficult to How Remote Interview Process Looks Like hire remotely because everyone wants to work from home. Make a good impression in the video interview by dressing professionally and practice using the video conferencing software before the meeting. Many employers conduct pre-employment skills assessments or ask employees to complete a sample project during the interview process.
Design Your Questions
Remember, asking questions at the end of the interview isn’t just a chance for you to look good and demonstrate your commitment to the hiring process. It’s also a way to get valuable information that you need to make an informed decision about whether or not to work there. For more resources to improve your hiring process, check out Vervoe’s library https://remotemode.net/ of free recruitment guides. No matter what tool you choose, make sure it has 24/7 support to make implementation and training easy for your organization. Any piece of software you add to should make your recruiters’ jobs easier, not more complicated. AllyO’s AI recruiting software includes a scheduling bot as well as an interview module.
- If you choose an always-on chatbot, make sure there’s a procedure in place to respond to questions and confirm receipt of applications that come in while your team is offline.
- Plus, your temporary job may evolve into a full-time role, or give you the remote work experience that other employers are seeking.
- Traits like tenacity and being proactive are extremely valuable when you have team members working remotely.
- Video platforms including Skype, Meet , and Zoom are excellent choices to conduct a remote interview.
- Some email clients, such as Polymail, offer call scheduling out of the box so that you don’t need extra tools.
We value and embrace feedback at Help Scout, so asking candidates to share their thoughts on our process is a critical metric for us. To get this done, we use Typeform, a beautiful and intuitive platform that creates surveys and manages analytics. Once the ink is dry, we start preparing for the new hire’s first day at Help Scout!
Take Extra Time To Set Up Your Physical Interview Space
Be genuine, warm and concise in your responses and remember to ask pertinent questions to indicate your interest in the company and the position. Adjust your computer’s audio settings to ensure that you can hear clearly.
When screening candidates through one-way video interviews, you can simply send one email with the questions or instructions to all candidates. Instead, if you rely on phone screens, you have to interview candidates one-by-one.
Prepare For The Unexpected
One more thing might be that we are very cautious about hiring anyone who does not have a strong enough job coach to guide them. We can identify people better now who have a high risk of just not being able to make it in our company and we stop ourselves from hiring them if they don’t have someone capable to guide them. Why not take advantage of the medium to throw some unconventional candidates into the mix? Maybe it’s an applicant with roots in a completely different field, who’s lacking in the traditional prerequisites but submitted a cover letter that crackled with energy.
Remote interviews have become the norm, even in situations where the job itself is on-site or hybrid. Many employers and hiring managers prefer to conduct first interviews virtually to save time and hassle. What if all of your job interviews are video chats and you don’t meet anyone from the company in person or ever walk into the office? Is there a corporate culture at all if the employees don’t work side by side? Understanding corporate culture from a distance adds an additional layer of complexity to the hiring process. Designed to help streamline your hiring process, VidCruiter was one of the first video interview platforms.
It evens the playing field for the applicants as well as the hiring managers, increasing the odds of a better-informed decision. Before starting your remote interview process, always evaluate the reasons why you want to hire someone. This will help you establish the exact position and role the new person will have, and it will be easier to look for skills when making the hiring decision. Clear candidate communication is always important, including when hiring fully remotely. Openly share you’re doing a fully remote recruitment process and explain what tools they’ll need, confirm that their application was received, and share a timeline and overview for the process. Keep your candidates fully informed at every stage of the hiring process, and when in doubt, over-communicate.
For example, if you find software where you pay by seat but you have a host of hiring managers who’ll require one, your price will drastically increase. Or, if you pay by interview but you know you want to run hundreds of calls, perhaps another tool is better suited. Pricing for interview software can vary depending on your company’s needs.
Finally, set your laptop or other device on a firm surface to maintain a steady level. Placing your device on your lap could lead to shifting if you move and affect the flow of the interview. Unlike traditional interviews, this discussion may take place on a laptop or other device, within your home.
If the candidate is presenting their portfolio or a detailed proposal, your video conferencing platform ideally needs to support screen sharing. Consider the structure of your remote interview and select the optimal platform to run a remote interview based on that. By adopting remote hiring strategies, businesses can reduce costs, whilst streamlining their recruitment and accessing a wider pool of talent. As remote work becomes the new ‘norm’, more businesses are acknowledging the advantages it presents – to both their employees and their bottom line.
Because interviewing via video or phone limits the ability to communicate with body language, it is important to utilize body language in a clear, professional way. For example, if you get a question that is unexpected, make sure to stay poised and take a moment to collect your thoughts. The best place to take an interview in your home is a quiet location with few distractions. Choose a room that is clean and professional-looking so the interviewer can focus their attention on you and not what is around you.
When considering these factors, it’s best practice to offer candidates as much prior information as you can. This will go a long way towards easing their anxiety and allowing them to prepare adequately. As a result, your interviewee will appreciate the additional insight, and you’ll enjoy a more balanced, two-way conversation.