10 Tips for Facilitating Effective Virtual Interviews

The onsite interview is a key component to recruiting for physician retention. A mix of both selling and interviewing, the onsite includes both structured interviews and social blocks, allowing both the organization and the physician (as well as the physician’s loved ones) to evaluate if there is a mutual fit. We’re here to help you navigate effective virtual interview. Below we featured a section of our Virtual Onsite Tool Kit — in partnership with Barlow/McCarthy. These are Marketware’s 10 Tips for Facilitating Effective Virtual Interviews:

Prep Your Candidate

1. Share Pertinent Details in Advance

Give them a good summary of the virtual interview process
Create an agenda that includes embedded links
Incorporate links &/or fun facts about the audience in advance
Create a cheat sheet of helpful tips the provider can use to prepare
As most participants are working on the floors or working from home, let the candidate know what dress is required (i.e. business casual)

2. Share Recommended Best Practices for Video Calls

Make sure they know if video will be turned on to support relationship building
Suggest they choose a clean, quiet & well lit space
It can be easy to make & sustain eye contact when video conferencing — encourage them to keep something visual near their camera to remind them to focus eye contact there
Encourage the candidate to focus on how they speak & what they articulate
Reassure them it’s okay to repeat themselves if the question or their response needs to be clearer
Promote tools that will help them prepare in advance

3. Encourage Testing & Practice in Advance

Make sure they download the software & do a video test run at least 1 day prior to the interview
Part of this test run should confirm that signal strength is adequate & the camera/microphone both work as expected
Share some suggested questions they can review in advance
Offer to be a safe practice partner if they want to practice making eye contact & communicating clearly
As a precaution, give them a backup phone number to reach you in case there’s a glitch or the technology gets wonky

4. Share Opportunities for Candidate Follow Up

Share emails related to your participating providers & leadership in case the candidate wants to thank those individuals for taking the time to be involved in their interview
Remind the candidate that due to the circumstances, follow up may take longer than usual to get back
Create a quick survey for candidates to complete about the interview process & make adjustments as needed

5. Maximize Candidate Touch-Points

Follow up with your own thank you note to the physician candidate for being adaptable & for giving up their valuable time to speak with your team
Provide prompt follow-up to candidate including what additional interviews, references, materials are needed to proceed
Consider what other materials or resources you may need to share based on the notes you took from the interview

Prep Your Team

6. Share Pertinent Details in Advance

Share copies of the candidate’s CV & any key notes from previous interviews
Explain the virtual set up to team, provide agenda with embedded links
Identify who will be the lead for each session
Identify the roles others will play including who is asking &/or responding to key questions

7. Put in Some Prep Time

Coach leadership to start with easy, non-threatening questions to help the in establish their comfort level with the technology, the situation & with candidate
Remind leadership to personalize the interview by talking a little bit about themselves, their background & their work with the company
Recommend to leader to mention something about the candidates that caught their eye while conducting their own research or reviewing CV

8. Be the Hostess with the Mostest

Join beginning of interview to engage in small talk while waiting for everyone to “arrive”
Use this time to help navigate or troubleshoot any audiovisual issues
At the start of each interview, reminded participants to turn phones on silent so notifications aren’t a distraction
If the dog barks or the phone rings, remember life happens & we all need to be more flexible with partners working from home & with school being canceled
Take notes so you can keep track of key observations, additional questions & potential touch points to reinforce along the interview process

9. Process Improvement

Secure feedback from your team shortly after you begin your virtual interview process
Make a list of those things that went well & should be continued
Brainstorm as a team on what adjustments need to be made moving forward