We've been thrilled with how candidates have embraced the new virtual backgrounds feature in on demand interviews. Candidates can blur their backgrounds or use a solid color virtual backdrop. That means they can complete their interviews from many more places than before, and they can be confident that they won't be judged on their setting.

Sometimes, though, hiring teams need to take more control over when to make the virtual background option available for their candidates. We've heard you, and we've just released a new company default setting for this with an optional requisition-level override. As always, our **Support team** can help you choose the right settings for your organization.

Here's what you need to know to try it on your own:

To take advantage of this feature you'll need access to your company's System Default Settings. You can reach it via the Settings menu.

Look for thes section headings:

, make sure the "Candidates can use virtual backgrounds in on demand interviews" is selected.

, the box labeled "Check the box to allow requisitions to change this setting." When this box is selected and you configure a requisition, you'll see the option to turn the virtual background option on or off.

Note that these settings apply to all on demand interviews in a company, or all on demand interviews for a single requisition. Every candidate in a single requisition will have the same option as every other candidate in that requisition.

We've added for and . You'll find them in the Candidates list and, in requisitions, the Review Candidates list.

To sort, hover over the column heading to reveal the sort arrow, then click.

If you don't see the columns, use the Column Chooser to select the columns. Find the column chooser at the top right of the list, next to the download icon.

You asked for Completion Date, we delivered. Now there's a column to go with the status columns for One-Way Interview, Live 2-Way, and Interview Scheduler.

As a bonus, you can now also add to accompany the Request Status column.

If you don't see the columns, click the column chooser at the top right of the Review Candidates list. Make sure whichever columns you want to use are in the "Selected Columns" list at the left of the dialog.

I'm pleased to announce that we've finished rolling out the new "Home" dashboard configuration to all existing customers. We hope this simpler, more focused view will spotlight the most critical information needed to keep your recruitment efforts moving forward. You'll see:

along with information to give you an overview of activity on your requisitions:

Look for the new Home configuration in the list of available dashboards the next time you log in.

(Some of you might see one called "Home 2" if you already had one called "Home" when we applied the update.)

We've added and in release 3.1.157.

Video playback speeds from .5x to 1.5x are now available wherever candidates or reviewers watch videos: welcome and good-bye messages, question recordings, and candidate video responses.

Look for these options everywhere you can record a video or conduct a real-time video interview. If you prefer you can continue to participate without a blurred or virtual background. (The effect might vary depending on your camera, available light, and other factors.)

Recruiters: Obscure your home or office background when you record questions or messages. Or choose one of our standard virtual backgrounds to create a more uniform, professional appearance.

For candidates, the same options enable them to hide backgrounds as they record their video responses so that they won't be unfairly evaluated based on their interview setting.

Each meeting participant will be able enhance their privacy with a choice of two blur levels and two virtual backgrounds.

Now you can improve your digital hiring process with interview insights from interviewstream. interview insights connects your hiring systems with actionable data. With this powerful new tool available to support management decisions, we're sharpening the focus of our dashboard widgets on data to support day-to-day operational decisions. Those widget changes are described below.

We hope you'll consider using the new interview insights product for your HR management information needs. To discuss your options, or to start a free trial, please complete the interest form at https://interviewstream.com/interview-insights/ and one of our associates will contact you.

With the availability of interview insights, there'll be a couple of small changes to the dashboard widgets in the core interviewstream product. We're going to focus dashboard widgets on current information to inform day-to-day decisions. interview insights will provide a view of your data over longer timeframes to support process evaluations and effectiveness reviews.

Now you can select candidates in the Review Candidates list, then use in the Bulk Actions menu. You'll immediately see those candidates and their ratings in the Compare-by-Question view—without having to go through another screen or drilling in to a single interview to get the comparison link. (That path is still available. This just adds another option to reach the comparison table.)

We've updated the way you navigate from a requisition's Review Candidates list to the multi-candidate list-and-details view. As a bonus, the view will also only show selected candidates instead of all the xanidagtes visible in the Review Candidates list. Let's see how the improved navigation works! We'll illustrate how to get the details for one candidate, and how to select and review multiple candidates with their details.

Select any candidates in the Review Candidates list. You'll see the bulk actions menu. When you choose "Review Selected," you'll see the multi-candidate review page and it'll contain only the candidates you selected.

Now you can click on a candidate's RIVS ID, Name, or Email to see that candidate's details. (Previously, clicking on different links had different results. Now you don't have to remember which one to click on.)

You've been asking for a way to compare ratings for multiple candidates without having to navigate in and out of all the candidate details. Today, we're taking a big step toward solving this problem with our views. Look for more in-app information and links to detailed guides in the coming days. Meanwhile, here's a quick overview. We hope you enjoy this new way to compare candidates. Use the Give Feedback link while logged in to let us know what you think! (As always, you can use our Support Portal if you have questions or run into trouble using this new feature.)

You'll see the selected candidate's combined rating for the on demand interview for each question. You can get more details about ratings for each question, or about ratings for each candidate. Read on below this image to learn how to find the new view!

You'll start from the Review Candidates tab in a Requisition. Sort and filter the candidates to create your "working set" or "review set" of candidates.

Click on any candidate's name to open the Review List (aka "List & Details" view). You might think of it as the tool for reviewing multiple candidates.

If the candidate you're reviewing has a , when you expand that interview you'll see the Compare by question link.

When you click that link, you'll see that matrixed rating view you saw at the top of this post. It'll include all the candidates in the current working set, or review set. With this view you'll see how all the candidates' ratings compare to each other.

Just use the "Back to List & Details" to keep reviewing candidates in the current working (or review) set. From there the "Back to list" link will return you to the Review Candidates tab where you can update the working (review) set or take other actions.

That's it! We hope you enjoy the new views. Remember to let us know what you like or want to see improved about the new views using the Feedback link while you're logged in.

Now you can send product suggestions directly while you work in interviewstream with low or no interruption. Simply click "Give Feedback" where indicated by the light bulb icon near the bottom of the left navigation menu.

After clicking, you'll see a feedback form where you can describe your suggestion. You can even add a screenshot or drawing to help us understand your idea! While there, you can also vote on other ideas. (Don't worry - your work in interviewstream is in the other browser tab, just as you left it. Simply go back to the interviewstream tab and pick right up where you left off.)

❗ If you are experiencing a problem with interviewstream, contact Support via the support portal at https://support.interviewstream.com/ (or use the Help link in the application) so that an agent can help you. We review submitted Feedback using the "Give Feedback" link from time to time but we don't monitor it in real time. The Support portal is your fastest route to help if you need to report a problem.