9 Tips for Employers Conducting Virtual Interviews

Offices and businesses around the world continue to marry the best practices of in-person work with the best ideas of remote work. One aspect of remote work that will continue to be a prominent feature of the hybrid workplace is the virtual interview.

With virtual interviews and assessments, companies experience more cost savings, as well as scheduling flexibility and efficiency.

Most recruiters are familiar with virtual interviews and their companies have well-established video-conferencing capabilities. They've embraced technologies and processes to interview candidates quickly and effectively as they hire at scale.

Whether you’re a video-interviewing veteran or novice, consider the tips below. The good news is that many of the same approaches and considerations that you brought to in-person interviews will serve you well while conducting virtual interviews. 

1. Set a process for how virtual interviews will be conducted and communicate clearly and thoroughly with your teammates and candidates

As you draft your interview policies and procedures, make sure you and your talent acquisition teammates are all on the same page about how you’re going to conduct interviews moving forward — when will they be in-person and when will they be done virtually.

“One of the most sizable challenges when going remote,” says Darren Murph, the former head of remote at GitLab, “is keeping everyone in the loop in an efficient way. Put concerted effort around systematically documenting important process changes in a central place to minimize confusion and dysfunction.”

At LinkedIn, once we started performing virtual interviews regularly, our talent acquisition team created a shared document where team members from around the world could post questions about the interview process and leadership could post answers and share links to resources.

2. Line up the necessary technology for virtual interviews and give it a test run

If you haven’t used video-conferencing tools before, don’t worry. There are a lot of reliable options on the market: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Cisco Webex Meetings, and Google Meet are some of the most widely used platforms.

To minimize technical hiccups and maximize candidate experience, do a video test run before your interviews. And remember that even if you’ve done virtual interviews from the office, it’s different if and when you do them from your couch or kitchen table. 

Make sure your signal strength is adequate and the camera and microphone both work and are set up so the candidate can easily see and hear you. If you plan on sharing your screen, try that feature and make sure you can use it effortlessly by the time of the actual interview.

3. Put your candidates at ease by sharing expectations, timelines, names of interviewers, and maybe even a virtual background

Many job hunters are nervous, if not outright stressed. So, once your candidates know that their interviews will be done via virtually, reach out to them and give them a rundown on the details of their interviews, just as you would if they were coming in to talk to people onsite.

Here are some useful things to share:

• Tips on how to access the video-conferencing technology and whether they need to download any software.
• Your team’s expectations for their interviews. For example, will the interviewer request a work sample or ask them to solve a problem on the spot?  
• A timeline that details when their interviews will start and end and the names and titles of each person they will meet, along with links to those people’s LinkedIn profiles. 

As an added precaution, give them a backup phone number to reach you in case there’s a glitch or the technology gets wonky. Ask them to share the same with you. Finally, consider sending out the same virtual background to every candidate to eliminate so-called “background bias” — the dismissive judging of candidates for not having glamorous home settings.

4. Choose a clean, quiet, and well-lit space to conduct your virtual interviews

To reinforce that you’re taking this interview as seriously as you want the candidate to take it, make sure you find a spot — whether you’re in the office or in the back bedroom at home — that is clean and free of anything distracting in the background. Pick a quiet space that will allow you and your candidate to communicate clearly and, as much as possible, without interruption.

Find a well-lit room and control for outside light. Both too much light coming through the windows or too little can make you difficult to see on camera, and that can get in the way of connecting with your candidate.

5. Develop standardized interview questions — and standardized ratings

As a tool to help hiring teams find candidates both fairly and effectively, some talent acquisition organizations have developed standard questions that interviewers ask each candidate — an approach that can be used successfully for virtual interviews as well as onsite ones. 

Interviewers can then more easily compare candidates on an apples-to-apples basis when they ask everyone the same questions. And by keeping the questions focused on assessing the candidate’s strengths and capabilities rather than on finding social, educational, or professional commonalities, interviewers are less likely to succumb to unconscious bias and more likely to find the talent they need.

Keep notes during your interview or, with the candidate’s approval, record your discussion — something you can do easily on most platforms. (A recording will both allow you to accurately capture what was said and to share the interview with other team members so they can weigh in on each candidate.) 

An interview scorecard allows you to more objectively rate your candidates — and, over time, your interviewers. LinkedIn’s Product team, for example, uses a scorecard that captures each interviewer’s 1) 1-to-5 rating of the candidate; 2) yes-or-no answer to the question of whether they’d hire them; 3) list of questions asked (so that, over time, your team can determine if some questions more successfully pinpoint the best talent); and 4) assessment of the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. 

The scorecards, in turn, can be used to assess your interviewers. By paying attention to who does a great job already and who needs a little more coaching, you’re also sending a signal that being an interviewer is highly valued. And by moving to a defined process with assigned roles and a standard script of questions, you’ll quickly find your best interviewers — and your best hires.

6. Practice a compelling company culture pitch

One of the challenges with virtual interviews is that your candidates are not going to have a chance to walk around your office space and campus and get a firsthand glimpse of your company culture. To compensate for that, spend extra time preparing an enticing culture pitch. LinkedIn’s former head of recruiting, Brendan Browne, says: “There’s a humongous opportunity to differentiate yourself as a recruiter by telling a compelling story,” focusing on your company’s mission and vision and how that ties to the candidate’s values. 

Job seekers can learn a lot about company culture through office tours, either in-person or virtually. Bold Commerce, a tech outfit in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has a 4?-minute video tour of its headquarters that starts at its front door and quickly moves you through the principal departments as well as the Fish Bowl (wraparound windows) and the Wall of Wow (displays of peer recognition) while showing off its kitchen (lunches provided daily), beer tap, arcade games, and a virtual reality room. 

Before interviews, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company in Massachusetts, sends candidates a video tour of its Cambridge facility that includes passing introductions to many of the key people in the office. 

Beyond offering a video tour, consider if there are any other visual materials you can share with candidates during or after the interview. Chances are you have a library of employee testimonials or social media posts that capture meaningful moments in the day-to-day work life of your employees.  

7. Be every bit as professional — and personable — as you would be for an onsite interview

It’s important to signal to candidates that the virtual interview they’re about to have is every bit as important and serious as an in-person interview would be. So, dress appropriately and bring your A game. Make sure the ringer is turned off on your phone, as are the notifications on your email and instant messaging platform.

Once the interview starts, remember to smile. Make and sustain eye contact. Speak clearly. Nod when the candidate talks to show that you’re tracking. 

And take notes — not only about what the candidate says and how they behave but about the process. Jot down reminders about what is working and what is not.

While you want to be as professional as you would be in any setting, also be forgiving of your candidate if life interrupts the interview. If the dog barks or the phone rings, candidates should not be penalized. Life happens, particularly when spouses and partners may be working from home too and children may be home from school.

8. Follow up with a thank-you note and details of any next steps

After you crush your virtual interview with your remote candidate, you’re not quite finished. Follow up with a thank-you note to them for giving their valuable time to speak with your team.

Also, use your post-interview note to tell your candidate about any next steps. Let them know if they’re no longer in consideration or to let them know they’re a finalist (bravo!) and may still need an additional interview, assessment, or background check.

9. Provide the candidate with feedback — and seek theirs

Giving candidates feedback is a great way to strengthen relationships, no matter the outcome of the interview process. If you can share a high-level assessment of a job seeker’s strengths as well as any opportunities for improvement, you will be solidifying your talent brand. 

At the same time, you might ask for reciprocating feedback from your candidate: How did it go? What worked? Are we getting the virtual interview and hiring process right? This will give you a chance to elevate your candidate experience from good to great to awesome.

Final thoughts: Virtual interviews give employers a chance to hire world-class talent more efficiently

While virtual interviews may still seem less natural than a face-to-face meeting and may make showcasing your company culture a bit more difficult, it works. It can be an effective way to keep candidates engaged and move them through the hiring pipeline, quickly and efficiently. 

You can also find more tips to help you master the video interview — including examples of top interview questions related to remote work — in this quick guide to virtual interviewing.

Most importantly, remember that a well-executed video interview allows you to deliver a stellar candidate experience by showing the agility, flexibility, and empathy that are the hallmarks of a strong company culture.