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Video Transcript with Resource Links
00:12 – Opening
Hi, I’m Shelley Tobin and welcome to another episode of In Pursuit of Hire Knowledge. A show dedicated to helping you attract, hire, engage and retain the right people for your business. In this episode, we will be looking at 5 tips you can use to help conduct an effective video interview with your job candidates. So, let’s get started.
00:36 – Slide 1 – Overview
Technology advancements over the past few decades have greatly changed the way we do most everything at work. One of these advancements that has found its way into the hiring process is the use of a video conferencing platform to conduct video interviews as a replacement for phone and in-person interviews. With companies looking for ways to streamline their hiring process by reducing costs and recruitment time, video interviewing is likely to continue to gain in popularity in the years to come.
01:05 – Slide 2 – Types of Video Interviews
There are two types of video interviews commonly in use as part of the recruitment stage of the hiring process. These are the one-way interview and the two-way interview. With a one-way interview, your job candidate is given a set of questions, they video record their responses to those questions and submit the video for your review. With a two-way interview, you and your job candidate are involved in a live two-way video conference call where a face-to-face interview can take place. For this episode, we will be looking at the two-way interview.
01:40 – Slide 3 – Tip #1 – Know Your Technology
The first thing you need to do if you are going to conduct video interviews is decide on what video conferencing platform you will use. If your business already has a video conference platform, this will likely be an easy choice. Just keep in mind that you want to minimize the software that your job candidate needs to install and learn. Even if your business has a platform, you may want to consider the use of more mainstream video conferencing options such as Skype or Google Hangouts as most people will have easy access to these.
Resources:
The Best Video Conferencing Software for 2019 – PC Magazine
Top 20 Web Conferencing Software 2019 – Capterra
02:12 – Slide 4 – Tip #1 – Know Your Technology
If video conferencing is a regular part of your job, you likely have all the hardware that you will need. If not, you need to ensure that you have a good quality computer, a web camera with a microphone and a high-speed internet connection. If any one of these items are not up to par, you will likely encounter poor video and audio quality that will put the effectiveness of your video interview at risk.
Resources:
Best Webcams 2019: The Top Webcams for Your PC – TechRadar
02:37 – Slide 5 – Tip #2 – Select The Right Interview Environment
When choosing where you will conduct your video interviews, you want to ensure that you are presenting your audio and video in the most professional way possible. Begin by staging the area behind you to minimize any distractions. This could include whiteboards, cork boards, pictures or even windows into a busy hallway. Preferably use a plain wall behind you.
03:00 – Slide 6 – Tip #2 – Select The Right Interview Environment
Next, consider how the lighting both natural and artificial will affect the picture. It’s definitely nice to have that window in your office that lets in natural light, but how will it affect your video if the sun is shining in behind you. Likely, you will be able to control this using a blind, but if not, you will need to find another method or location. Is there enough artificial light in your office? If not, you should be able to add a lamp on or beside your desk which you can shine toward yourself during the interview.
Resources:
How to Get the Perfect Lighting for Video – Techsmith
How to use lighting like a pro for your video calls – Highfive
03:30 – Slide 7 – Tip #2 – Select The Right Interview Environment
Finally, check the background noise in your area. Sit quietly in your office and listen for any background noise that you might have “tuned out” over time. Is your office next to the loading bay where backup beepers will be sounding throughout the day? Is the hallway outside of your office a high traffic area that can get noisy? What about heating and cooling noise from fans and blowing air? If there is a lot of background noise that you can’t control, you will need to find a different location.
04:01 – Slide 8 – Tip #2 – Select The Right Interview Environment
Once you feel your interview environment is ready, turn on your webcam, record some video and then play it back for yourself. Take a look at the area behind you. How does it look? Did you forget about the fast food containers that you just filled that garbage can with? Is the light above you shining off your forehead? Are the clothes you are wearing blending in with your background giving the appearance of a floating head. Next, listen closely to the audio. Do you hear anything you didn’t expect? You will often be surprised at what you hear. Suddenly, the fan on your desktop or the nearby printer is a whole lot more noticeable. Make changes as necessary until you are presenting the best possible interview environment.
04:44 – Slide 9 – Tip #3 – Practice, Practice, Practice
Being a good video interviewer is not as easy as it sounds. It is vitally important to your success that you are proficient with the technology and comfortable with being on video. Like anything else, if you want to get good, you need to practice. The best way to practice is to conduct mock video interviews with anyone that you can convince to participate. If you can, record these mock video interviews so that you can watch them afterwards to critique how you did. Special note here. Make sure that you are looking at the camera when you ask a question and not your computer screen. This will be much more engaging for your job candidate.
05:21 – Slide 10 – Tip #3 – Practice, Practice, Practice
Finally, take time during each mock interview to work with the technology. Do you know how to properly start the session? Do you know how to mute your microphone and/or video if necessary? Do you know how to quickly troubleshoot problems if they occur? Practice, practice, practice.
05:41 – Slide 11 – Tip #4 – Correctly Book Your Video Interviews
The two big things to consider when booking your video interviews is technology and time. First, you need to ensure that your job candidate has the correct technology and they know how to use it to participate in a video interview. I would suggest that you create an email template that makes sure that they understand what they need to participate in the session, how to connect to the session and encourage them to choose a noise and distraction free location.
06:09 – Slide 12 – Tip #4 – Correctly Book Your Video Interviews
Second, make sure you get the time right. One of the wonderful things about video interviewing is that you can interview job candidates from anywhere around the country or even around the world. What all too many video interviewers forget about are TIME ZONES!! If you are sending your invite through your video conferencing platform or email, the time zone may adjust to the receiver’s settings. Don’t count on this. You need to ensure that your job candidate is clear about the time for the interview.
06:40 – Slide 13 – Tip #5 – Have a Backup Plan.
This final tip could be the difference in your overall success when using video interviewing. It is plain and simply to ALWAYS HAVE A BACK UP PLAN!! If you are doing lots of video interviewing, it is inevitable that at some point you are going to have problems. This could be anything from the internet going down to your computer crashing to the fire alarm going off in the building. Regardless of what it is, you need to have a back up plan. The easiest plan to put in place is to ensure that you have a phone number that you can immediately reach your job candidate on. You can then call the job candidate and get them to wait for you to get the session back up, reschedule the session or conduct the remainder of the session on the phone.
07:23 – Slide 14 – Wrap Up
The use of video interviewing can be a great way to streamline your hiring process by reducing your costs and recruitment time. Using the tips provided in today’s episode will help ensure that you find success with this method of interviewing.
07:37 – Closing
Thanks for joining me for this episode containing tips for conducting an effective video interview with your job candidates. Make sure to check out the show notes for a full transcript as well as links to some additional resources. If you have any questions about today’s episode, you can contact me at [email protected] or leave a comment below. I promise to get back to you as soon as possible.
Finally, I would love for you to subscribe to my channel and join me for our next episode. Thanks again and have a wonderful day.
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