Resumes often don’t give you the full picture of whether your candidate is a good fit for the role. A piece of paper can show that they have the minimum requirements for the role, but what about those intangible skills? Candidates often oversell their knowledge and video interviews can reveal visual clues into how suitable they really are.
Let’s look at the Pros & Cons of video interviewing
The ‘pros’
There are many benefits to video interviewing and as we’ve recently been forced to adopt these tools during the coronavirus pandemic, they’ve proven to be just as effective (and more convenient) that a face-to-face meeting. Video interviewing is a great way to collaborate with hiring team members across multiple locations because others can dial in, no matter what location or time zone.
Having the ability to see the candidate whilst you’re speaking to them also gives you the ability to witness their reactions when you probe them on certain information. Are they confidently handling your questions and making eye contact, or do they hesitate and look uncomfortable when asked to provide examples of their experience? Is their body language open or closed?
These are all things that get missed when you are speaking with someone on the phone. And if you hire only locally, you’re limiting your talent pool and risk missing out on great candidates.
As COVID-19 opens the doors to more permanent remote working, video interviews can connect you with remote hiring teams and with candidates from different regions and countries.
The ‘cons’
Video interviews need to be pre-planned which means they may take longer to set up.
When you’re pressed for time and really need to speed up the hiring process, it can be difficult for candidates to take a video call when they’re at work. This usually means video calls need to be set up after hours to accommodate the candidate’s availability.
The types of video interviews
Pre-recorded interview
Many Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) these days have in-built video application features.
This means instead of candidate’s submitting an old-style cover letter, they can choose to record a short video intro, which will give you so much more insight into the candidate than a Word document ever can; and allows you to assess their presentation, communication skills and confidence.
Also, some new video interview software solutions are taking video interviewing to the next level; including SparkHire and Vervoe (AI powered video-based skills testing).
Live interview
Popular free software for live video interviewing includes Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype, Facetime and WeChat.
Sometimes these simple tools are often the easiest to execute because the candidates will have these apps on their phone, or they are simple to download. The more complex the video interview process is, the more likely a great candidate will drop out because it becomes all too hard.
Video interviewing has become a trend toward digital recruitment and now essential to new hiring processes as the result of COVID-19 – and for good reason too. Video interviews help to optimise the hiring process and make it more objective and more efficient.
Summary
If integrated strategically and successfully into your existing hiring matrix, video interviewing can also help you build better, more motivated teams by making the right hires from the start.
So the question is… Will your business consider video interviews as part of your post COVID-19 hiring arsenal? Contact us if you’d like to know more.
About Employment Innovations
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