Remote Interviewing & Hiring: How To Improve The Candidate Experience

I think we can all easily agree that the interviewing process  can be awkward. We have all likely had at least one bad experience, whether we’re on the candidate or company side. Which is why I feel so many of us can relate to the process, especially if  we are interviewing candidates.. And most of us will be  in the position of being a candidate again in the future. We have all spent hours researching company values , figuring out interview dress codes, trying to make small talk with new people — the list goes on. And despite putting in so much effort to prepare, many of us have stories of poor treatment during the interview process with a company. I once had the CEO of a company tell me that being laid off by a previous company was the result of trusting a female leader.

Unfortunately, bad candidate experiences are all too common during the interview process, despite hiring being a critical part of an organization’s overall business strategy.

 People are an organization’s greatest asset and building a strong team starts with the interview process. Being able to attract and engage talent is critical to a strong hiring process, so how do you ensure you are doing this while interviewing remotely?

We’ve outlined some tips on how you can create a strong remote candidate experience:

• Prep your candidates by providing resources about virtual interview prep, the people they’ll be meeting in the interview, and more. Schedule webinars for candidates before their interviews to go through expectations, tech support, etc.
• Prepare yourself! Check your own tech to make sure everything is working. Distractions are bound to come up, so allow for them to happen without judgement.
• Accommodate candidates who might not have access to a laptop, camera, or WiFi by setting up a phone call instead of a video call.
• For candidates who are interviewing with multiple team members in one day, schedule breaks in between calls to ensure they have time to get a drink of water and take a deep breath before their next interview.
• Prioritize transparency at every stage in the process. Over communicate with candidates throughout the interview process and set expectations on the interview structure, timeline, etc.
• Get creative! Share your company’s culture by sending social media pages, company videos, and/or candidate blog content. If you don’t have anything that’s already been made, you can ask employees to send pictures of team events/outings or write blog posts that serve as a guide for candidates. You can also schedule virtual “coffee” calls or “walks” (both you and the candidate go for a walk, respectively, while on the phone) to get out of the “office” and get to know a candidate in a more informal setting.
• Collect feedback throughout the process so you can understand where your process is succeeding and falling short. Use the feedback to improve your process.

While remote interviewing poses new challenges to the hiring process, the important thing to remember is that aside from the technical aspect, not much changes. Get creative with how you engage candidates and most importantly, treat them as people. We’ve all been on the other side of the table before, so it should be our goal as the hiring team to make the process as comfortable, transparent, and smooth as possible for candidates.