With an economy that is still struggling to get back on its feet, you may be trying to find ways to save your company time and money. Some companies want the best candidate for the position, which means that they may be willing to pay travel costs for potential candidates who are located out of the area. However, companies are quickly starting to realize that paying these costs is an expense that they can no longer afford. Unfortunately, this means running the risk of losing an exceptional candidate who cannot afford to travel to the interview in person. However, what some companies have yet to realize is that you can still interview potential candidates who live out of the area without having to spend money to interview them in person. When you decide to start conducting job interviews online, there are some steps you should take to make sure you are giving off the correct impression for yourself and your company.

Save Your Company Time and Money by Interviewing Potential Candidates Via Webcam

Get Your Panel Together

If possible, you should begin by creating a panel of people who will be involved in the job interview. You and the other panelists should take turn asking questions, which gives you time to make notations about the interviewee’s responses as well as allowing you the opportunity to observe how well the candidate handles communicating with multiple people.

Depending on the technology that your company has set up for business video conferencing, you may already have the appropriate hardware where your candidate and panelists can see and hear each other without issues. However, if you are interviewing with a standard laptop, you want to make sure that you audio equipment is strong enough that you can hear each other. You also want to make sure that you have the laptop pushed back on a table far enough so that your potential candidate can see everyone. The last thing you want is someone turning the laptop side to side each time a panelist asks a question. It does not give off a very professional feeling.

Keep Your Panel Together Even When They’re Apart

Another great aspect about conducting online job interviews is that many companies may not be aware of is the fact that you can still have a panel interview for a candidate without requiring that all the panelists be together all at once. There are many companies that allow a moderator to set up a conference and then send out a link to those he or she wants to be included in said conference. Once clicked, this links allows you to be a part of the interview at your computer. You can still see and hear everyone involved, or the moderator can limit which video feeds you are able to see. This makes interviewing convenient for no matter where the interviewer of business is located.

While it is true that companies have to cut certain luxuries and expenses in order to meet the bottom line, giving up a potential employee does not have to be included in the mix; distance should not prevent you from finding the best person for the job.