LinkedIn is informing job candidates that they have the option to conduct their interviews virtually or delay it until an unspecified date in the future out of caution for the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak, according to an email sent to one applicant from LinkedIn’s staffing team.

“In light of the recent coronavirus outbreak and with everyone’s health being LinkedIn’s #1 priority at the moment, all candidates who are scheduled to come onsite are being given the option to either complete their entire interview virtually via BlueJeans video conference, or cancel their current schedule and hold off on rescheduling until coming onsite is possible,” LinkedIn says in the email, which The Verge has reviewed. The email also said that “neither option will harm nor effect your candidacy here at LinkedIn.”

Google sent a similar email on March 4th that said all job interviews globally would be done virtually. On Monday, Facebook said it would be canceling most in-person job interviews. Amazon put on-site job interviews on hold indefinitely last week.

When asked for comment, LinkedIn did not have anything to share about its interviewing policies, but a company spokesperson gave The Verge the following statement about other actions the company is taking to prevent the spread of coronavirus:

We are taking steps to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, using guidance from global health experts and with the health and safety of our employees, customers, and partners as our top priority. This includes recommending all SF Bay Area employees who are in a job that can be done from home should do so through the end of March. We’ve also asked employees to postpone all non-essential business travel and have made the decision to not participate in external events in March and April.

Many other companies have also restricted or banned travel in light of the ongoing outbreak, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Ford. LinkedIn has also pulled out of the SXSW conference, among numerous other companies.

There are over 97,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, with more than 170 confirmed cases in the US. More than 3,300 people worldwide have died from the disease.

[“source=theverge”]

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