With each interview cycle comes fresh hassles and headaches. From scheduling faculty, to managing multiple interview links, to ensuring applicants show up on the right day at the right time, the excitement of the interviews can often be clouded by the chaos of preparation.
And while technology can help provide a smoother, more seamless experience for admissions teams and applicants alike, choosing the wrong tools will only make your admissions process feel like an obstacle course.
We know the pain of trying to use a tool that wasn’t built for the way you work. That’s why we've designed a solution that’s tailored-made for admissions teams. From one-on-one and panel interviews to Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs), Live Interviewing in Kira Talent is the easiest way for your team to bring in-person interviews online. By unifying your tools and processes into a single online platform, Kira helps your team focus on what matters most: engaging with the next generation of talented students.
In our inaugural Live Interviewing Experience Report, you’ll see what applicants and reviewers had to say about their experience with Kira’s newest innovation, and what they think about the future of admissions interviewing.
How Kira is elevating the virtual interviewing experience
Built for the way you interview, each aspect of your traditional admissions process, from scheduling to reviewing, has been replicated and enhanced with Live Interviewing. The result is an online interviewing platform that provides a level of ease, efficiency, and professionalism to your process that other video conferencing tools simply can’t.
By making your interviewing process more accessible to a diverse range of applicants and more relevant to a new generation of students, Live Interviewing helps you better engage and assess your best-fit applicants.
Last year, Kira was approached by several schools that were frustrated by the limitations of the video conferencing platforms that were available. Just as ideation on Live Interviewing began, the pandemic hit and suddenly those schools needed a solution yesterday.
The Kira team worked tirelessly to deliver a seamless experience, incorporating constant feedback from several Canadian medical schools to ensure that Live Interviewing would meet all of their admissions needs.
Throughout early 2021, Kira’s Live Interviewing supported hundreds of prospective medical students as they completed their MMIs. And as the Kira team continued to refine the platform, applicants and reviewers reported consistently better experiences.
With the majority of participants either preferring or being open to continuing with Kira’s Live Interviewing over returning to in-person interviews in the future, we can't wait to continue solving the biggest problems for higher ed admissions teams.
The applicant experience
By the numbers
Applicants’ ratings of their Kira Live Interviewing experience on a scale of one to five with five being the highest
90.2% of applicants rated their Kira Live Interviewing experience either “Great” (4/5) or “Exceptional” (5/5)
Live Interviewing is proving its value right out of the gate! With tons of upgrades and new features on their way, we're ready to continue helping admissions teams get the most out of their process.
Applicants' response to the statement “The online delivery of the MMI through the Kira Talent platform allowed me to adequately communicate to the assessor."
86.2% of applicants “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the online MMI with Kira Talent enabled them to successfully engage with reviewers.
58% of applicants preferred or were open to continuing with Kira’s Live Interviewing over returning to in-person interviews in the future.
While some schools felt forced into remote-friendly methods, more than half of this year's applicants fully embraced the shift to virtual interviewing. With a response like that, traditional methods of interviewing, with their inherently higher costs and accessibility barriers, may be a stumbling block for future recruitment.
By the comments
Applicants noticed and loved the continuous improvements to the platform
“This is the third time I have used Kira Talent for medical school interviews or MMIs, and my experiences keep getting better. Thanks Kira!”
“Everything went incredibly smoothly, there were no technical issues. I would recommend this for every school that is doing online interviews!”
After delivering Live Interviewing in record time, we continued to enhance and strengthen the platform throughout the spring, adding features such as double-length stations and an admin dashboard! We’re proud to see the results of our hard work reflected in great feedback from applicants!
Some applicants had suggestions for future upgrades
Overall the experience was good, I would say that it would be nice if we could move the videos to the top of the screen or move them around on our screen to facilitate eye contact.
“One thing I would like more would be if the videos of the participants were slightly larger. I like having the text of the question prompt on the side, but wonder if there might be a way to enlarge the videos of the participants on the screen.”
We're hearing you and we're taking notes! As we continue to enhance the platform we'll be adding new features to drive an even better Live Interviewing experience.
Applicants felt that Live Interviewing delivered an engaging experience
“Not having to juggle a bunch of WebEx or Zoom links during the interview certainly made things less stressful, and allowed me to focus solely on my responses to question prompts. Also, having the prompt remain on-screen is a GODSEND!”
“Kira Talent took the technology stress out of an already stressful day. It was so great not having to do anything with my laptop during the interview.”
At Kira, our number one goal is to deliver a platform that enables every applicant to put their best foot forward. Needless to say, this kind of feedback shows us that we’re on the right track.
The reviewer experience
By the numbers
Reviewers’ response to the statement “The online delivery through the Kira Talent platform allowed me to adequately communicate with the applicant.”
96.4% of reviewers “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that a virtual MMI with Kira enabled them to successfully engage with applicants.
Reviewers’ response to the statement “The information provided by Kira Talent including an opportunity to pre-test my equipment and trial the interview platform was helpful in my preparation to be an assessor.”
97.7% of reviewers “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the prep and tech support provided by Kira set them up for success as a reviewer.
With Kira, you’ll never have to worry about you, your reviewers, or your applicants being thrown in the deep end. Our award-winning Client Success team is on-hand every step of the way, from onboarding and reviewer training to real-time applicant support.
71.7% of reviewers preferred or were open to continuing with Kira’s Live Interviewing over returning to in-person interviews in the future.
Citing the platform’s flexibility, professionalism, and dedicated support, the vast majority of reviewers either preferred or were open to continuing with Kira’s Live Interviewing over in-person interviews in the future!
By the comments
Reviewers felt that Kira’s Live Interviewing provided an effective and fair experience
“The Kira Talent Platform worked very well for the MMI interview process this year. It was much better than WebEx the previous year - too many glitches and problems with timing/connection. Things went much smoother this year.”
“I thought the Kira platform was fantastic! Having been involved with the previous approach, I feel this approach has better validity.”
“I feel the process was both fair and equitable. The students had ample opportunity to communicate their response.”
One reviewer was so impressed, they wanted to be able to flag the superstars
“There is the occasional student who is just a cut above the rest and you say "Wow", however, with individual markings there is no way to identify such an individual. It would be nice if we could flag those students just as we flag our concerns or conflict of interest.”
We’re thrilled to hear that applicants are shining in their Live Interviews and we’ll explore this for future iterations of Live Interviewing!
Overall, reviewers loved the intuitive interviewing experience with Kira
“The interview format is excellent and far preferred to the in-person interviews.”
“I completely love how the whole process was planned. Very clear instructions from the team. The Kira Talent platform was user-friendly too. My pleasure to be a part of this.“
“The Kira platform is great and the interviews are all extremely well organized.”
Learn more about Live Interviewing in Kira Talent and contact the Kira Partnerships team to transform your next cycle of interviews.
