10 Tips for Remote Hiring During the COVID-19 Quarantine

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Hiring is never an easy process, but it’s become especially challenging in the Age of COVID-19. With everyone (hopefully) working from home, recruiters have to get creative with how they plan and execute their interviews. The good news? This is less daunting than it might seem at first glance.

Here are some tips for an effective virtual hiring process:

1. Do a Little Housekeeping — Tidy up, you have guests arriving! Make sure the area visible on-camera is clear of clutter. If you live with others, let them know you’ll be on a call so you can avoid unnecessary noise or interruptions. Finally, check to ensure your wifi is working before your scheduled interview.
2. Adjust Your Lighting — First impressions are everything, and you can’t make a good one if others can’t see you. Try to position yourself with light in front of your face, not behind you. If possible, try to use at least two light sources. Soft lights are better than bright fluorescent ones.
3. Check the Invite — Avoid no shows and have a contingency connection plan. The day before the meeting, make sure everyone has accepted the invitation (and send a quick, polite email if they haven’t). You’ll also want to make sure the invitation includes everyone’s cell numbers in case your video connection doesn’t work.
4. Appoint a Host — When interviewing a candidate online, replicate the experience they’d have in real life. Typically, someone greets a candidate in the lobby, offers them a beverage, and makes sure they’re comfortable in a conference room. The same rules apply when interviewing in virtual spaces. Designate a host who will own the process end-to-end.This might entail sending out the agenda, greeting everyone, jumping in to transition to the next interviewer, and smoothly wrapping up the interviews in a nurturing manner. The host should have everyone’s phone numbers handy, and remain present on Slack in case something goes wrong.
5. Designate One Virtual Meeting Room — Rather than having candidates jump around from one virtual conference room to another, use a single link as the designated space when back-to-back interviews are scheduled. Include a 15 minute break between interviews. This will leave time for the host to check in, and allow for the candidate to grab a water, use the bathroom, and prepare for the next interviewer.
6. Double Up the Interviewers — When possible, have two people interview the candidate at once to expedite calibration. You also get the added benefit of switching off note taking, and if one of the interviewers has to drop off the call for any reason, the other one can steer the ship.
7. Avoid Interview Fatigue — Interviews can be a mentally grueling process in the best of times. That’s doubly true now, for both your team and the person being interviewed. That’s why I’d suggest scheduling interviews with no more than two candidates per day for the time being. And if you can, try to ensure candidates have a maximum of three meetings in a single day.
8. Provide an Interview Agenda — The greeter or hiring manager should present the meeting agenda to the candidate and panel. Include back up phone numbers on the agenda to avoid a last minute scramble for phone numbers in case your video connection doesn’t work.
9. Get Your Whiteboard Ready — A digital whiteboard can make it much easier to convey complex ideas and information on a video call, especially during technical interviews. Some of my favorites include Invision, Coderpad, and Hackerrank.
10. Use Emojis 🎉 — There’s a reason Slack has over 26 million custom emojis 🧐. When interviewing virtually, you miss out on opportunities for non-verbal communication like nuances in tone 👀 and body language 💁, therefore you’ll need to find unique ways to create genuine connections. Humanize the process by using emojis liberally and “over-emoting” 🤗(Thank you Beth Sheffner Scheer @ Homebrew Ventures for stressing how important this is!)

Hiring during a pandemic is no cakewalk, for a lot of reasons, but following these concrete tips can make it a lot easier. You’re not reinventing the wheel here, and sticking to little rituals — like making yourself a cup of tea beforehand, or always taking notes in the same place — can help restore a sense of normalcy. I wish you the best of luck with your interviews, and if you have questions about anything, get in touch and I’ll be happy to help!

Jodi Jefferson specializes in executive retained search for engineering and product leaders at Riviera Partners.