15 Video Interviewing Tips for Recruiters

There’s no one right way to do video interviews. You have all the freedom to carry out your interview in any way you wish, whether you want to do it in a casual manner or go for a more formal style. But, regardless of how you decide to approach your video interviews, these 15 tips and tricks can help you conduct them successfully!

Preparing for the video interview:

• • Make sure the lighting is good. Natural light will give you the best results, take advantage of it if you can. If you’re using artificial light, stay away from overhead lighting to keep your face out of the shadows.
  • Find yourself a quiet room with a good background where no one will disturb you. Neutral background is often a good choice, since you want the attention to be on you and not your background.
  • Dress as you’d dress for face-to-face interviews. A good rule is to stay away from bright designs and patterns that can be distracting on camera.
  • Test your camera and microphone, and make sure you have a reliable Internet connection to avoid any technical issues.
  • Prepare your questions. Try to brainstorm some interesting questions beforehand and think of way you can stand out to your candidates.

During the video interview

• • Don’t rush. Take your time and speak loud and clear.
  • Look at the camera when speaking. It’s the same as keeping an eye contact with your conversation partner. You can also look a little bit below the camera, if that feels more comfortable. Try to avoid glancing around the room or staring at your notes as much as possible.
  • Smile. It goes without saying that smiling is incredibly important in any interview setting. Smiling is a great way to show friendliness and approachability, so be sure to keep that in mind.
  • Don’t be overly stiff or serious. Job interviews are already intimidating enough for the candidates, so by showing that you aren’t as tough as your candidates might fear, you’re creating an atmosphere where your candidates feel more relaxed and less stressed.
  • Invite candidates to ask questions. Giving candidates a chance to ask questions not only shows you care about their concerns—it also helps you identify stand-out candidates. Asking insightful questions is an important way candidates can distinguish themselves from the competition.

After the video interview

• • Remember to follow up. Send your candidates a thank you email, inform them about what to expect next, and keep them updated on the recruitment process. Show your candidates you value their time by proactively communicating with them, it’ll greatly improve their candidate experience.
  • Give and receive feedback. Giving constructive feedback in a timely manner is a simple way to show you care about a candidate’s success and it leaves a positive impression of your company. Remember that recruitment is a two-way process, so be sure to ask your candidates about their experience and get the insights you need to improve.  Whether the feedback is positive or negative, always thank candidates for sharing their thoughts.

Bonus tips for pre-recorded video interviews

The tips above can be applied to any type of video interviews, but there are some additional things to keep in mind when carrying out pre-recorded video interviews. Pre-recorded video interview is an interview setting, where recruiters and candidates don’t have to be present at the same time for the interview to happen and there’s no need for scheduling—they can record their video questions and answers whenever they can. You can read about the differences between pre-recorded and live interviews here. 

Here are our recommendations for recruiters conducting pre-recorded video interviews:

• • Record three to five questions. Since video interviews aim to make the recruiting process more efficient for both the recruiters and the candidates, we emphasize that less is more.
  • Clarify your expectations. Video interviews help create a smooth candidate experience—as long as you make your expectations clear. Give candidates brief guidelines and explain what answer length you expect. You can do so either in the same video where you record your questions, or in a separate welcome video.
  • Create a Welcome and/or Thank You video. As your welcome video, you could give your candidates a quick office tour or introduce your team, and for your thank you video, consider informing your candidates about what to expect next. Use this opportunity to stand out from your competitors and promote your company culture.

These tips are the basic principles of conducting successful video interviews. If you’d like to learn more how you can improve your recruitment process with video interviews, download our free guide Video recruitment – or contact us and we’ll walk you through the tool and the method itself.