Decorative Blue Wheat

Using Zoom for Interviews

Assuming you've got a set of candidates, their contact info (email), and the dates/times for the interviews, and assuming you're familiar with the steps for scheduling a meeting with the Zoom app, consider some hints/tips when scheduling a series of interviews:

Step 1. Put the candidate's name in the meeting topic box.

put candidate's name in the topic box

Always double-and-triple check the meeting topic entry. By default, Zoom should put "Zoom Meeting" after your name, but depending on the app you're using to schedule, it might put something different.

Step 2. Be sure the host/participant video is enabled in the scheduling box.

video-when-joining-meeting(This still allows host and participant to turn their webcam on and off at any time -- it just ensures that the option to allow video in the meeting is enabled. This prevents a possible glitch or momentary setback from happening.)

Step 3. Keep the audio options set to "both."

audio-options-dial-in

Even if you don't intend to use phone audio for either host or participant roles, sometimes glitches do happen, and the ability for one or more parties to dial in to the meeting is preserved.

join-before-host-dont-use-personal-meeting-id

Step 4. Make sure "enable join before host" is checked.

This allows the participant to enter the meeting room ahead of time, get familar with meeting options that might be available, and most importantly, to check their audio and video feeds ahead of time. (If you've ever been a "digital interviewee," you know that the mental benefits of this little bit of acclimation are priceless.)

Step 5. Make sure "use personal meeting ID" is not checked when scheduling candidate interviews, and make sure the meeting ID is unique for each of the candidates.

(If not, it's possible for one candidate to enter the meeting room of another candidate, possibly while the interview is going on. This would be bad.)