6 Interview Questions to Ask Candidates in a Video Interview

In a one-way video interview, candidates answer employer’s questions with short video answers. These answers can be viewed at any time and for any duration. If you know immediately someone is all wrong for the job, you can move on to a better fitting candidate.

The key to making one-way video interviews work for you is to come up with a list of questions to give insight into the candidate’s cultural fit. For instance, here are some questions you might want to ask in the one-way video interview:

Describe yourself in three words.
What’s your ideal work environment?
Tell me about a time you made a mistake. How did you address it and what did you learn?
What’s your favorite aspect of your current position?
Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team.
What do you like best about the company?

These questions can give you important insight into how the candidate sees themselves, how they see the company, and how they work best. If you’re hiring for a hectic startup position, you probably want someone who is passionate about the company’s mission statement and likes wearing a lot of hats. However, if you’re looking for a top-notch manager, you probably need someone who understands the value of teamwork and whose favorite aspect of the job is interacting with others.

Depending on your specific company culture, the answers you get to one-way video interview questions can help you narrow down the list of talented candidates. This way, you spend your time in the next round of interviewing connecting with the people most likely to fit into your company culture and add real value.

Watch Nonverbal Communication

We learn a lot about people from nonverbal communication; in fact, studies have said 93 percent of communication comes from nonverbal cues. In a video interview, whether it’s happening in real-time or pre-recorded, you can judge these nonverbals for yourself. Nonverbal clues can tell you a lot about the candidate applying for your position and whether they’d be a good fit at the company.

For instance, if you need a friendly employee for a client-facing position, you might not want to hire the candidate who never cracks a smile in your live video interview. If you’re looking for someone for your startup willing to put in long hours and burn the midnight oil, you might want to avoid the candidate who winces when you mention hours outside the 9 to 5.