Are online interviews really the way forward?!...

The recent lockdown forced virtual interviews to become the norm, however post pandemic, 79% of employers are continuing to use this method. This is due to the benefits online interviews have: streamlining the recruitment process, saving costs, reducing carbon footprint, and resulting in greater attendance.

Currently, this is the most popular method of conducting first-stage interviews with 85% of employees favoring it. However, is this the same for the further stages???

A recent candidate of ours rejected a role due to the employer not pursing the 2^nd stage interview face-to-face. Understandably, the candidate wanted to build rapport with the hiring manager, visit the workplace, meet the team and experience the company culture firsthand.

An article states from the BBC: “data over the years has shown that people care about how companies treat their employees; the early days of the pandemic reinforced that people are not machines”. This aligns with the stats that 73% of employees have left a job due to a poor cultural fit, proving the importance of incorporating a physical meet into the interview.

In the current candidate-driven market, employees have options; employers reluctancy to offer what they are looking for (even in the interview process), means they will retreat.

It seems that for recruiters, there is a fine line between embracing tech and the new norms post Covid, but also keeping the traditional aspects within the process..

Would you start a new role without physically meeting a member of the team?