With the spread of Corona virus globally, corporations asking their employees to work remotely/from home is increasing each day. Consequently, corporations may/have been planning to move their hiring process online, hence preferring a video interview over a face-to-face interview. While the substance & model of interviewing candidates remains the same, video interviews differ from in-person discussions & meetings.
So with practice of video interviews taking shape, the time from shortlisting of candidate profiles to making an offer will increase specifically for senior level hiring during the Pandemic. Under normal conditions, it would be quite an outlier to hire a senior/C-suite position online without having a face to face interaction. However with the spread of this dreaded virus, there are chances that candidates for senior position would be required to go through several rounds of discussions before having a face to face interaction. Besides evaluating a candidate’s potential fit would require involvement & opinion of all key stakeholders.
Remote working & working from home is becoming the new normal. While it would be very difficult for the corporations to align their goals & core values with the new normal especially those who follow a micro management philosophy without much autonomy.
The hiring process will take longer than usual, but then again we are in this undesirable & unexpected circumstances. If you really want to land up with a new job/make a new career move, accepting this new way of hiring shall be the way.
As mentioned earlier, the interview model & dynamics remains the same. You as a job seeker should keep in mind the following:
- Do your research: First step in the video interview is similar to what we used to do earlier(before Corona Virus started spreading its wings)- doing a detailed background research about the company. During the research, explore & find out potential areas of discussion with interviewers/hiring managers. Video interviews would be shorter than personal meetings. So this may be a bigger challenge for you to make a bond with the interview in a short period of time. A good game plan should be to study LinkedIn profile & other social media profiles of the interview to have a potential topic for meaningful conversation.You can do so by going through blogs/articles/podcasts of interviewer.
- Structure your space: Unlike in the F2F interviews, video interviews open the door to your personal life. According to recent research, hiring managers/interviews form opinions/take decisions based upon how your home space looks like. The following are most important when it comes to video interview:
- Your background should be white or light colour
- The space should be quite with natural /good lighting
- Do not have a messy environment with documents/objects spilled over
- Camera is at eye level
- Have notes in front of you – the interview does not need to know that.
- Although it is quite unusual, if you do not have webcam or laptop camera, local libraries or cabins in co-working spaces can be one stop shop
- You should practice speaking in front of a camera. Although this is complicated, you can master this by putting a pair of googly eyes right near the camera lens making you to look at camera during the interview
- Relevant questions during the interview: While many rounds of formal interviews will be the same whether it is video or in person interview, you should focus on asking relevant questions related to the company’s hiring timeline. Your list of questions should also include:
- Whether the position will be remote till epidemic is over
- How the new joining onboarding process will take place if the position stays remote for a couple of months.
During the interview, you should also tell the interviewer/hiring manager how much interested you are in the position. You should also thank them for your time & tell them how much impressed you are with the team.
