5 Video Interviewing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

There’s video-interviewing etiquette to be learned, and tips and tricks for getting the most out of this new best practice in your daily work. Here are five of the most common mistakes recruiters make with video interviewing, and ways you can easily avoid them:

Treating It Differently Than an Onsite Interview. Most video interviewing providers will tell you that a virtual interview is exactly the same as an onsite interview. With the evolution of video interviewing technology, that’s true, so there’s no reason to take a video interview any less seriously. If you do, your candidates will see it. In research with 200 active job seekers about preparedness of their interviewer, 73 percent agreed with the statement, “If the person interviewing me is not well prepared, I can tell within the first few minutes”(research from Montage and conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, 2013).
Arriving Late to the Interview. It sounds like common sense, but it actually happens more than you’d expect. Looking at our own data with millions of interview interactions, 93 percent of the time the candidate arrives early, just as with an onsite interview. However, 39 percent of the time, the interviewer arrives late. (See the full report here.) Sometimes being late to a video interview is unavoidable, but don’t let it slide into habit just because your candidates are not in the building. Show candidates you respect their time and get your interview off to a positive start by being on time.
Leaving Your Candidate in the Dark. It’s natural for candidates to feel nervous about an interview whether it’s virtual or onsite. You can alleviate some of that anxiety by preparing them in advance for the video interview process. If your video interviewing provider offers tech support, be sure your candidates know where they can turn if they have questions or concerns about connecting. It’s a well-invested and small amount of time since you want candidates to be able to show you their best.
Forgetting You’re on Camera. Believe it or not, after a short time you may become so comfortable with video interviewing that you forget your candidates can see you. There are some horror stories out there about interviewers who’ve started multi-tasking or petting their dog or other unsuitable behavior during an interview. You can imagine the kind of impression they made! Avoid this mistake by getting yourself into a professional interview mindset: Wear appropriate attire, clear your desk of distractions, and make eye contact often to ensure you’re fully focused on your dialog with your candidate.
Leaving Functionality on the Table. With the maturity of the video interviewing marketplace, there are so many more features and benefits of a purpose-built solution today for recruiters than there were even 12 months ago. It would be a mistake not to explore all of the features your system offers. Look for ways it’s been used by other recruiters in similar companies in order to boost your own performance and elevate your organization’s hiring results.