Ever since forever, we’ve been going through the same interview process: a closed room, with potential employees shivering in nervousness, and recruiters shooting with the classic “what do you expect to gain from this position?” It’s a vicious chain based only on discussions, set rules – and a lot of nervousness that prevents the recruiter from seeing the person’s true potential.
However, job interviews are getting smarter nowadays. While they may still maintain some aspects from the traditional interview, they were now made to be friendlier – and not as nerve wrecking. Here are some techniques that recruiters do in order to interview potential employees.
Why Traditional Job Interviews Are Falling Behind
Job interviews typically involve a one-on-one interview between an employer and an applicant. Job interviews generally have you, the employee, sitting in the room with the employee for a set amount of time. The purpose of this interaction Their purpose is to assess the recruited and decide whether they are a good fit for the job or not.
Still, there are several reasons why traditional interviews are no longer as effective:
- They can no longer properly assess the candidate skills
- They fail to understand the weakness of the candidate
- It takes too long to set and process
- Interviewers can be biased
- Both interviewers and recruiters don’t know what questions to ask.
In order to combat these issues, interviewers need to be smart about their tactics – and come up with new methods to interview the people.
The Modern Methods
Some of these methods may have been implemented just now – while others may have been around for a while. Still, here is how some interviews are bound to look like.
1. Online Assessments
Employers no longer like tedious job interviews any more than you do. It takes a lot of time – time that they could have used to do something productive. This is why so many of them are into online assessments, where they can easily measure your cognitive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Plus, since the candidate will be in a place he or she is comfortable with (e.g. at home), they will be able to perform without being overly emotional.
2. Casual Interviewing
Many interviewers have already put this into practice in order to make things easier for the candidate. Instead of holding the interview in an office, they move it in a coffee shop or a restaurant. The casual environment will let the interviewed be at ease, without feeling cramped in a stuffy room.
3. Job Audition
Instead of making them tell you what they can do, make them show you. For example, some recruiters ask their candidates to do a project – therefore allowing them to show off their skills. This will also allow the interviewer to gain a better sense of their ability – and the candidate will see for himself/herself whether they are prepared to get this job or not.
4. Texted Interview
We live in an age when everyone is more comfortable with texting than they are with phone calls or face to face contact – particularly if they have never seen that person before. Plus, this makes it easier for the interviewer as well, since they can be assisted by an AI tools and chatbots programmed to conduct the interviews.
For instance, let’s say that a candidate is requesting a list of benefits. In this case, the AI will automatically pick up the request and will direct them towards a link with more information.
Furthermore, it’s no secret that some interviewers also take the looks or manner of speaking in mind. Sometimes it’s important, while other times, not so much. However, by doing this, the recruiter will be less tempted to be biased – and will choose based on the information the applicants provide, along with the skill that they possess.
5. Virtual Reality
Being there while not really being there; for some industries, this might be a great advantage. Indeed, this method is not very common – and considering the costs, not every recruiter might be willing to go for it.
Still, incorporating VR technology for hiring could revolutionize hiring in the long-run. For instance, VR-based simulations could allow recruiters to shift from dialogue-focused interviews to a more practical, “raw skills” assessment when getting to know the candidates.
One possible application could be for IT or engineering positions – VR headsets can create immersive simulations to see how they would approach a specific work situation. This gives applicants a “day in the life” experience of working at the company and also enable recruiting officers to have a more in-depth look at the capabilities (and personality) of any given applicant. Still, let’s say that you are a driver opting to transport tons of weight over the continent. This way, they will be tested to see whether they can handle such a responsibility or not. Similarly, it might be a safe choice for people opting for a job in the airlines. It might be very awkward to hire a stewardess that turns out to be afraid of heights – and this type of interview will set some things straight.
6. Video Interviews
These have been going on for a while now – with the medium being Skype. Let’s say that, for example, you are looking for a job in a different city or country – and you can’t really ditch your job and home to go somewhere just to be rejected. You have train or plane tickets to pay, accommodations to arrange, not to mention that you might have to explain your absence to your current boss.
With a video job interview, things are made much simpler for both the recruiter and the candidate. First, the interviewer won’t have to bother with preparing a whole conference room for the interviews. They just hit dial and they can do it from anywhere they want – even if they are in a coffee shop.
Secondly, this is beneficial for the recruited. This way, all they will need is an hour (or less) in their own home, discussing the details of the job by using their laptop. It will take away the need for unnecessary deployment. Plus, the two parties will still be able to hear or see each other – so it’s like they are taking part in a face to face interview.
Final Thoughts
The business world and our society are continuously changing – which means that we also need to keep up with our process. Technology can help us in many ways – and we’d be fools not to take advantage of it.
While this does not mean that we should discard classic interviews, it might not be a bad idea to go for modern methods every now and again. For example, by simply combining the traditional interview with a method described above, you can get a better picture of who you are about to hire.
