Reinventing Job Interviews With Modern Technology And Techniques

Learn where interviewers currently go wrong

The traditional job interview is not what it used to be, thanks to more modern technology and fresh techniques. The traditional methods of interviewing probably need some kind of overhaul anyway, as according to LinkedIn’s latest report on recruiting trends, they have many weak spots.
 

 
As with any area of business, it’s important to keep up with the times so as not to get left behind. Now that we have so much great technology at our fingertips, there is no excuse to lag behind.

Where are Interviewers Currently Going Wrong?

According to LinkedIn’s report, interviewers have issues including a certain level of bias, and poor assessment of soft skills and weaknesses. They aren’t always sure which questions they should be asking, and the process is often much longer than it should be. Due to these issues, final decisions are often flawed, yielding poor long-term results.
 
However, thanks to the following modern technology and techniques, the interviewing processes are improving and hires are more successful. Combining such useful technological tools and interviewing techniques, interviewers can completely transform the hiring process:

Technology

Video interviews

Video interviewing is increasingly common, with more remote teams in the making, and candidates residing in different locations. It’s just more convenient (as well as inexpensive), and it’s a great way to spend some time getting to know your candidate. It’s only one step away from face-to-face, so you can still perceive mannerisms and facial expressions relatively easily. Body language is trickier, of course. 
 
Video interviews take a little more preparation, as you’ll need to have all your documents in soft copy ready to send, and some instructions for your candidate on how the interview will be conducted.

Virtual reality

This one hasn’t fully caught on yet, but it’s as modern as an interview can get. For example, there is a downloadable application called Teleport Call VR. This app allows interviewers to create a specific environment before they ‘teleport’ their candidates into it.
 
Creating a virtual interview space is quite a fun way to conduct an interview, and like video calling, it offers similar aspects to face-to-face interviews - just with added extras. The downside of virtual reality interviewing is that some aspects are inevitably lost; it only works with visual and auditory senses.

Online assessments

Online assessments aren’t new in themselves, but there are ways to conduct them that will yield better results. Done correctly, it’s possible to determine your candidates’ problem solving capacities and critical thinking skills, plus the way they apply information.
 
In order to select the right tools, it’s important to think about what you are looking for in the candidates. It could be that you’re looking for intelligence, reasoning and personality. You might need more specialized tools if your role is unusual. There are lots of good assessment tools to choose from, but you’ll also need to select them based on their reporting functions. 

Techniques

Job auditions

Auditions work for a few industries, like acting, modeling, etc. It’s a little surprising that auditioning is only just becoming more common across other industries. It makes perfect sense though – what better way is there to tell if a candidate can do a job well?
 
Giving them a day on the job is good for both parties; you can both get a feel for each other, and the candidate gets a glimpse into the company operations and environment. It’s a great opportunity to see how they fit in with your current team, and how well they function in a new situation.
 
The downside of this is when roles require a high level of training specific to the company. However, candidates can be briefed in advance, and it’s still possible to construct an audition in order to evaluate more general skills.

Informal interviews

Informal interviewing is another technique that’s not totally new, but less common. It’s taking off now for various reasons. What’s good about it? Well, it takes the pressure off both parties instantly. Whoever would prefer formal, corporate stuffiness if there was an option for a relaxed chat over a coffee or lunch?
 
This technique immediately puts the candidate at ease, which allows their true character to come through. When the interview meets the candidate on a friendly level, things just flow more naturally.

Behavioural interviewing

This is a topic in itself, but we’ll cover some of basics. The behavioural interviewing technique is one of the best modern interview methods, as it can predict performance much more accurately. The assumption is that the way a candidate has previously behaved is indicative of future behaviour.
 
It’s all about the way the questions are posed. First of all the interviewer will identify the core skills required for the role. Then they will devise a set of questions that will determine whether the candidate truly possesses these skills.
 
This means traditional questions will go out of the window in favour of personalized questions based on each candidate’s claims. These questions will also be followed up with further questions to probe more deeply into the answers given.
 
It’s not a case of candidates merely offering up examples. Behavioural interviewing is more about seeking repeated evidence that indicates behavioural patterns across different roles. So for example, if a candidate is boasting a certain result, you might request details on the metrics.
 
There are various techniques to choose from, and lots of technologies to support them. It’s simply a case of choosing the best combination for your particular business and the roles you’re recruiting for. Now that candidates have become adept at whizzing through generic interviews, it makes sense to up your game to weed out the great actors from the great workers.

Author Bio

Daniel Ross is part of the marketing team at Roubler.com.