Remote Interviewing: Painting a 3D picture in a 2D world
One of the first things that you learn in Geography is that it is impossible to project a 3D object like the earth onto a 2D surface like a map and still maintain accurate depictions of distance, size, etc. Although it is a little more esoteric, it’s fair to suggest that meeting with someone on Zoom will never replace an in-person experience.
And yet, there is no denying that the future of work is changing. Companies and candidates are still doing their very best to figure out the hiring process during this uncertain moment and we’ve been thinking a lot about an insight we learned at school from the late Professor Clay Christensen “We are human beings having business experiences, and sometimes business people having human experiences.”
Still, despite us all writing our own playbooks on how to do remote interviewing, we had a few suggestions we wanted to offer to both candidates and companies as they develop their processes:
For candidates -
Show up and Stand Out - Make no mistake, you may be doing the interview from your home, but treat it like a real interview insomuch as it’s important to show up on time, look presentable (e.g. wear a full outfit?!), and bring your enthusiasm. One key thing to note here is that unlike other interview situations where you might have a few moments to familiarize yourself with the energy of your interviewer before you get started, here you get thrown right in at the beginning. So allow yourself a moment to land in the space, perhaps drawing attention to whatever is present. Chances are your interviewer will have been through a lot of video interviews already and they may be starting to blend together. Giving them a chance to breathe, calling attention to what’s present, or even acknowledging the sheer craziness of the moment will allow your humanity to shine through. And you’ll stand out over folks who are coming in stilted.
Practice Active Listening - Interviews can feel like one-sided conversations, perhaps even more so in remote settings. So engage your interviewer by demonstrating that you hear what they’re saying. Repeat back things you’re learning about them and integrate it into your story. Active listeners stand out in any environment let alone in a remote work setting. When interviewers hear their words reflected back to them and woven into the conversation it’ll make the conversation that much richer for both sides.
Ask questions about company culture for this moment - Look, no one quite knows what they’re doing right now, but hopefully they’re trying their best to make company culture work. By demonstrating your care for wanting to understand how their culture functions and how you want to plug in to make it even better you position yourself as a piece of a solution to a problem facing most companies right now; how to make remote culture work. That starts with asking the right questions. Write a few ahead of time and be ready to ask them at the right moment.
For companies -
Own the challenge of this moment - Great candidates can sniff inauthenticity a mile off and any company that pretends to have this moment figured out is kidding themselves. Let the candidate know what’s working and what are still opportunities. The honesty will be refreshing and it will give insight into the candidate’s ability to think strategically about a challenge and figure out how they can help. You’ll get an immediate sense of whether you want them on your team…or not.
Show, not tell about your company culture - Generally, it’s way more meaningful to demonstrate the key takeaways of your company culture. You’re much better off, for example, incorporating different levels of seniority into an interview process than just saying to a candidate “we care what our junior employees think” with no follow-through. That fact is always true, but especially now. Get creative about what you offer. Video message from the CEO sent with an interview invite? Or a goofy one from employees that shows how they still manage to work with one another and feel united? The possibilities are limitless.
Leave people feeling supported - Regardless of who you are now can feel like an especially lonely time. Especially for your good candidates, make them feel like they’re connected to you and supported by you when the conversation is over. Set a reasonable expectation on when they’ll hear from you and how to reach you. Do one better by including resources for things that you may have talked about in the interview in your follow-up email. Don’t give off a dead-end attitude, even if you don’t plan on hiring them. The way you treat people now will reverberate across your industry and beyond and will impact your hiring reputation for a long time.
This is a challenging moment, but great companies and candidates will innovate their way to stand out.
