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Interviewing for a new job and finding your right fit is tough enough, not to mention the added stress of interviewing during the COVID-19 pandemic. As stated on our Careers Page, our process is pretty consolidated and we move quickly (you have to when you’re a growing tech company). Usually, one of our last stages is an onsite interview- an important opportunity for us to learn about our candidates, have them meet team members, answer their questions, and show them the space in which they’d be working.
As recruiters, we’re used to fast-paced changes, and so when we were given our work from home order in March, we knew we needed to adapt that same level of service to a remote interview process. In this article, we’ll cover how we’ve adjusted our process, our best tips for interviewing remotely, and success stories we’ve already seen in the last couple of months.
We realized quickly that we needed to adjust our high-touch interviewing to scale remotely. Some of the things we were already doing as a team were going to be extra important virtually, such as preparing candidates for interviews by asking the hiring manager what they’ll be focusing on, sharing team LinkedIn profiles, and setting expectations up front. However, preparing our team has been important as well to ensure a good experience all around.
We created an internal document for our recruiters that details every step of a candidate moving through our process remotely. The main differences include:
Below are the tips we’ve found helpful to provide to candidates before they enter later stages of our interview process:
One of the first teams to shape our remote interviewing practice was our Sales Engineering team. This is an important and high visibility role for us, as the role has a critical balance of elevated soft skills and the ability to hit the ground running, technically. Usually, the end stage is 3-4 hours on-site in one of our locations, with an in-person presentation included. Because of the shift to virtual interviewing, we needed to brainstorm ways to observe candidates’ soft skills and technical foundation. We ended up landing on the idea of giving the candidate an opportunity to be more involved in shaping their virtual process. Do they pick one 4-hour interview or two separate 2-hour interviews?
Our candidates overwhelmingly chose the 2 segmented times where they were able to meet all the individuals on the team first, and then work on the sales presentation to hone in on their soft skills further. Many studies show that any interview longer than 3 hours risks turning into a negative experience for a candidate.
Our Director of Sales Engineering says that since everything is virtual right now, it is important to see if a candidate can conduct themselves on such remote channels. A tip he gave is that during the presentation, something as seemingly simple as using two monitors can go a long way to make sure you can keep one eye on the presentation and one on the audience, therefore demonstrating good command of the presentation. He rounded out his advice by saying, “If you come into an interview, be prepared. Dress professionally, have appropriate lighting, be prepared to talk about why you want the job, and have questions lined up.”
While interviewing in person might be more optimal in some situations, being able to master the art of a successful video call is important in both interviewing and the new day to day work life. It is important as a candidate to be adjusted to the new normal of remote interviewing, and it is equally important that recruiting teams ensure both candidates and hiring teams have the best experience possible.
*co-authored by Briana Friden and Kimi Mashoon
Briana is loving life as a recruiter at LogicMonitor. Before starting her career in the world of talent acquisition, Briana graduated from the University of Oregon where she was involved in activities including UO’s news broadcast to the Spanish heritage club. A career in the technology industry was inevitably the next challenge, and what better place to be than at LogicMontior in her hometown of Santa Barbara. In her free time, Briana loves to talk careers, speak Spanish (any fellow Spanish speakers?) and adventure (hikes, weekend trips, concerts- you name it.) She is fascinated by the unique human experience, and has thoroughly enjoyed helping people find their perfect job! Subscribe to our LogicBlog to stay updated on the latest developments from LogicMonitor and get notified about blog posts from our world-class team of IT experts and engineers, as well as our leadership team with in-depth knowledge and decades of collective experience in delivering a product IT professionals love.
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