The candidate experience of virtual interviews in a South African company

Abstract

Orientation: Technological advancement and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic substantially affected organisations’ overall recruitment function, causing a substantial shift towards a virtual way of recruiting talent.

Research purpose: The aim of this research was to explore the candidate experience of virtual interviews to ascertain how this experience can be enhanced because organisations are globally increasingly adopting the virtual approach.

Motivation for the study: It is important for human resource departments and recruiters to understand whether it is sustainable to utilise technologically based means of recruitment such as asynchronous video and synchronous online interviews in the workplace, particularly beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research approach/design and method: The research followed a qualitative case-study approach. Purposive sampling techniques were employed to select the 14 participants who were interviewed one-on-one. Thematic analysis was then used to generate the themes and subthemes outlined in this article.

Main findings: The findings suggest that virtual interviews are quite useful in today’s digital age and will also be advantageous in the future. Nonetheless, there are some disadvantages to utilising virtual interviews. The prevailing advantages were convenience and fairness, while the prevailing disadvantages were one-way communication and a lack of the technology required to seamlessly participate in virtual interviewing. Participants believed virtual interviews would be favourable in future, because of their time and cost efficiency and convenience. Participants further agreed that the current virtual interviewing software used would require upgrading to enhance the overall candidate experience.

Practical/managerial implications: The research provides best practices for improving the candidate experience of virtual interviews.

Contribution/value-add: The research revealed aspects that should be carefully considered when using virtual interviewing methods, to ensure that the virtual interviewing experience for candidates is as efficient as possible as face-to-face interviewing.