Video Recruiting: What You Need to Know
And Michael Wright, head of Talent Acquisition, APAC at GroupM (a WPP company), also agrees that interview practices have evolved. He says:
In my part of the world, we’re hiring across something like 16 different countries. Jumping in a car to meet a VIP candidate down the road is just not possible, but we don’t want to miss out on a chance to meet amazing talent. In the communications business our clients retain us for our high-caliber thinking – and discovering more about the soft skills of candidates, at the scale we need to, is a perfect problem for one-way video interviewing to solve.
We were lucky enough to be involved with Jobvite during their BETA phase testing and product development – and the results we’re seeing during the trial in terms of time saved and quality talent spotted is really encouraging. There are already a ton of video solutions out there, but we feel certain that the most successful will be those which focus on delivering an enjoyable candidate experience. I personally think video interviewing will move from the experimental early adopters to the ‘early majority’ in 2014.
So, video interviewing will no longer be used by the minority of employers this year; that’s an interesting prediction from Wright. Yet, the folks at VidCruiter have data showing how Wright’s “prediction” is in truth today’s reality. The following comes from the software company:
According to a study conducted by The Aberdeen Group, only 10 percent of companies were using video recruiting during the hiring process in 2010. Fast forward to 2011, and the number jumped to 42 percent. Furthermore, this number has increased to 63 percent, as reported in a 2012 OfficeTeam survey. Do you see the trend?
The one thing not mentioned by OfficeTeam is whether these companies were utilizing live interviews, such as free video conferencing tools (Skype), or if they’re using pre-recorded interviews.
While there are definite benefits to using live interviews, there are even more benefits with pre-recorded or one-way video interviews:
- Eliminates the need to conduct phone interviews
- Provides less stress for the interviewee
- Gives the opportunity to re-watch interviews at your own convenience
- Tools for sharing interviews with coworkers
- Time savings
- Reduces hiring times drastically
- ROI
But what about other free options, such as having an applicant upload a video to YouTube? Although this may sound like the best choice, in reality it puts too much responsibility on the applicant. On top of this, there is no way to control the process to guarantee that each applicant will provide the same information.
A software program is needed to make this work properly for both the employer and the applicant. The “brain” or business intelligence behind the video recruiting platform is the most important factor to making this experience result in the best outcome.
How?
Customizable workflow. Let’s face it: No two companies are exactly the same. For this reason, no two companies have the same hiring process.
When choosing video recruiting software, search for one with a customizable workflow. Important features include:
- The ability to ask as many questions as you need
- The option for applicants to re-record (if not using live interviewing)
- An applicant rating system
Final Thoughts
Video recruiting is one of those things that has to be experimented with to fully understand the benefits. After giving this a try and comparing the pros and cons to your previous interviewing strategy, you will see why so many others are relying on this way of recruiting!
This story is a part of Recruiter.com’s 2014 Recruiting Technology Trends series.