The only way to be sure you’re hiring the right person for a job is to talk with him or her face to face. This can be a very expensive process if the candidates for the job come from all over the world. You’re on the line for paying the travel costs for people you’re not even going to hire. Instead of flying out all of these candidates, you can simply speak with them over the Internet by using an online meeting. You’re going to save a lot of money and conduct more interviews, so you get the perfect hire for the job you have available.
Plan for Problems
When you’re getting ready to conduct your interview through an online meeting, you should expect there to be problems and technical difficulties, according to The Arizona Republic. Even if you’re using excellent video conferencing software from companies like Blue Jeans Network, the people you’re conducting the interview with may not have something as nice. You’re at the mercy of the choice in video conferencing software the candidate has as well as how fast their Internet connection is. Everything may be just fine on your end, but there could be a major interruption on the other end. Plan this into the interview time and you will not eat into your other interviews as a result. This does not mean you should forego testing your own equipment. After all, this is the only way you can be assured that the problem is not emanating from your end of the call. The existence of dead air does not necessarily constitute a problem with the connection, but if your candidate has not responded in a normal period of time, check in to see if there is a problem and make the call again if necessary.
Watch for Red Flags
What many candidates don’t realize when you conduct an online meeting style interview is that this gives you a chance to get to know the candidate a lot better. They are in a setting of their choosing, so they tend to feel a lot more comfortable with the answers they’re giving and the way they behave. Additionally, you get to see what kind of screen name they have chosen for themselves. If you see something that is a major red flag, make sure you make a note of it. Having an inappropriate screen name is not necessarily a reason not to hire someone, but it could be indicative of a problem if they saw nothing wrong with starting an interview using an account that is not professional. Watch your candidate closely throughout the interview. If you notice things like being distracted, try to multitask during the interview, or anything else indicating they’re not fully focused on the interview, you may have the answer you need about their ability to do the job, according to Inc. Magazine.
Use Open Ended Questions
As with any interview, you want to make sure to use open ended questions. This is even more off-putting for candidates when you’re using an online meeting format, because you only have to have a poker face for it to work. You can still write something down or fiddle with your fingers as you wait to get an answer to a question you didn’t ask, according to Forbes. The beauty of an open ended question is it allows the candidates to really show more about their character. The more open ended you leave the potential for an answer, the more the candidates will reveal about themselves. Asking something like what their vision is for the business in five years will give you a real sense of what their place is within the company as well as what their drive is. You’re going to be surprised by the answers you get to these questions.
Record the Interview
The great thing about using something like Blue Jeans Network to conduct an interview through an online meeting is the possibility of recording the meeting. Rather than worrying about writing a bunch of notes throughout the interview, you can simply have a conversation, which is very important, according to Twist Image. Have someone go through the candidates you feel are worthy of further consideration and write everything down mentioned in the interview. This way, you’ll get a full recount of what has been said, rather than a few choppy notes cobbled together with your memory. Best of all, if others above you need to consider the candidates, they can review the videos to see which candidates are the best fits for your company This will allow you the possibility of reviewing all of the videos whenever you feel it’s necessary. Recordings should only be kept for as long as you’re considering an employee and deleted afterwards.