Best Practices When Interviewing A Virtual Assistant
Several people entered the realm of remote work because of the pandemic, but we still need to conduct hiring interviews for new employees. Use these guidelines to conduct effective remote interviews for both you and the applicant.
Here are a few tips and best practices to help set you up for hiring success:
- Before interviewing applicants, remotely test their abilities.
Use a skills assessment tool first to weed out applicants who don’t match your team’s requirements. This will keep the volume of applicants manageable and the quality high as you move to the next phase, especially for roles like programming that receive a large number of applicants.
- Test the right things
It is up to you to utilize your online time with candidates as effectively as possible. Develop a clear notion of what you want to test in each call because you won’t have the luxury of having an in-person conversation. Focus on the practical abilities that will be required on the job, and make sure that candidates are adequately ready for each interaction.
- Over communicate
You won’t have the chance to establish a face-to-face connection while conducting a remote interview. Send updates at each level of the evaluation process to ensure that the candidate experience is not negatively impacted. Regardless of the hiring outcome, it will instill a sense of value and appreciation, ensuring a positive employer brand perception.
- Be upfront and truthful
Ensure that the hiring process is transparent in all of your updates. Many job candidates have never conducted a remote interview before, so you can help them feel more at ease by explaining how the process will work: how many rounds of interviews they will encounter; the technologies that will be used; and what will be assessed in each conversation or skills test.
- Remove distractions.
Make sure you are able to offer the applicant your entire attention. This advice applies to all interview scenarios, with particular emphasis on individuals new to remote interviews. To prevent distractions during the interview, inform your family or roommates about the need for a peaceful environment throughout. You should also turn off notifications from apps like Slack and Gmail. Additionally, make sure your Internet connection is steady to prevent disconnections during the interview.
- Introduce new applicants to the business virtually
You may share first-hand information about the company’s culture and workforce during an in-person interview, which is one of its major benefits. Compile branded content for candidates to explore, capturing the company’s culture and values for online emulation. This package includes these items:
- Articles about significant corporate announcements or noteworthy news coverage
- Profiles of your employees, especially those that feature members of your team
- A list of the team’s expectations from the recruiting manager
- Employee testimonials, pictures, or videos from current talent branding initiatives
Although my company has already progressed toward making remote work the norm, COVID-19 has sped up that process, which now includes remote hiring. Restoring order to our economy requires putting people back to work, therefore we must all be ready to recognize the talent we require from a distance.
After reading this “6 best practices when interviewing a virtual assistant” article I hope you will be very helpful.