Inside Interviews | Why In-Person Interviews Are Important
by Mia Singleton, Associate Consultant
Last month’s blog by Alicia Buckley outlined why workplace welfare is important for the return to the office post-pandemic. As we see businesses push for a return to face-to-face working and in-person meetings, we may pause to question why the same is not being applied to interviews.
Virtual Interviews
Despite being almost two years on from the pandemic, we are still seeing that many businesses have preferred to keep the majority of their processes virtual. Whilst some do tag on the odd chemistry coffee as a last stage, many are content to offer candidates on the basis of a few Teams calls, having never met them in person. Likewise, candidates are expected to accept roles without having seen their future place of work, or shaken the hands of their future managers.
Pros
We are not blind to the benefits of virtual interviews. They certainly allow for flexibility, affording better navigation of busy diaries, with less time lost during the recruitment process. Teams or Zoom suit an interviewer who works from home or follows a hybrid working structure so that you are not limited to only certain days of the week. Moreover, if you have a lot of people involved in the process, Teams is far more spacious than a meeting room! Perhaps most importantly of all, virtual processes tap into broader geographies, accessing a wider talent pool, and preventing logistical difficulties such as travel costs (or as we saw with the Covid-19 pandemic, nationwide lockdowns) getting in the way of finding talent.
Cons
However, where virtual interviews have their strengths, they also have their weaknesses. Being beholden to tech and the internet can lead to unpredictable and unavoidable delays and issues within an interview. This can majorly impact a candidate’s performance and engagement in an interview by adding unnecessary stress and pressure to the event. Additionally, in a home setting, a candidate must be aware of what’s in their background and try to not get distracted by their surroundings. It can be difficult to stay in interview mode when your pet is sick next to you on camera (true story). So virtual interviews are not always a breeze!
In-Person Meetings
Aside from pointing out the obvious difficulties with virtual meetings, it’s important to consider the benefits of in-person interviews, and why they should be included in the recruitment process. Here we have summarised what we believe are the key reasons to conduct in-person interviews:
For Candidates:
Seeing the workspace – they are able to picture themselves working in the environment, get a sense of the team culture, experience what the commute would be like etc.
Build relationships – in-person interviews can be more natural, and relaxed and allow candidates to build trust with the team to a greater extent than through a video/phone call.
The unspoken information – seeing how colleagues interact, understanding the wider context of a role and getting greater depth of information and emotion.
For Clients:
Seeing a candidate in action – you get to see how they would respond in a client meeting and in a professional setting, rather than in a more comfortable homely environment. You can get a better read on someone’s use of body language and interpersonal skills from an in-person meeting.
Team chemistry – an in-person meeting can be an opportunity for a candidate to interact with the wider team and allow hiring managers to better envisage how they would fit in socially as well as professionally.
The sell – we work in a passive market, so clients often need to gain buy-in from candidates ahead of an offer stage. In-person interviews allow businesses to showcase their space, their team and their work to a greater extent than on a virtual call, which can be a much better sell for candidates.
If these points sound similar across the candidate and client lists, it’s because the reasons that in-person interviews are beneficial are very similar for both parties. Interviews are very much a two-way street, and for the purposes of engagement, seeing candidates or businesses in action, and building strong relationships, nothing can beat an in-person interview.
Of course, you should pick the interview process that best caters to your team’s needs ie. what they need to see demonstrated by candidates, the volume of candidates they expect to apply, and their availability/timeline for the process. We at MadlinHanna Consulting are always happy to advise our clients on how to best run their processes based on these needs. But wherever possible, we encourage that an in-person interview be part of the process.
MadlinHanna Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in public affairs, corporate communications and financial PR. Contact us in London on +44 (0) 20 8088 4102 or in Brussels on +32 (0) 2 586 38 98 for more information or a confidential conversation about these services and more.