With coronavirus being in full swing in the nation, most of the companies have allowed work from home to their employees. And due to coronavirus, no office is operating during this period. This is impacting the hiring process of most companies as no one is willing to come for the interview and even no company wants anyone to come for the interview process at this time. The physical hiring process is off the radar and companies have to look for other measures during this outbreak. 

According to the co-founder of Umbrex: “Companies who are looking to recruit talent during the coronavirus outbreak has to migrate towards new procedures like a video call.”

So, the only solution to his problem by taking your process online, many companies have deployed this strategy and it’s working for them quite well. 

Here are two questions that need to be answered during the confusion of whether conducting face to face interviews or not: 

Is there a need to conduct face to face interviews? In these tough times, replace the face to face interviews with the video/telephone interviews.

Is it feasible to organize a face to face interviews? With almost every country is applying lockdown, the candidate won’t be able to attend the interview and also it doesn’t make sense to go out for the interview.     

How to Hire During the Coronavirus Outbreak: Online Hiring Process

 

Google has been in favour of this approach by substituting the face to face interviews and hire the candidates via Google Hangouts which helps with a video call. 

Go for Telephonic Interviews 

 

Telephone interviews are the easiest method to screen candidates. This will help the employer to make sure that: 

• Candidates have the minimum education requirements for the role
• Their desire and hunger to work for the company or for the job profile

Telephone interviews won’t last for long too, max for 30 minutes and can save both time and money for the recruitment companies removing the need for face to face interview. 

And the candidates who clear the telephonic interview, the next step for them is the face to face interview. But here it’s not a possibility, we will discuss this later in the article. 

Keep these telephone interview tips in mind to get the right candidate

 

• Prepare the interview questions and their weightage, know the questions which will you ask and the order of them. 
• Go for a location which has no distraction, when you are at your home, make sure the room has no noise and you have good reception.
• Don’t indulge in multitasking, while interviewing process is going on. Don’t switch off to check your emails and listen to what your candidate has to say.
• Record the interview conversation, this is pretty common sense as you can replay the recording later to shortlist the candidate when you have a decision to make.

 

Video Interviews in Place of Face to Face Interviews

 

As it was mentioned in the above point, the candidates who clear the telephonic round would be allowed for face to face round but with coronavirus and lockdown in place, meeting in-person must be avoided. 

This is where video interviews make the entry, these are a perfect replacement for face to face interviews, they are somewhat similar to telephonic interview but they are for a longer duration, it leads to building a good relationship between the hiring manager and the candidate. The hiring manager can also pick certain body languages during the video call interview. 

Go for video platforms like Zoom, Google Hangouts and Skype. These tools will allow you to have group calls and the advantage is as neither the candidate or the hiring manager is travelling or coming in contact with each other. There are no chances of spreading the coronavirus. 

Keep these video interview tips in mind to get the right candidate

•  A well-lit location is good for a video interview, if there is natural light from the window then good, if not then you can light the room with desk lamps.
• Get used to the technology, before you make the call make sure that your webcam is working properly, your wifi signal is good and you should also know how to use the video conferencing software. 
• You can record the video interview too that will help you in the long term while shortlisting the candidates for the next round.

 

If you are a candidate and have agreed for a virtual interview, then we have something for you as well to ace the interview. 

Virtual Interview Tips to Get Your Dream Job

 

Try to be yourself during the interview

 

 

A recruiter has to make sure that you are a good fit for their company. This can be a tough task for them because of the virtual interview as there is no physical interaction. The interviewer won’t be able to measure the energy level via the screen. As a candidate, you can be expressive while replying to the questions and answer them with a lot of confidence. 

Minimize any distractions 

 

 

Choose a proper place at your home where you want to give an interview, it should have proper lighting and if there is a blank wall then this would work perfectly. It might be difficult to make your interviewer believe that you are organised when he can see clothes lying in the corner. As a candidate, you need to make sure that the television is off and even your mobile phone is on silent. 

Dress your best for the interview

 

 

You might be sitting anywhere in your home but don’t look sleepy. Dress like you would normally do for the face to face interview. Men can wear a blazer or a button-up shirt and women can consider a dress. Being dressed up as professional will show that you are interested in the job role.

A Smooth Remote Onboarding Process

 

The candidates which you have hired can be onboarded remotely, getting your candidate on board is crucial, it will give an insight about the company to the candidate, how’s the job will be like. You don’t want to fall at the last stop and lose your candidate and for this, you can take the help of recruitment companies. Upright human capital creates a remote onboarding strategy that helps deliver a slick remote onboarding process. Plus the team at Upright will handle telephone and video interviews, each and every candidate will be sorted properly.