During the lockdowns we gained a lot of experience with this. We have learned the following lessons from this period.
Decide how you are going to conduct the interviews and what program you are going to use as early as in the planning stage. Make sure that the programme works properly and that everyone has a stable internet connection. Test in advance if this is the case and if all necessary functionalities are available. Can you share your screen properly, can you mute participants, how does the chat work? If the chair of the interview hosts the meeting, you use all functionalities of the application optimally. That means that they invite the participants to the interview. Make sure that you are not disturbed during the interview, not even by messages on your computer or phone. Position your screen or webcam so that you are clearly visible during the interview.
It is important that everyone has a stable and sufficiently fast internet connection. But a connection can still get lost. Make sure you have the contact details of all participants in advance. Should technology fail you, you can still reach everyone this way. You can easily do this by asking all participants to share their contact details with the host. Do not do this via a "reply all" email.
Many video calling programs provide functionalities for chat conversations. However, these are usually visible to all participants, or only to an individual. But as a selection committee, sometimes you may want to have a brief moment of contact amongst yourselves during an interview. In a face-to-face situation you can make eye contact, but that does not work online. You can solve this by creating a separate Teams-chat, or a Whatsapp group. Via web.whatsapp.com you can open your Whatsapp-chats on your computer screen. This way you can call each to account other for behaviour during the interview: if someone talks too much/too little, asks the wrong questions, etc. Make sure though that this separate chat does not distract too much from the conversation itself! Test this beforehand.
Prior to the interview (15-30 minutes), plan an online meeting with all participants except the candidate. This way all participants can meet each other. But most importantly, you can to briefly discuss (again) the roles within the interview.
Use this moment for the following points:
Do this in a different video appointment than the one in which the interview takes place. If you do this in the same appointment, the candidate may 'come in' unexpectedly (prematurely). This disrupts the preparation and comes across very unprofessional.
Small talk
Just like with a face-to-face interview, it is important to first make contact with the candidate and not to start the interview immediately. You can ask, for example, about the candidate's home situation. Or about something interesting that you see in the background.
Explanation of the interview
Reassure the candidate by, for example, explaining how long the interview will take. Briefly introduce those who are present, and explain how questions can be asked. For example, do you raise your hand, or do you wait until the end to ask a question?
Focus on the candidate on the screen as much as possible. Tell them in advance who will be taking notes and how (on paper or via the computer?). This helps candidates to not get nervous, if several participants are looking away.
Focus on the candidate
Depending on the programme you use, you can "pin" the candidate. In other words: you make sure that the candidate is always in the picture. It is not always interesting to see who is speaking. After all, it is about the assessment of the candidate.
Managing expectations
Inform the candidate about the process. Explain what stage of the application process they have reached.
Two-way communication
Conducting a video interview is two-way communication. A video interview gives the participants of VU the opportunity to see the candidate. But the candidate wants to be able to see the VU staff too. It is therefore very rude to ask candidates to turn on their camera, if interview participants do not do so themselves.
In addition to asking the candidates all your questions, it is important to give them the opportunity to ask questions too. Make sure you allow time and space for this. Precisely these questions often provide good insight into the motivation, interests and experiences of the candidate.
Like in a normal face-to-face interview, body language is very important. Therefore, pay attention to the candidate's sitting posture and reaction during the interview. Also be aware of your own body language. A strongly dismissive attitude during an interview can make a candidate unnecessarily nervous.
Make rapport
Just like in a phone call, making rapport is very important. In a phone interview you use verbal options such as ‘yes’, ‘aha’ or ‘hm hm’. In a video interview you use non-verbal actions, such as nodding occasionally when the candidate is speaking. This shows that you hear the candidate. If this does not happen not enough and it remains silent, the candidate may start to doubt the connection or become insecure.
When the interview comes to an end, wrap up the conversation with the candidate and ask them to leave the video interview. This way you can easily evaluate the interview and the candidate with all participants. Make sure that the candidate has actually left the interview, and be aware that they can easily return by using the link again.
Good luck with the interviews!
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