Follow These “Rules” to Make Remote Interviews Rule

Posted on April 23, 2021

Companies are hiring, and that’s good news! Much of the interviewing is being conducted remotely, with the interviewer and interviewee in separate locations. The virtual format can present challenges, but taking certain steps can make it a smooth process for all. Whether you’re conducting the interview or being questioned yourself, follow these tips for remote interviews to get the best results. man in virtual interview looking at resume

Rules for the Job Candidate

Keep everything but inanimate objects out of sight. This means keeping the kids away. Keep the pets away. Make sure they can’t be seen—or even heard.

Present a tidy environment. Another job interview tip is to be mindful of what the interviewer will see in the background. If you’re in the kitchen, make sure there are no dirty dishes around. If you’re in the bedroom, your bed must be neatly made. Do not do the interview from a basement with poor lighting.

Set up good lighting. Lighting is important on video calls. Position the light behind you, or sit in front of a window so there is natural light behind you. Good lighting can help you appear…in the best light.

Put down the cell phone. It should go without saying, but do not text during a video interview. If the phone is near you, turn the ringer off before the interview starts.

During a phone interview, stay still. Don’t go outside for a call, because the wind can affect the sound. Don’t do the interview while driving, either. You want to maintain safety and sound quality.

Check your equipment beforehand. Test your connection, including your audio and video, prior to the interview. While you can’t always avoid technical glitches during a video call, running a test lets you be as prepared as possible.

Do all the in-person interview things. Research the company ahead of time so you sound informed during the interview. Follow up with a thank-you email to the interviewer.

Rules for the Interviewer

Provide clear information on logistics. Send the job candidate a link prior to the meeting. Consider sending a “looking-forward-to-meeting-you” email that morning to put the candidate at ease.

Give the interviewee some slack. Despite best efforts, the individual might have technical difficulties. Don’t hold it against them if it appears they prepared for the interview. Leave enough time between interviews to accommodate unforeseen technical trouble.

Prepare. First, prepare questions that can help you gauge a person’s behavior since you can’t fully gauge their body language through a screen. Second, in case there are sound issues, have questions prepared that you can share on the screen. Then you can ask the candidate to submit the answers.

Keep privacy in mind. If you share your screen, make sure sensitive internal information and information on other candidates are not visible.

Remove distractions. Just as the interviewee should keep children and pets away, so should you. It can unfairly distract a candidate trying to make a good impression.

Rules for Both Parties

Our rule for both the interviewer and interviewee is to dress appropriately. It’s an interview, after all. Skip the sweats and baseball caps, and wear professional attire.

With these tips, your remote interviews can rule!

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

Hiring the Wrong Candidates Costs You Time & Money

Posted on September 30, 2019

Hiring Roundtable

Here’s How to Hire Right

You need to fill that job, and you need to fill it now. You interview a candidate, have a terrific conversation, and hire them. A few months later, your new employee isn’t up to snuff. Sound familiar?

When you have an open position, it’s tempting to cut corners and quickly fill the spot. However, hiring mistakes cost your organization time, money, and emotions. In the long run, it pays to take the steps necessary to hire right.

A Hiring Solution

To add objectivity to your hiring process, use a hiring assessment. We recommend PXT Select^TM, a powerful online tool. PXT Select helps you hire the best candidates, onboard them effectively, and develop them over time.

The first step is for a candidate to take an assessment that looks at their behavioral traits, thinking style, and interests. Then reports are generated: 1) providing insight on the candidate and 2) letting you compare the candidate against job-specific models. You can quickly see if the candidate’s characteristics align with the ideal person for the job. There is even a report that suggests personalized interview questions to use to learn more about a specific candidate. Moreover, you can compare candidates to one another.

What sets PXT Select apart from other hiring assessments?

Once a candidate takes an assessment, you have ongoing access to all reports in the PXT Select suite. So down the road, when that employee wants a promotion, for example, you can use the data and check their suitability.

The reports are useful and easy to read. Packed with information on candidates’ skills, job compatibility, manager compatibility, and more, the reports don’t require interpretation.

Hiring tip: When you share candidates’ results with them, see how they respond. Their attitude when receiving feedback provides additional information for your decision.

Using a hiring assessment adds objectivity and efficiency to your hiring process. When you’re considering multiple candidates—all with good resumes and good personalities—the data removes some of the guesswork and points you to the best hire for your organization.

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

Webinar: Discover PXT Select Pre-Hire Assessment

Posted on March 12, 2018

Identify Your Best Candidate from Sales to C-Suite

You spend hours evaluating resumes finding several candidates. How do you decide who becomes your next employee? The wrong choice costs 30% of an annual salary and results in lost opportunities and increased employee conflict.

Most large companies have a well-established hiring process that includes a validated, data-driven pre-hire assessment. Yet many small to mid-sized compaies still rely on the resume, a few hastily thrown together interview questions and intuition to determine whether a candidate’s fit for the job.

It’s simpler thank you think to implement a pre-hire assessment. In this webinar, you’ll learn:

What makes a pre-hire assessment valid and reliable.
The role of validated, data-driven selection tools.
What PT Select measures and why it matters.
How the PXT Select Hiring Assessment can help with hiring and onboarding.
Simple steps you can take to get started.

Date: March 29, 2018

Contact Us to request the webinar recording.

Learn more about PXT Select, request a demo or make a purchase.

Using DiSC Profiles In Your Hiring & Onboarding Process

Posted on May 22, 2017

The pressure to make the right hiring decision can be overwhelming for many managers. Not only must you ensure that the new hire has all the right skills for the job, but you need to be confident that they can successfully integrate with the existing team. When your employees don’t get along, it can affect the performance of everyone in the office. How can you get insight on whether or not personalities will be in conflict? This is why many companies turn to the DiSC profile assessments for hiring.

This simple test assigns individuals to four basic personality categories. The results provide information on how these personality types can best work together in your office environment. Let’s take a closer look at the way you can use DiSC profiles when hiring and onboarding new employees.

What Makes DiSC the Right Choice?

Unlike some of the more complicated personality profile tests on the market, DiSC is easy to take and easy to understand. The results assign four basic personality traits, as well as secondary traits to each of your team members. You can use this information to determine how each person on your staff may communicate with one another while handling conflict, staying organized, and optimizing productivity.

For this reason, many companies are turning to DiSC profiles for their ease of use and overall value.

When Should You Use the DiSC Profile Test?

We recommend using the DiSC profiles to help you during the hiring process. Once you have determined that the individual fits all the requirements for the open position, administer the test to gain insight on how they will work with others on your team and their personal effectiveness in the workplace. Using these insights, you will be able to better understand their areas of strengths and weakness, and where you can help them grow.

How Do You Use the Results?

Each initial of DiSC stands for a specific category of personality traits.

Dominance
Influence
Conscientiousness
Steadiness

You can begin to see patterns in behavior with your employees to better understand how someone with any given trait will fit in with the team. For example, putting an individual with a D style in a department where the primary personality trait is C could lead to misunderstandings if they aren’t managed correctly. The individual with a C style may feel steamrolled by the person with a D style. They may both benefit from also collaborating with an I style personality.

Using this information to develop departmental structures can help everyone work together in a cohesive way.

The knowledge gained from learning how your new employees will work together with your staff can help integrate them into your office culture in a more seamless fashion.

Can your organization benefit from using the research-validated online profile assessments like DiSC? Corexcel can provide the tools and training you need to use DiSC for creating a more cohesive workplace, so contact us to learn more.

Tag: Hiring