In the quest for a more efficient and reliable recruitment process, technological developments offer organizations new opportunities in selecting and recruiting talent. The use of online video interviews already offers a multi-faceted solution for the various recruitment issues they have to deal with. The use of video offers them a way to enhance their pre-screening process while reducing cost and time-to-hire. While an increasing number of employers are thrilled by the benefits that the use of video has to offer, one questions often remains: ‘’how do our candidates feel about this way of applying’’? Software Advice, a company involved in video interviewing software research and reviews, conducted a survey of nearly 400 random people. Those surveyed have applied to a job in the last two years and were asked how they feel about interviewing for a job through video.
Despite the fact that many people have had experience with video conferencing, using video as part of the application is, for many candidates, still relatively new. Forty-six percent of recent job applicants in the survey have never interviewed for a full-time job through video, while 24 percent have only done so once. The remaining 30 percent (combined) have completed multiple video interviews and only just 5 percent have completed four or more. Although conducting a video interview is, for many people, a whole new experience, the respondents who have done a video interview indicated they prefer doing so instead of phone interview. Interestingly enough, those that have never done a video interview before are the opposite, preferring phone to video. Perhaps it is a fear of the unknown that keeps them weary? It is important that employers help ‘video newbies’ to feel more at ease. Websites like howtovideointerview.com can help employers educate their applicants by offering a place to practice their interview skills, find relevant research and get useful tips & tricks to prepare.
A majority (57%) of surveyed job applicants indicated preferring a live interview over a pre-recorded interview, as it offered them a more personal experience. Employers are now able to personalize the automated process as well. Using recorded video questions, instead of a text question, and using a fully branded interview environment, they provide candidates with a better and more personal interview experience, despite being in a pre-recorded interview. Pre-recorded interviews are perfect to pre-screen candidates and reduce the initial applicant pool quickly and efficiently. After the initial screening, selected candidates can be invited for a second-round, live video interview in order to select the final two or three candidates for an on-site interview.
To further enhance the candidate experience, recruiters would be wise to be mindful of the length of their interviews. Thirty-four percent of respondents say that anything over one hour feels too long. Twenty-one percent indicate that 30 minutes is the maximum acceptable interview length. The use of both pre-recorded and live interviews offers the possibility to easily screen and select the best candidates, based on two relatively short interviews.
Ultimately, recruiters need to establish a process to find the best candidates efficiently, but also need to ensure that the process is candidate friendly. Candidates that have experienced video interviewing firsthand understand its benefits and prefer it to traditional methods. For the ‘video interview newbies’, ensure that their first encounter with video interviewing is successful with some simple steps in preparation. There will eventually be a time when all candidates will move from video interview novices to experts, but in the interim, let’s make their early experiences as positive as possible.
