With the insane popularity of selfies, people clearly like being in front of the camera. And that includes using video from their smart phones.
Video interviewing is actually more than cool and fun. Its usage is improving the profitability of the enterprises that use it in nine ways: from hiring better candidates faster to actually enhancing an employer’s brand.
The service providers we interviewed mention nine advantages of video interviewing. They include:
1. Enhances an employer’s brand. Often, candidates are also consumers of the employer’s products and services, and maintaining customer loyalty is important. “So their candidate experience matters. How they perceive the employer’s brand affects how they perceive the consumer brand,” says Kurt Heikkinen, Montage president and CEO. Video interviewing’s goal is to enhance the candidates’ experience and therefore brand loyalty.
2. Increases the candidate pool. Candidates are not limited by geography. Prospects for one Canadian retailer had to get to the job interview by snow mobile. Now anyone with a computer can apply, notes Chip Luman, COO of HireVue.
3. Improves the candidate experience. It turns the interview process into a two-way dialog, even in the face of all the efficiency gains, by providing the candidate helpful videos and links to review before they answer the questions. Clients can use the platform to share more about themselves and the open job than they do during the traditional hiring process.
4. Provides cost benefits. “Hiring for just one role could cost a company as much as $3,000. But they only paid $49,” says Josh Tolan, Spark Hire CEO. Alison Pruett, marketing manager of InterviewStream, says her company saved one client 86 percent by severely slashing its travel costs.
5. Generates efficiency gains. Luman of HireVue says it’s not unusual for employers to receive one million job applications a year. There’s no way any company can afford to hire enough staff to assess numbers of that size. “It was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. But now everyone gets to tell their story in a video interview,” he notes.
Tolan of Spark Hire says one customer was able to screen 1,000 people in the time it used to take its recruiters to screen just 50.
6. Provides a standardized interview process. Luman of HireVue points out “there’s no way to guarantee recruiters are all asking the same questions. With video interviews, the questions are identical. This is a fairer, more standardized way to assess candidates.”
7. Allows employers to actually hire better candidates. Tolan of Spark Hire says, “video interviews help companies gain greater insight into their candidates earlier in the hiring process, allowing them to make better decisions about who makes the cut to the next round and who fits better into their culture. Fewer hiring mistakes mean a more prosperous company.”
Once companies find that hard-to-find person, they have a better chance of actually adding them to the payroll. Adds Luman of HireVue, “Now the final interview becomes a sales meeting to close the candidate. Before the candidate had to answer the same questions to different people. Video interviewing eliminated that. Now the meeting is about getting the candidate excited about joining the company.”
8. Fills jobs faster. Luman of HireVue says “video interviewing shortens the time and distance between the candidate and hiring manager by eliminating a lot of manual processes. Recruiters share videos with hiring managers who can engage with the best candidate. This fills openings faster with the best quality candidate,” he says.
9. Lessens the stress of finding a job. Tolan of Spark Hire says “interviewing and hiring can be a stressful process for everyone involved. The use of online video streamlines the process by cutting down on pre-screening and eliminating travel.”
Pruett of InterviewStream adds, “It’s all about candidate convenience, especially for candidates already employed. They can prepare the video at night in their PJs. And they don’t have to rock the boat at their current jobs.” Concludes Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam, “The ease of video interviews can improve the overall candidate experience.”
To meet or not to meet?
Luman of HireVue reports the provider has clients who hire without in-person interviews. “We believe this is simply another way to hire the best people in an increasingly virtual workplace,” he says.
Others, however, say video interviewing does not replace the benefits of an IRL (in real life) meeting. As Hosking observes, “Meeting job seekers in person remains one of the best ways to gather insight about an applicant before making a final hiring decision.”
Maybe that’s the real lesson of disruptive new technologies. They can replace the old way of doing things, but they really work best when they become another arrow in the quiver and work in conjunction with the tried and true.