Will Face-to-Face Interviewing Die Out?

Face-to-face interviewing is under attack from video interviewing — just look at the statistics. Aberdeen Group has shown that while only 10 percent of companies used video interviewing in 2011, 42 percent were using it by 2012. As of January 2014, CNBC reports that roughly 63 percent of companies use video interviewing. Given the trends, it’s likely the number is even higher today.

As video interviewing rises to prominence, we have to ask: will the face-to-face interview die out completely, replaced by cheaper, more flexible video options?

If traditional interviewing does die out, it will be a gradual process. Video interviewing has become culturally accepted in the early stages of the interview process, and could quite plausibly become the norm. However, the majority of second interviews and negotiations are still conducted as face-to-face meetings. Employers feel they need face-to-face contact to make the appropriate emotional and psychological connections to fully assess the candidate.

In time, however, video interviews may become the norm for later stages of the interview process, too. Technological advances like broadband, 3G, 4G, HD technology, LED, and OLED have helped gradually reduce technophobia in the world, setting the stage for a widespread adoption of video interviews at all stages in the interview process.

Could the technology that would make video interviews acceptable in the second round one day arrive — for example, 3D holographic technology that would allow interviewers to interact with 3D holographic projections of candidates?

But, that’s the stuff of science fiction isn’t it? Not exactly: 3D holographic projections are here — though not yet available in the shops — and you can expect the technology to filter into corporate video-conferencing strategies over the next decade. Professor Roel Vertegaal of Queen’s University and his team have cooked up a 3D cylindrical model of a human being  using little more than Microsoft Kinect sensors, a 3D projector, a 1.8 meter-tall translucent acrylic cylinder, and a convex mirror.

Now, imagine if recruiters could access such 3D holographic projections of their remote interviewees. Recruiters could see the candidates’ full body movements and assess their body language — something that is compromised in 2D video interviews.

I think its only a matter of time — 5-10 years, I’d wage — before 3D holographic projection technology makes it into the corporate sphere. When that happens, we might see 70, 80 or even 90 percent of first-round interviews conducted by 3D projection, as well as much higher percentages of second-round interviews conducted via holographic technology, especially in situations where employees will work remotely from other countries.

All this being said, I feel there is little chance of face-to-face interviewing dying out completely. Still, 3D video interviewing may become an increasingly common practice, taking over much of the space normally reserved for face-to-face interviewing.