After the coronavirus pandemic, everything in our lives has changed. Change has also become inevitable in business life, which has its share of this situation. Experts point out that online interviews, which came to the agenda in this process, are also used by companies in job interviews for personnel recruitment.
Üsküdar University Faculty of Communication Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dinçer Atlı stated that digital transformation has forced all areas of life to undergo a rapid and radical change with the effect of the global Coronavirus outbreak, and said that the Human Resources Management departments of companies should adapt to this change in the period we are in.
Reminding that employees in appropriate sectors and positions have switched to compulsory remote working, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dinçer Atlı stated that in this process, working and job search processes have been moved to digital platforms with the possibilities of the digital world.
Digital applications will stand out in recruitment
Stating that applications such as digital career fairs, online interviews, video interviews, recruitment with artificial intelligence, application via voice assistant, electronic learning, gamification, online tests, etc. are now prominent, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dinçer Atlı said:
"At the Digital Career Fair, companies have the opportunity to chat one-on-one with talents to explain themselves and their company culture, answer candidates' questions and candidates can apply for job postings. Then, virtual robots (bot: Automated software responsible for performing any activity on computers or software) working with artificial intelligence on behalf of the employer with artificial intelligence technology examine the applications according to the features sought, the quality of the language you use, your prominent features, and the candidate is classified according to their social media accounts through scanning and search engines using artificial intelligence. A superficial personality analysis is made with bigdata data such as the areas in which passive-looking candidates are active and how they spend their free time.
Candidates who are eliminated and who make it to the final stage are interviewed by an employer bot with artificial intelligence. In the recruitment process, which is becoming increasingly data-driven, experts provide some convenience to the employer in choosing the right candidate, but the scientific impact and efficiency of these recruitment practices will be experienced in the coming period."
How to succeed in online job interviews
Referring to the subtleties of successfully exiting CV screening with artificial intelligence for candidates and being successful in online job interviews, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dinçer Atlı listed these steps as follows:
- Update and prepare your CV specifically for the advertisement by emphasizing the features sought in the job advertisement.
- Install the software you will use for the online interview on your computer at least 1 hour before the interview time, check your webcam and create your personal profile.
- In an environment where you will not be disturbed during the online interview, keep the camera background as plain as possible and look well-groomed with professional clothing suitable for the position applied for. Be prepared to have a copy of your CV with you in case you do not remember the information on your CV.
- Make sure you do not have an alarm set at the time of the interview. It is also important to keep in mind that smiling has a magical effect in this process.
- In addition, do not forget that your social media accounts will also be checked, and it is also important that your accounts do not contain political, discriminatory and sexualized posts.
- It will also make it much easier for candidates to be prepared about the so-called S.T.A.R method, which will be very useful in job interviews in online or face-to-face competency-based interviews. The S.T.A.R method stands for; S: Situation, T: Task, A: Action, R: Result (Result). For example, if the competency sought in the position is creativity; the question that may come to the candidate will be as follows in the form of the STAR method.
Can you share a situation (S: Situation), an experience in your past work life where you can define yourself as creative? In this example, what was your task (T: Task), what did you do in this situation (A: Action), what was the result (R: Result). To summarize, in the interview, the competencies required from the candidates within the framework of the S.T.A.R method will be questioned.
- Candidates can increase their chances of success if they find the competencies required by the organization they are applying for and the competencies for the position they are applying for on the organization's website before the job interview, and if they can explain these competencies with concrete examples from their previous work life.