Video interviews are only going to become more prevalent as we continue towards a global and virtual workplace. I’m admittedly new to video interviewing but got a crash course recently with a huge recruiting project that resulted in doing 50 video interviews in 3 weeks…since then I’ve at least made some initial opinions on the subject!

The November 2014 issue of HR Magazine shared the article “The Future of Live Video Interviews for Recruitment” – and what to consider if you’re planning on doing a video interview as a recruiter. I agreed for the most part with what was said by the article’s author, Thomas Cottereau (co-founder of SightCall, a video interview platform provider). For one, I agreed that video interviews should emulate a real, personal interaction as much as possible – that a bad Internet connection could ruin it. For another – video interviews are an excellent way to collaborate with multiple interviewers participating together and can also offer opportunities for candidates to screen-share and show designs, projects, etc.

However, I disagree with Cottereau about his suggestion that video calls should be established on the fly, in seconds and very easily for candidates. For the interviews I did, we used Skype or Face Time – services that could require the candidate to learn and download something if they hadn’t used it before. I thought if a candidate had trouble doing that, then it might be a red flag for someone’s tech ability – and I was recruiting for virtual employees, they needed tech ability!

Also – I don’t think it’s necessarily all that valuable to establish an instant video call connection – typically the interview will be scheduled in advance and allow the candidate time to prepare and log-in to whatever service you use.

Other things to consider if you do video interviews:

• Try to turn off the preview of yourself (if possible) – it’s a big distraction to see oneself on video and it’s hard to ignore!

• Remember to make “eye contact” with the video camera, and SMILE!

• Interviewers: If recruiting for virtual employees, consider your own virtual experience with the candidate – verbal communication skills and presence for remote employees can be even more important in virtual environments

• Interviewers: don’t schedule more than 3- 4 interviews in a row, interviewing can be tiring and video interviewing can also give you eye strain

Video interviews offer employers the possibility to connect to candidates globally – giving them a powerful ability to cost-effectively recruit the best team from anywhere.