Video interviewing has exploded in popularity in recent years, with some of the world’s most renowned brands like Apple, Facebook, and Google utilising the technology to improve their hiring processes.
According to one survey, 60% of hiring managers use video interviewing when they want to conduct remote job interviews, whilst LinkedIn’s 2018 Recruiting Trends report suggested that video interviewing and virtual reality was the future of the recruitment industry.
And as the COVID-19 coronavirus has taught us, being able to adapt your recruitment process at the drop of a hat is critical, with apps like Zoom becoming overnight sensations.
If you’re looking to find new talent, or you work in recruitment and want to innovate your approach, consider video interviewing. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the reasons why…
Whether you’re launching a new business, expanding your team or looking to find an immediate replacement for a member of staff, you’ll know that recruitment can be hard work.
After taking the time to write a job specification and sending out an advert, waiting weeks to find a suitable number of candidates, and then organising and conducting interviews, it can sometimes take a month or two to find the right person for the job. It doesn’t have to be that way.
With video interviews, you can reduce the time it takes to find a suitable candidate, as you will be able to interview talent as soon as you’d like. Rather than finding a potential manager or sales executive and having to wait weeks before you can interview them, you can send them an invitation to conduct a virtual video interview online, and know whether they’re right in a matter of minutes. If they’re not, you can move on to the next candidate.
What’s more, in today’s competitive world, top talent does not wait around. If you’re recruiting for a senior position, it pays to be on the ball and guide potential hires through the process as soon as you can. Candidates will be more engaged and invested in your brand, and you will be able to speak to them before they apply for one of your competitors’ jobs.
Finally, there’s the issue of no-shows. There’s nothing more frustrating than setting aside a day to conduct interviews, whether in person or on the phone, only for candidates not to show. With an online interview, candidates can answer questions at a time that suits them, and if they decide not to move forward in the process, you won’t have wasted any time. This helps to separate those who are genuinely interested in the position, and those who are not.
According to The Guardian, the average graduate job advert attracts 39 applications, but that figure can rise dramatically in certain industries, like media, where the average is closer to 100. As a business owner, the chances are that you’re simply too busy to interview tens of potential candidates, so you may decide to outsource recruitment or decline applications from suitable candidates, simply because you don’t have the time to meet them all in person.
With virtual interviewing, you can effectively interview every candidate that applies for your role, which gives you a broader picture and helps you to make better hiring decisions. Judging a candidate solely on their CV or cover letter is a bad idea, as the most suitable candidate on paper may not be right for your organisation when you meet face to face.
Having the ability to interview every candidate, and give them time to answer your questions and share the reasons why they’re suitable, will help you to improve the quality of your hire.
It can be easy to go ‘off script’ when interviewing candidates face to face, and whilst that’s fine, it means the hiring process can be inconsistent, making it harder to compare candidates and decide on the right one for your business. Often, people can be swayed when talking to a particular candidate and ask questions that are tailored to their application, rather than focusing on the role and requirements. Standardising the recruitment process will allow you to make better decisions and ensures you find a candidate that has the right skills for the job.
When you choose to interview candidates virtually using recruitment software, you’ll know that all of your chosen questions will be answered and that each candidate has been treated fairly, and that you won’t have to give candidates a call to get more information if you forget to ask a vital question.
In some industries, skill shortages mean employers have to spend a fortune on training and development, or even settle for staff who don’t quite fit their brief. But what if you were able to access the most qualified staff for the job? Online interviews help to remove geographical barriers and find candidates that may not have otherwise made the trek for a job interview.
With a video interview, you can find out more about candidates wherever they are in the world, and review their answers before shortlisting them for a face-to-face interview. This reduces the chances of frustration from candidates who have to travel for an interview and gives you more confidence in meeting with a candidate who may need to relocate.
In order to attract the very best candidates, it’s essential that you offer a streamlined and effective recruitment process. If a candidate has to wait weeks for a response or is told they were not successful and receive no feedback, they’ll likely vent their frustrations with friends or on social media, damaging your brand and dissuading others from applying to work for you. If those candidates are also your customers, it’s even more important to treat them well.
Using recruitment software to conduct online interviews and manage applications, you’ll be able to put your business in the best possible light and create a positive first impression.
There are a whole host of benefits of video interviewing and one of the best ways to discover them is to try it out for yourself. Embracing new technologies will help your business thrive.
At Zudu, we’re proud to recommend our own recruitment software package to our clients – Talbase. Our state-of-the-art software helps agencies and in-house recruiters manage their candidates, search, distribute job posts, gain access to real-time reporting, analyse CVs and conduct interviews to help them separate the ‘best from the rest’. Find out more on the site, or get in touch with the team here at Zudu on 01382 690080 if you have any questions.
