How to conduct a video interview to ensure the best remote hire

At RECRUITERS, we spend a lot of our time helping candidates prepare for job interviews. We even published our ultimate job interview guide on our site for all candidates to see it. However, job interviews are just as important for employers. Given our current remote working situation, hiring managers need to know how best to conduct a video interview so that they find the right talent and avoid the dreaded bad hire.

 

A well-structured video interview will help hiring managers and employers find the best candidates and give top talent the chance to properly showcase their achievements. In fact, video interviewing will enable candidates to share their screens and documents with you in live time and so it’s never been a better time to investigate their skills and experience in real-time. So, what do you need to know?

 

The secret to selecting good candidates is to have a good hiring process from start to finish and that starts with good CV selection. You can’t find good talent at the interview stage if you don’t select good talent at the CV stage, so make sure you check out what you should be looking for when selecting CVs to take to the next stage. 

 

How you receive CV’s won’t change during our current crises, however, you may find that fewer people are applying to your job ads. Why? Simply put, the once active jobseekers are no longer active because they are feeling insecure about moving to a new company and what that could mean for their future job security. That’s why employers are turning to RECRUITERS' hiring solutions to help them promote their employer brand and communicate their message on job security and career fulfilment to a wide network of candidates in our database and network. Last week alone we secured 15 new hires for our clients (remotely) with this tactic alone.

 

Pay particular attention for gaps in their CV. These aren’t necessarily something to be concerned about – there could be any number of reasons why there is a gap in their CV but it’s important to make a note of it and find out more.

 

You should also look out for progression within their previous companies and red flags such as poor spelling and grammar. This shows bad attention to detail. Once you’ve selected the best talent from the CVs, you’ll be ready to conduct an interview that helps you narrow it down further.

 

While video interviewing may or may not be new to you, it may be new to the candidate. Don’t forget the house rules – send them detail in advance of the interview, confirm that they know it’s a video interview and that they have access to a computer and a camera. You don’t want to spend the first 15 mins of an interview untangling technical issues. Remember, freemium video software tools such as Zoom only give you 40 minutes of air time so every minute counts. 

 

Be sure to prepare your surroundings and inform housemates and/or loved ones that you will be conducting an interview and at what time. It’s not always easy when you are working remotely with children. Choose a quite space with ample light and dress the way you usually would in the office. Your dress code will reflect the company culture and so it’s important your company values still ring through. 

 

Be sure to send the candidate a link to the video conference in advance. Remember also to share this link to your colleagues who may also be joining the interview. If your colleagues are interviewing your candidate at different times, create one event so that the candidate and all interviewers can join it by following the same link throughout the day. This will certainly speed things up and help coordinate.

 

Are they knowledgeable about your business?

 

One of the first things to look out for within an interview with any candidate is their knowledge of the business, the company and the industry. This shows how interested they are in the role and your company in particular.

 

Start by simply asking them what they know about the company and follow with questions about the industry as a whole. Any candidate that demonstrates extensive knowledge of your company shows that they took the time to research your organisation beyond the home page of the website. It also shows that they may have some expert knowledge about the industry in general, which will make them stand out.

 

For any candidate looking for a job with you, you’ll need to know what their motivations are. Why are they looking to leave their old job? Why do they want this particular job? These questions are key to finding out if a candidate is the right fit for you. You need to know why they want to leave their own job to ensure they won’t want to leave your company in six months for the same reason and you want to know what attracted them to your company because it’s important to know what they’re hoping to get out this job.

 

A candidate’s motivations will tie into your EVP, so not only will it help you get to know what aspect of your employer brand is attracting candidates, but it will also help you keep top talent by knowing what motivates them the most.

 

Competency-based questions are vital for conducting a good interview and showcasing the best talent that can back up their skills and abilities with real experience and examples. Competency questions call for examples of specific abilities. For instance, if the role calls for someone who can develop a growth strategy, you can ask a candidate:

 

 

You can also check out the advice we give candidates on competency-based interviews, which includes the STAR method of answering questions. As a hiring manager, it will help you know what to listen out for in their answers.

 

Before the interview, you should familiarise yourself with the job spec and what specific skills are required to the job. Hiring managers can often become excited about a particular candidate and forget to check if they have a key requirement that is vital to fulfilling the role.

 

Make sure you have a list of non-negotiable skills that the successful candidate needs to do the job, whether it’s a certain level of coding, an ability to use excel, experience with budgets or even just good time management. If it’s a must-have, don’t neglect to ask a direct question about it.

 

A good hiring manager knows what skills to look for to fulfil a role, but good CV selection could reward you with a number of good candidates are technically proficient enough to do the job. Asking a candidate why you should hire them gives them a chance to stand out.

 

It will, or should unearth each candidate’s unique selling point, that can help you make your final decision. What nice-to-haves will they be able to offer you if they’re successful? What makes them better than everyone else? The best candidates will have a solid answer for this and examples to back it up.

 

Not unlike the basic skills required, it can be easy to forget the most obvious and necessary interview questions. You may identify the dream candidate, only to find out that you can’t make them a good enough offer, or that they’re not available for the time that you need them.

 

Make sure you ask every candidate about their notice period, any holidays coming up and what their current package is or salary expectations. And when it comes to their salary and package. Don’t just ask about their basic salary. Find out what benefits they have, any bonuses they receive, when their next review is, etc. These may not be reasons you will discount a superstar, but forewarned is forearmed and it’s always a shame to lose a top candidate at the final hurdle because you forgot to get valuable information.

 

One final piece of advice, given its not as personal as face to face, you should compensate by approaching the conversation as if the person already works for you. If they are chosen – your relationship began at this point anyway. This way the call and interaction will be more welcoming, natural and warmer

 

At RECRUITERS, our experts are not only adept at finding top talent, but they’re also experienced in solving your business and staffing challenges, including improving your interview and hiring process. Just check out our success stories here. Want to learn more about how RECRUITERS can help your business? Check out our hiring solutions here.

 

Stay safe,

From all the team here at RECRUITERS.