Digital Interviewing – Is this the “New Normal?

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen new ways of working being introduced so that businesses can continue operating and moving forward. Digital interviewing has been around for a long time and normally deployed in early stage interviewing or for connecting with overseas candidates. However, due to lockdown government guidelines and the need to protect ourselves, video interviewing has grown exponentially over the last 8 months. So much so that we are seeing whole interview processes being managed virtually all the way through to offer stage. Digital interviewing is fast becoming the new norm.

Here is our take on the pros & cons of virtual interviewing.

Convenience & Speed

When you are hiring, finding the right person for a role will always tend to be a time heavy process. However, digital interviewing has given employers distinct advances in being able to save some of the time they would usually have spent at the interview stage. Often the logistical challenge of getting interviewers into the same space at the same time can causes delays, however, now popping all parties onto a virtual meeting means we can move processes forward quickly, having to jump less hurdles to get something organised.

Although moving at pace has its distinct advantages there it is also important to acknowledge if processes do move at a quicker speed it may have an impact on the amount of preparation all parties can undertake. Could this effect the quality of how businesses present themselves to candidates and vice versa?

Flexibility

The ability to carry out interviews ‘virtually’ allows businesses to interview candidates literally anywhere; all previous challenges such as finding interview rooms, booking interviews within office hours, having to be in the office have all been removed. This new flexibility offers a much greater array of options for employers to get interviews booked.

Whilst flexibility is helpful, there is also some obvious problems that can arise – will employers be putting extra pressures on interviewers to interview candidates outside of work hours? Will people’s workdays get progressively longer to fit in recruitment processes