How to Provide a Great Online Interview

Online interviews are becoming more and more popular for businesses, as they offer a number of benefits. They provide employers with the ability to quickly assess potential candidates from anywhere in the world, without having to incur travel expenses and provide an opportunity to break down the barriers of engaging with talent at scale. Additionally, online interviews can be recorded, allowing you to review each candidate’s answers at a later date and make sure that consistency is maintained across all candidates.

Below are some of the ways in which a business can capitalise on these benefits and provide a consistently great online interview process using video and audio as interviewing tools.

Create a Process

As a business embraces online interviews, thought needs to be given to ensure the process is able to provide the recruitment team and hiring managers with all of the necessary information required to make an informed hiring decision.

Putting together a process that takes into account how to seamlessly integrate video and audio questions into your careers site with a consistent, fully branded, candidate experience is vitally important. For example, at what stage the process will video and audio be best suited – as part of the application, in later stages, or even in feedback forms? Including options for re-takes, thinking time and limits on the length of answers requires consideration. What help text and guidance are required for candidates? And not forgetting storage of responses and rules around GDPR.

Video and Online Interviewing Technology Selection

There are plenty of online interviewing tools available on the market and selecting what is best placed to offer the necessary features for the business to conduct a detailed interview is key.

Look at the features available in your shortlist of solutions and understand how this matches what you require. For example, are the interviewing tools available as part of your Applicant Tracking System so everything is trackable in one solution, or will candidates require additional logins for a stand-alone solution?

Ensure the technology is easy to deploy, provides a seamless candidate experience and can guide the candidate if they aren’t particularly tech-savvy. It’s a good idea to talk to a vendor’s customers to hear how the technology works in practice to aid the decision-making process.

Preparation for hiring the best talent 

As a hiring manager or recruiter, make sure you have all the information about the role and candidate to review. Read any resumes and cover letters that were sent in advance and review online assessments to ensure that you are familiar with the applicant's skills, qualifications, and relevant experience. Having information to support a rounded view of a candidate will support decision- making in hiring the best talent.

Contact Eploy - Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 

At Eploy, we offer highly configurable Applicant Tracking Systems designed to help you attract, hire, and retain the best talent. Get in touch with our specialist team at Eploy to find out how we can help you meet your recruitment goals.