How to Better Conduct Your Job Interviews Online

Working remotely will seemingly be the norm for many for a while, and as current employees do their jobs at home, the ones you recruit will likely have to be interviewed from there as well

As technology and communication continued to advance in recent years, there had also been an increasing number of people working remotely. Among the many benefits of being able to work from almost anywhere is the time saved from not having to make a commute to or from the office as well as the expenses, employers save from not having as many people in the office consuming utilities.

Now, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, many employees of various companies have been relegated to do their work where they reside as a means to be in line with the world’s efforts to temper the virus. With that said, even the jobs that weren’t typically fulfilled have had to be adjusted, so that in one way or another, people were able to still make a living despite remaining indoors.

This includes conducting interviews with job-seekers. Granted, hiring needs may not be as great for the time being, still, in an effort to try to be business-as-usual, some companies will understandably need personnel to help keep things running. While doing so may understandably be tricky to do given current circumstances, there are ways to still interview potential employees.

Have all digital communication tools on hand

Next to a working laptop and an internet connection with a substantial amount of bandwidth, the next most important part of a work from home arrangement are the tools one would need to be able to instantly communicate with colleagues, clients, and in this case, job applicants. Apart from email, this includes the messaging and video conferencing applications that allow for live and continuous conversations.

Now, while the company is likely already aligned on what communication channel it and its employees will use, this is surely something that applicants are not aware of. So, while your company officially uses Google Hangouts, for example, as a means communicating within the business, this might not be what is being used by (or is outright unavailable to) your potential hires.

In this case, it’s best to have all other available channels available to you, so that in the event that it is not available to an applicant at the moment, you can easily switch to another that is. Along with Google Hangouts, other messaging applications that have video calling or conferencing features are Skype, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Zoom, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

Narrow down the field by narrowing down what to ask

While it is generally ideal to narrow down the questions you’ll ask in a job interview, it might actually be even more key when you do this online. Given the limits in connectivity and internet bandwidth, it is indeed important to streamline an interview to accommodate as many applicants as one can and better arrive at the ideal hire.

Unfortunately, when restricted to do your entire hiring remotely, it may be a little more challenging to narrow down candidates and the qualifying questions to ask them. This is especially true when lacking the capabilities to measure their skills through tests or assessments.

Fortunately, there are actually ways to do this remotely. Among these is the custom assessment feature on Kalibrr, which allows employers to include their own tests or exams with each job post that effectively allows them to immediately get a gauge of applicants’ skills without having to conduct an assessment in person.

Additionally, Kalibrr also has a customs question feature, which lets employers also include questions with each job post. This allows them to know more about job candidates as early as when the latter are applying for the job, and effectively narrow down who to shortlist for interviewing.

Keep that interview schedule tight

To further ensure successful online interviews, it is paramount to also have each one duly scheduled and avoid any overlap. This is easier said than done, especially when having to interview multiple candidates but also having to do it remotely and not be able to conveniently coordinate with the rest of the recruitment team.

However, in this age of various online solutions, there are a variety of ways to also get this done. By using the right online recruitment tool posting jobs, scheduling interviews, making sure job seekers are duly notified, and organizing applications in tandem with the rest of the company can be done with a lot less complication.

These are among the key features of Kalibrr. Apart from utilizing Artificial Intelligence-backed technology to make the searching process easier for both employer and jobseeker by matching the former’s job requirements with the latter’s skills, the recruitment platform also makes it easy for recruiters to schedule interviews with a calendar feature that can be seen by everyone in the company with access.

Additionally, the platform’s messaging feature helps make sure applicants are notified immediately of updates regarding their applications and that they receive both an email and a text message notification to view this on their jobseeker accounts.

Need help with recruitment? Sign up for Kalibrr and start hiring better, today!

Kalibrr is a technology company that aims to transform how candidates find jobs and how companies hire talent. Placing the candidate experience at the center of everything it does, the company continues to attract the best talent from all over, with almost three million professionals and counting. Kalibrr ultimately connects these talents to companies in search of their next generation of leaders.

The only end-to-end recruitment solutions provider in Southeast Asia, Kalibrr is headquartered in Makati, Philippines, with offices in San Francisco, California, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Established in 2012, it has served over 19,000 clients and is backed by some of the world’s most powerful start-up incubators and venture capitalists. These include Y Combinator, Omidyar Network, Patamar Capital, Wavemaker Partners, and Kickstart Ventures.

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