Senseless Interviewing: An Addict’s 7 Steps to Recovery
When you find yourself addicted to the standard way of doing things, when you realize you are afraid to make a change out of fear for the unknown, and when you find your efficiency is going down the tubes — it’s time to consider a recovery program. Your solution? Video interviewing .
1. Admit fault
The first step in recovering from any addiction is to recognize you have a problem. You must first recognize that you are powerless over in-person interview inefficiency and the process has become unmanageable. You are stuck in the same old modes of interviewing candidates, which decreases you efficiency year over year. You have spent countless hours scheduling candidates, interviewing them, and developing questions as you go. Video interviewing allows you to interview a candidate on your own time, when you are available eliminating the need to be physically present at the same time or in the same location.
2. Find something new
Video interviewing has enabled companies everywhere to virtually interview candidates, thereby reducing travel expenses for long-distance potentials. Countless professionals have regained hours of their lives by turning off a pre-recorded interview as soon as the candidate raises a red flag and you realize they won’t be a match for your company. No longer do you have to spend the full 30 to 60 minutes meeting with someone you have no interest in talking with further. Video interviewing can restore your sanity in the hiring process.
3. Opt for new tech-savvy interview processes
Welcome to the 21st Century! You found your way here and you have allowed your organization to get a leg up on your competition. You have always found your company to be progressive, innovative, and technology forward. Now you can attract candidates who have the same qualities. Many candidates desire flexibility in the interviewing process, and video interviewing also give back time and efficiency to the candidate.
4. Make an inventory of your past interviewing tactics
Many times, companies try new processes only to revert back to old ways. Be sure to document and keep a list of the pros and cons of why you chose to give video interviewing a try in the first place. This will help you compare the processes to one another.
Chances are your cons list of old tactics will include a few of the following:
- Limited access to large pool of candidates due to time constraints
- Interviewing expenses
- Lack of standardization in questions
- Limited number of interviewers with initial access to review candidates
- Asking multiple candidates the same questions over and over
5. Show others the benefits of video interviewing
When determining any new process, it is important to talk with others in your organization to ensure they are on board with a change. Talk with your colleagues, HR, and other professionals who can help you map out the path to video interviewing and obtain their buy-in for the switch.
6. Begin implementing video interviews
Creating the interview process can be perhaps one of the greatest eye openers in reinforcing their use. You now have the ability to ask more detail-specific questions that allow you to get straight to the heart of each position.
- Scenarios: Ask your candidates how they would explain various situations. Create consistency in the type of questions you ask the candidates.
- Skills: Ask your candidates how they complete different tasks, when they have done various types of work in the past and what skills they used to compete the projects or assignments.
- Thought process: Ask your candidates problem-solving or cause and effect questions to determine what thought processes they use.
7. Help candidates find you and buy into a video interview process
Video interviewing is a great tool to efficiently analyze top candidates in an budget-friendly way; however, you still have to find them. Continuing to promote open positions on job boards, social media sites, and your corporate website will help to ensure you have a vast pool of potentials to select from. Consider creating a video interview FAQ page on your careers site to direct candidates to when they are going through the video interview process. Many are still unfamiliar with the method, and you want to give them the best opportunity to show their true self rather than simply being intimidated by the mode. Video interviews benefit your candidates in many ways — helping them understand these benefits will give them more confidence in the medium. Here are just a few benefits for job seekers:
- No scheduling conflicts or need to sneak out of work
- Helps demonstrate professionalism and energy more effectively than with telephone interviews alone
- Increased likelihood of being screened as larger volume of candidates may be screened by employer
- Minimizes inconsistencies between interviews, such as if the interviewer is “having a bad day,” running late for another meeting, getting interrupted by colleagues
Have you participated or conducted video interviews before? What did you think of the process?