Happy New Year, readers, and thank you for following my blog! After a nice break over the Christmas and New Year holidays, we start 2021 with a particular important topic in these COVID times.
The question: How do you perfect Virtual Hiring
- What steps do you take when hiring someone that you cannot meet in-person?
- How do you interview a stranger through a video call?
A step-by-step process to digital recruitment
Admittedly, using video to interview candidates is not entirely a new gimmick. Many companies have used video when hunting for candidates far away from their company location.Even in Thailand, video has been used to interview candidates working in the north of Thailand (Chiangmai) for a job in Bangkok. Or candidates living in New York but considered for a job in Los Angeles.
But these situations were pre-COVID always exceptions to the rule. Nowadays, exceptions have become the norm.
Hiring is also a Sales and Marketing activity
Remember that hiring is also a sales and marketing activity. It’s important that the 99% of your applicants and candidates, that were rejected and not successful, can walk away with a positive experience.
Imagine if rejected candidates would reply to your email, to thank you for an excellent and professional process despite not getting the job. To thank you for the empathy, for the continuous updates through the process, and for the courtesy rendered from beginning to the end.
Surely, CEO and Marketing executives will understand what incredible value that adds to the brand of your company.
To do before the video interview
Interview the hiring manager and discuss what requirements are must-have and what are nice-to-have.
Analyze your input from the hiring manager, peers, and other stakeholders in order to prepare your interview questions and the Employee Value Proposition (in sales we call it USP).
Email the candidate(s) to confirm date, from/to time, video-link, name and position of the person the candidate will be talking to, and a mobile number to call on the day in case of last-minute emergency. Recommend the candidate to try the video login a few days before the interview meeting.
Ask your marketing department for an image that you can use as the virtual background in the video application Zoom, Teams, or similar. Be aware that your PC, laptop, or other device must have a certain minimum size processor (CPU: central processing unit) to create a clear and crisp background image.
Elevate your screen so the camera is at your eye-level. The simple solution is to use a couple of books and place your device on top. Lighting is also important and is best when it’s natural and coming from a window in-front of you. Never never behind you.
Pay attention to dress-code. Just because you may sit at home, it’s not acceptable to wear a singlet, T-shirt, your pajamas, or anything you would never wear if the meeting was in-person.
To do during the interview
Open your video link five minutes ahead of time.
What happens from here, once you start the meeting, is not really that different from conducting the interview when in the same room in front of each other.
Welcome the candidate and set the agenda:
- Short introduction of your company.
- Ask your prepared interview questions.
- Introduce the position, the pro- and cons. This is the selling part.
- Round up with information about next step and when!
Take lots of notes so you can summarize your impressions when you report back to the hiring manager.
