10 Digital Interviewing Tips for Employers

The shift to remote work has brought digital interviewing to the forefront of recruitment strategies. Video interviews, live coding challenges, and online assessments have become standard tools for evaluating talent, particularly in tech roles. While convenient, digital interviewing comes with its own set of challenges—from technical glitches to the difficulty of building rapport virtually.

For employers, mastering the art of digital interviewing is essential to ensure a seamless experience for both candidates and interviewers. Here are 10 actionable tips to make your digital interviews more effective, efficient, and engaging.

1. Test Your tech stack

A smooth digital interview starts with reliable technology. Before the interview, ensure your video conferencing software, audio equipment, and internet connection are working properly. Have backup options in place in case of technical issues.

Platforms like HackerEarth simplify this process for technical roles by offering integrated solutions, including live coding interviews and proctoring tools, which eliminate the need for juggling multiple tools during the evaluation process.

2. Clearly define the role and skills

Digital interviews are most effective when aligned with the role’s specific requirements. Before the interview, create a detailed checklist of skills and qualifications to assess. For tech hiring, include both hard skills like coding and soft skills like communication.

HackerEarth’s skill-based assessments allow you to pre-screen candidates for their proficiency in technologies like Python, SQL, or React, ensuring only qualified candidates proceed to the interview stage.

3. Create a candidate-friendly environment

Digital interviews can be intimidating. To put candidates at ease, clearly communicate the process and expectations beforehand. Share details such as the platform being used, the interview duration, and whether there will be live technical challenges.

For example, HackerEarth enables recruiters to send candidates customized instructions for live coding interviews, reducing uncertainty and enhancing the candidate experience.

4. Prioritize structured interviews

Structured interviews, where each candidate is asked the same set of questions, ensure consistency and reduce bias. For tech interviews, use standardized problem sets or coding challenges tailored to the role.

HackerEarth’s Live Interview platform supports structured assessments by providing a library of pre-built coding problems and the ability to create custom tasks.

5. Assess technical skills live

For tech roles, real-time skill assessment is critical. Use platforms that enable candidates to code live while interviewers observe and evaluate their approach.

With HackerEarth Live Coding Interviews, you can watch candidates write, debug, and optimize code in real-time. This not only assesses their technical expertise but also reveals their problem-solving process under pressure.

6. Keep communication clear and engaging

Building rapport during digital interviews can be tricky, but it’s essential for understanding the candidate’s personality and motivation. Use a conversational tone, ask open-ended questions, and actively listen to their responses.

Make sure to also provide feedback at the end of the session. Even if a candidate isn’t selected, constructive feedback can leave a positive impression of your company.

7. Avoid overloading candidates

In an effort to be thorough, it’s easy to fall into the trap of scheduling marathon interviews. Instead, break the process into manageable stages, such as an initial screening call, a technical test, and a final cultural fit interview.

HackerEarth’s Assessment platform helps streamline this process by enabling recruiters to conduct automated pre-screening, so only top candidates move forward.

8. Record and review

One major advantage of digital interviews is the ability to record sessions (with the candidate’s consent). Reviewing recordings helps eliminate unconscious bias and allows other stakeholders to evaluate the interview later.

HackerEarth’s tools include the option to record coding sessions and track candidate performance, providing data-driven insights to make informed hiring decisions.

9. Incorporate real-world scenarios

Go beyond textbook problems by presenting candidates with real-world challenges they are likely to encounter on the job. For example, ask a backend developer to optimize a database query or a frontend engineer to debug a user interface issue.

HackerEarth’s platform allows you to design custom assessments that simulate real-world challenges, making your interviews more relevant and insightful.

10. Measure the process for improvement

Post-interview, gather feedback from both candidates and interviewers to identify areas for improvement. Track metrics like time-to-hire, candidate satisfaction, and interview-to-offer ratio to refine your process.

HackerEarth provides analytics and reporting tools that give a bird’s-eye view of your recruitment process, helping you identify bottlenecks and improve efficiency.

Why HackerEarth is built for digital interviews

HackerEarth’s suite of tools is designed to make digital interviewing seamless and efficient, particularly for tech hiring. Here’s how it can enhance your process:

• Live coding interviews: Conduct real-time coding assessments with an intuitive interface that supports over 40 programming languages.
• Proctoring tools: Ensure the integrity of assessments with features like screen monitoring and plagiarism detection.
• Skill-based assessments: Pre-screen candidates with automated tests tailored to specific roles and skill sets.
• Customizable challenges: Create assessments that mirror real-world scenarios to evaluate candidates’ practical problem-solving skills.

Companies like Amazon, LinkedIn, and PayPal have leveraged HackerEarth to streamline their hiring processes, saving time while ensuring they hire top talent.

Conclusion

Digital interviewing is here to stay, especially for tech roles where remote work and global talent pools are the norm. By adopting tools like HackerEarth and following these best practices, you can create an interviewing process that’s not only efficient but also candidate-friendly.

Whether you’re hiring a data scientist, a mobile app developer, or a cloud engineer, a well-structured digital interview process ensures you identify the best talent while leaving a positive impression of your organization.

Nischal V Chadaga Author 51 Blogs