Fellow recruiters, are you tired of sifting through stacks of resumes and conducting countless in-person interviews? Are you ready to level up your recruitment game and embrace the future of hiring? If so, you’ve come to the right place!
In this article, we’ll examine how and why virtual recruitment can revolutionize your hiring process. We’ll also offer some top tips on how to host a successful virtual interview and share our secret for interviewing with confidence. Let’s get right into it!
Benefits of virtual interview platforms for recruitment
Connect with global candidates and expand your talent pool
With traditional interviewing methods, your talent pool is limited by physical proximity.
With the rise of remote and hybrid working options, recruitment has been quick to embrace the virtual interview. Virtual interviewing platforms allow recruiters to avoid geographical barriers and cast their recruitment nets far and wide, connecting with candidates from all around the globe.
When offered the opportunity to work flexibly, 87% of Americans opt in, and for many that same workplace flexibility was the reason they accepted a new job offer. Video interview platforms extend this preference for flexibility into the pre-hire landscape, allowing candidates to interview from the comfort of their own homes. Whether it’s one-way, live, or group interviews, you can use these platforms to connect, screen, and onboard candidates to your team conveniently.
For recruiters, the convenience of avoiding scheduling conflicts, logistical hiccups, or candidates stuck in traffic is a no-brainer. With a virtual interviewing platform, you can skip the hassle of coordinating time zones or booking conference rooms. Simply send out a virtual interview invitation, and have your candidates join or reschedule instantly.
Enable a positive (and consistent) candidate experience
In-person meetings can often be frustrating for both the hiring manager and the candidate. Last-minute room changes, travel disruptions, and scheduling conflicts — not to mention the time commitment of traveling to a different location — can all negatively impact a candidate’s interview experience. And with up to 83% of candidates stating that a negative interview experience can alter their opinion of a company or role, it’s well worth investing in the candidate journey.
Virtual interviewing platforms allow hiring managers to ensure a consistent and positive candidate experience — every time. Candidates can join the virtual interview seamlessly, without any hassle or inconvenience.
Consistency is essential in the hiring process and helps to ensure the process is structured, fair, and transparent. Digital interview software makes it easier than ever to keep things consistent across the board, giving each candidate the same set of questions, interview format, and time allocation. This helps managers to evaluate candidates fairly and objectively, without any unconscious biases creeping in. Plus, with virtual interviews, you can easily record and review the interviews, ensuring that you have all the information you need to make informed hiring decisions.
Increase efficiency and cut costs
Video interview platforms help hiring managers streamline the recruitment process, thereby maximizing efficiency and minimizing costs.
The first way that interview platforms achieve this is by allowing you to automate aspects of the recruitment process. From scheduling interviews to sending out reminders and collecting feedback, these tools can handle it all. The time you save on these automated tasks can be re-focused on other important aspects of your job, like establishing criteria for an ideal candidate or constructing interview questions.
Secondly, interviewing virtually comes with a range of cost-cutting benefits for both company and the candidate. With no travel expenses, accommodation costs, or dining expenses to worry about, candidates can save a significant amount of money throughout the interview process. For hiring managers, you can reduce the need for hiring physical office spaces or meeting rooms, further cutting down on overhead costs. The saved money can be reinvested into other areas of the business that could potentially yield a higher ROI, like R&D or marketing.
Tips for hosting a successful virtual interview
Now that we’ve explored some of the key benefits of using virtual interview software for recruitment, let’s take a look at how to conduct a virtual interview.
Create a clear interview structure – and stick to it
With multiple candidates to interview, it's crucial to ensure fairness and consistency throughout the process. A clear interview structure helps you achieve that by using the same questions, time limits, and evaluation criteria for all candidates. This way, everyone gets a fair chance to showcase their skills and personality, reducing the risk of bias or favoritism creeping in.
Another benefit of having a proper structure is that it keeps you on track during the video interview. Doing this means you don’t spend much more time on one candidate and only a few minutes with another. It ensures fairness and consistency for all candidates and allows everyone to be treated equally.
Having a clear guideline structure sets the stage for a smooth and effective virtual interview. Communicating the interview structure to candidates beforehand helps candidates know what to expect, what tools or platforms they'll be using, and any other company-specific instructions. Informing the candidate ahead of time helps them to turn up prepared and feel at ease during the interview, and improves the overall candidate experience.
Make the most of virtual interview platform integrations
You know the phrase, "Work smarter, not harder"? The right video interview platform integrations can help you maximize your time and increase the overall efficiency of the recruitment process.
For instance, with a calendar app integration, you can easily sync your interview schedule with your virtual interviewing platform. No more double-booking or time zone mishaps! You can simply set your availability, and candidates can select a time slot that works for them.
Another great tool to add to your virtual interview toolkit is a cutting-edge virtual teleprompter application like VODIUM. As a recruiter, you have to keep track of important information such as interview questions, notes on the candidate’s resume, and points to bring up from their cover letter. However, sifting through different documents (or worse, switching between tabs while the candidate is giving answers) can distract you from the interview and leave the candidate feeling like you’re less than present. A virtual teleprompter saves all your notes and displays them right under the camera to be viewed. Instead of frantically jumping back and forth between the interview notes and the candidate, you’ll be able to view both simultaneously, minimizing distractions and helping you to maintain eye contact throughout.
Get to know your virtual interview platform ahead of time
The number one way to minimize technical disruptions is by getting to grips with your chosen video platform well in advance of the interview itself.
First things first, take the time to explore all the features of your virtual interview platform. From video and audio settings to screen-sharing capabilities, make sure you know how everything works. Familiarize yourself with the interface, buttons, and navigation. Don't be caught off guard during the interview trying to figure out how to mute yourself or share your screen.
Most platforms also offer a test run feature that allows you to try out the platform without being on a real call. You’ll be able to test out the features and even learn how to handle technical issues in the platform itself. By taking the time to get to know your virtual interview platform ahead of time, you'll feel more confident and in control during the actual interview
Take your virtual recruitment to the next level with VODIUM’s virtual teleprompter
Advancements in technology continue to digitize every aspect of the workplace — including the hiring process. Staying ahead of the competition and recruiting quality candidates requires hiring managers to keep pace with the move toward remote work.
The right tool can help hiring managers see a smooth transition into the virtual hiring space, and VODIUM is here to give you the confidence to conduct virtual interviews with ease. In addition to clearly displaying your chosen notes as an overlay during your video interview, VODIUM’s virtual teleprompter offers transparency and scrolling features to put you in control of the opacity and speed at which your notes appear. With everything you need to focus on in one central location, all you have to do is sit back and pay full attention to what the candidate is saying.
To learn more about how you can nail that next virtual interview, or to start your free trial of VODIUM’s teleprompter, check out VODIUM today!
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