Onsite Interviews: Benefits, Drawbacks, and Best Practices

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The onsite interview often represents an important step in the recruitment process where candidates visit your workplace to meet with team members for in-depth discussions and evaluations. While traditional phone screens and initial interviews help you shortlist job seekers, onsite interviews help you identify the most qualified candidate and show them why they should choose your opportunity. Getting this stage of the interview process right is crucial for ensuring a high quality of hire.

Benefits of onsite interviews

Onsite interviews offer unique advantages that virtual interactions simply can’t replicate.

Here are some benefits of incorporating onsite interviews into your recruiting process:

Improve skill verification: In-person interviews provide less opportunity for candidates to leverage a professional connection or use AI to help them answer questions or complete assessments. This can help you more accurately assess their skills and qualifications.
Build stronger relationships: Face-to-face interactions can help facilitate genuine connections between candidates and your team members. The natural flow of in-person conversation can help put candidates more at ease so they interview better — and it may improve offer acceptance rates and retention.
Ensure mutual fit: Candidates can better envision their future with your company by walking through your office, meeting potential colleagues, and experiencing the workplace atmosphere. This firsthand exposure to your workplace culture and environment helps them make more confident decisions about joining your team.

Drawbacks and challenges of onsite interviews

While onsite interviews offer valuable benefits, they also present some drawbacks you must carefully consider. Understanding these challenges helps you better prepare for and minimize their impact on your hiring process.

Drawbacks of onsite interviews include:

A larger time commitment for candidates: The logistics of attending onsite interviews can create challenges for candidates. Job seekers must navigate taking time off from their current job to travel to your workplace and interview. This time commitment may lead some qualified candidates to withdraw from consideration, especially those who live out of town.
Increased potential for bias: Face-to-face interactions can introduce additional unconscious biases into the hiring process. Physical appearance, personality traits, and social dynamics that aren’t directly related to job performance may influence interviewer opinions, potentially leading to decisions based on factors beyond professional qualifications.
Higher recruiting costs: Onsite interviews may have direct costs related to team member or candidate travel, or indirect costs related to candidate churn.

When to use onsite interviews

Onsite interviews are most often used when hiring for in-person or hybrid work environments. This gives your candidates and team members the opportunity to meet in person before they begin working together.

Onsite interviews can also be particularly helpful when hiring for positions that require extensive collaboration, leadership responsibilities, or specialized technical skills that need thorough evaluation.

Time these interviews strategically in your hiring process. Schedule them after you’ve conducted thorough phone screens and initial virtual interviews. This approach helps ensure you’re investing resources in candidates who have already demonstrated basic qualifications and genuine interest in the role.

Who should conduct onsite interviews?

Select interviewers who bring diverse perspectives and relevant expertise to the evaluation process — but be careful not to go overboard. Having too many interviewers can waste time for both your candidates and team members.

Interviewers may include:

The hiring manager: The hiring manager should almost always participate in an onsite interview, as they have the clearest understanding of role requirements and team dynamics.
Team members: Include team members who will work directly with the new hire to assess collaboration potential and technical capabilities.
Cross-functional teams: Consider involving team members from cross-functional teams who will interact with the role. Their insights can help evaluate how well candidates might navigate interdepartmental relationships and contribute to broader organizational goals.
Company leaders: Involve senior leaders when it makes sense, such as for a leadership position or high-impact role. Executives can assess strategic thinking and cultural alignment, while signaling the importance of the role to candidates.

Onsite interview best practices

A well-organized onsite interview helps your team effectively evaluate job seekers while creating a positive experience for your candidates. Following these best practices can help you get the most out of your onsite interviews.

Plan your interviews

Develop a comprehensive plan that sets clear objectives for each interview session and assign a clear role to each interviewer. Create detailed briefing materials for interviewers that include the candidate’s background, specific evaluation areas, and relevant questions to ask, ensuring consistent assessment criteria across all candidates and interviewers.

Train your interviewers

Train your team members with the skills they need to conduct effective interviews. Provide formal training on interview techniques and evaluation methods, along with standardized forms that include clear rating criteria and space for detailed feedback, ensuring that all interviewers can make fair and consistent assessments.

Send detailed interview confirmation emails

Reduce the stress of an onsite interview by sending an interview confirmation email with everything a candidate would need to know. This includes the interview date and time, your location, a schedule of meetings, nearby parking and public transportation options, interviewer information, and your office dress code. You should also offer accommodations and provide candidates with contact information to reach someone on your team with questions, concerns, or requests.

Create a welcoming environment

Create a comfortable and professional atmosphere that puts candidates at ease. Designate a dedicated host to guide candidates throughout their visit, managing introductions and addressing immediate needs, while ensuring interview spaces are well-prepared with appropriate lighting, seating, and necessary materials.

Include breaks

Schedule breaks and casual interviews such as team lunches or coffee breaks. These more casual settings encourage natural conversations and allow candidates to interact with potential colleagues in a less formal environment, often providing valuable insights about team dynamics and cultural fit.

Provide a tour

Give candidates a firsthand look at your work environment through guided office tours and team introductions. This allows candidates to see workplace and team dynamics and ask questions about your company culture.

Provide candidate feedback

Four in 10 job seekers have been ghosted after a second- or third-round interview, often leaving them with a negative impression of the company. Show candidates you value their time by following up after onsite interviews and offering personalized feedback.

Final thoughts around onsite interviews

Well executed onsite interviews help you make informed hiring decisions while providing candidates with authentic insights into your organization. Remember that every interaction during the onsite interview process shapes candidates’ perceptions of your company and influences their decision to join your team.

Invest time in preparing your interview panels, training your interviewers, and creating engaging candidate experiences. These efforts pay dividends through better hiring decisions, increased offer acceptance rates, and improved long-term retention.