How to avoid bias with remote interviewing

Preparing for remote interviews

The age-old totems of being able to 'read someone's eyes' or 'telling a lot from their handshake' just do not apply in a post-Covid world. Perhaps they do not apply to broader themes of inclusion in any case, but interviewing through a screen means interviewers have to prepare more and work harder to assess candidates. 

Ms Thomas explains: “Typically interviewing remotely reduces the number of non-verbal cues, including body language, and can make it harder to communicate effectively. Practice and preparation for remote interviews is therefore important.

"Preparation should include interview skills (for both parties), acknowledging our own bias (we all have them), ensuring a diverse interview panel and competency based and standardised questions (knowledge, skills and behaviours) rather than experience can help."

How tricky is it to interview remotely? How have firms that have continued to hire and train via technology found the experience? 

Helena Bogdanovski, head of talent acquisition for Foster Denovo, says: "Given an important aspect of being an adviser is the confidence and ability to communicate face-to-face, we did initially have some concerns over whether moving to video interviews would work as well.

"However, ultimately the video conferencing has worked incredibly well in being able to assess candidates, and allowed us extra flexibility over when and how we can carry out interviews."

She makes the point that prospective new joiners are already comfortable with video conferencing software, whether this is Zoom, Google Hangouts or Microsoft Teams.

Remote interviews are not a new phenomenon but in future it is likely the selection process for advisers will involve a combination of virtual and face-to-face interactions, making it more flexible. -- Shaun Godfrey

This technological skillset is touched on by Ian McKenna, founder and director of the Financial Technology Research Centre (FTRC), who says: "At least for the next five to 10 years, the most effective workers will be those who can work best with technology and use it to improve overall productivity.

"Consequently, recruitment should focus even more on understanding the extent of an individual's computer skills."

He says FTRC frequently incorporates specific exercises involving the use of technology as part of the recruitment process, and after initial calls to filter candidates, FTRC then sets a series of tasks to assess their capability.

Mr McKenna says part of preparing for remote interviews might involve conducting screen-sharing sessions with candidates, using specific applications such as cash flow planning, to see how prospective new staff use technology and can explain things to clients remotely. 

Other ways of getting remote interviewing right