The start of this year has swept cascading changes around the globe that have trickled down to just about every sector of society, affecting our schools, businesses, and daily routines. One big shift that has affected multitudes of workers has been the transition from working in an office environment to working from home. Because of this, businesses have had to adapt to the current climate and rethink the way they conduct business as well as the way they screen potential new hires.
And while many savvy human resource departments already incorporated virtual interviews before Covid-19, now almost all of us have resorted to virtual interviews as a temporary replacement for the in-person interview. As you might expect, this particular way of interviewing comes with its challenges, but there seem to be more strengths than weaknesses when it comes to the virtual interview.
PROS
SAVES TIME
Conducting a virtual interview offers both the job seeker and HR representative the ability to save valuable time. The job candidate doesn’t have to worry about traffic causing them to be late for their interview, and the HR representative can forego the office tour and other procedures, allowing more time to interview the candidate and see how they might fit into the organization.
WORKING ENVIRONMENT
Virtual interviewing will allow companies to see what kind of an environment the candidate has available to them. If there is too much background noise or distractions going on during the interview, it may indicate that the person may not have an appropriate home office environment set up where they can conduct their work.
PLAYBACK ABILITY
When the interview has concluded, and if your organization has recording ability available, it is possible to replay the interview for other team members that were unable to participate in the live interview. Instead of working from handwritten notes or memory, you can review the interviews of the top candidates before choosing your new hire.
CONS
INTERNET CONNECTION ISSUES
Depending on which area a potential applicant resides, they may not have the best Internet service, and this may cause issues such as the video freezing multiple times during the interview. This may also cause the connection to cut in and out, and valuable communication can be lost this way. Other problems associated with a weak Internet connection are a grainy video feed or delayed audio issues.
CAMERA-SHY CANDIDATES
Some job applicants may actually feel uncomfortable conducting a video interview. They may be subconscious about their living conditions, and this, in turn, can cause a strong candidate to perform worse than they otherwise would have at an in-person meeting.
Overall, video interviewing has reduced time spent on travel, money spent on interview expenses, and has offered companies the chance to record job interviews and review them if needed. They have also allowed hiring managers to get a glimpse into the applicant’s world and gauge whether the candidate is set up appropriately at home for work. For these reasons, the benefits of this type of interviewing style outweigh the negatives, and because of the ever-changing situation on the landscape, the virtual interview is something that is here to stay.
For more information, please contact us.