Part 1: Introductory Guide to Video Interviews
The benefit of video interviews
What is the benefit in using online video interviewing? There are many reasons why a virtual interview can streamline the hiring process. We all know the traditional hiring process can sometimes be a headache. Video interviewing helps to clear away some of the mess in the process, making your overall recruitment efforts more effective.
The Way Things Are Done Now
Before we talk about how to improve hiring efficiency through the use of video interviews, let’s first take a peek behind the hiring curtain. The way things are currently done in the recruitment process leads companies and recruiters to spend valuable time and money.
The two largest money-taking in the hiring process are time and travel. Depending on the job and the candidate, some companies are willing to fly top talent out for an interview. This can lead to big time costs, with no guarantee the candidate will turn into an employee.
Travel isn’t the only part of the traditional process depleting your accounts. Recruiters and hiring managers spend plenty of precious time trying to find the best people for the job. The average recruiter spends about 15 hours per week sourcing for candidates.
Get More Effective With Video Interviews
Online interviews can help you cut down on the traditional hiring process and save your company time and money. How does online interviewing help? For one thing, it streamlines the hiring process.
For instance, recruiters can watch candidates answer their questions wherever and whenever they want. Realize a candidate isn't right for the position early on? Now you're not trapped on the phone. This is one of the main reasons many recruiters are adopting video interviews.
Live video interviewing is great for far-flung and passive candidates. Now you can save 100% of your travel costs by just booting up your webcam. Plus, scheduling interviews with passive candidates can often be difficult. While you want the best candidates in front of you, they're often times busy too if they’re currently employed. Now both hiring managers and candidates can schedule a face-to-face interview without endless back and forth on scheduling.
Let's be honest, we're living in a digital age. Consumers turn to the Web for everything from advice and entertainment to books and products. There is really nothing you can't find online. So, why not take advantage of new online recruitment suggestions?
Using online video interviewing shows potential hires your company understands the online marketplace. If you embrace emerging technology and new ways of approaching the hiring process, you'll attract talent with similar values.
In which case video interview is the best solution
In a nutshell, video interviews create a convenient, innovative, and interesting way for employers to connect with job seekers. But, most importantly, video interviews cater to unique tradition job interview situations that phone calls or face-to-face meetings just won’t work for.
When you have a high volume of candidates to screen.
For time-strapped hiring professionals, screening candidates is the necessary part of the hiring process, especially when you have a high volume of candidates to screen.
When you have a large amount of candidates, spending a good 30 minutes on the phone with each is not an efficient use of time. Not when you can view 10 recorded video interviews in the same time it takes to perform a single phone conversation.
Recorded video interviews, in which candidates record their responses to a series of pre-determined questions, give screening an entirely new meaning. They not only give you an opportunity to connect with candidates visually, they’re also convenient. Instead of spending time for scheduling a phone calls around everyone’s busy schedules, recorded video interviews can be recorded and viewed on your own time.
When you need to interview long-distance candidates.
When it comes to searching for top talent, sometimes it’s necessary to move beyond the confines of your own backyard. But attracting and connecting with faraway talent can be difficult, due to geographic and time zone barriers. That’s where video interviews come in to help.
By offering video interview options, you can expand your job candidates search to worldwide and attract candidates who might not otherwise apply.
When you want to attract more passive candidates.
Passive candidates are in high demand. They appeal to companies because they’ve demonstrated their skills and expertise by thriving in similar positions.
Did you know a whopping 75% of professionals categorize themselves as “passive” candidates? In other words, three-fourths of professionals aren’t actively looking for a new position, but that doesn’t mean they’re not open to other opportunities that might come their way. Getting in touch with the passive candidate about a job opportunity can be tricky due to their busy schedule.
Fortunately, video interviews make it easy to appeal to and attract passive candidates. For starters, passive candidates may not want to commit to commuting for a full-on job interview, but might be willing to take a few minutes to participate in a video interview. Given their busy schedules, passive candidates will appreciate the convenience and time-saving factors of video interviews.
When you need to collaborate on hiring decisions.
The nature of video interviews makes hiring collaboration easier than ever, as no one has to be physically present at the time of the interview. Colleagues and clients alike can be sent video interview recordings to view and assess well after the interview has taken place. These video recordings make it easy for everyone to collaborate, which ensures that you’re making more informed hiring decisions. Better collaboration means better hires.
Live Interview - Best practices for Hiring professionals
In order to make the most of your video interviewing utilization, you need to first establish your game plan by identifying your hiring goals. What are the types of jobs you need to fill within the next few months or year? After you determine this, you can then implement the following tips into your video interviewing strategy to bring in amazing talent to join your team.
Be transparent about your hiring process with candidates
Although the popularity of video interviewing has grown significantly in the past few years, there are still companies not yet utilizing this technology. Therefore, there are job seekers out there who may not be familiar with this method of interviewing. You should take the time to inform your candidates about the role video interviews play in your hiring process.
Start off the interview process by asking the candidate if they have ever been interviewed over video. If it is their first time being interviewed in this manner, take some time to explain everything about the process and what they are to expect.
The recorded interview offers candidates plenty of flexibility since they are the ones who decide when to get it done within a given timeframe. However, you don’t want to offset this advantage by giving too short of a deadline for the interview. You’ll want to give your candidates 5-7 days to record their responses. This is a sufficient amount of time for them to become familiar with the video interviewing platform and test out their equipment.
Take advantage of branding opportunities
The importance of candidate experience cannot be stressed enough. As you strive to hire top-notch talent, it is important to develop a positive appearance for your company as an employer. Be sure not to ignore branding opportunities while video interviewing. Seeing your company logo and color scheme will allow candidates to experience a consistent and branded video interview. They won’t be left wondering what organization they are interviewing with.
Additionally, video interviews can be one component of an overall company brand that conveys a considerate, innovative impression to potential employees and can significantly help with attracting great talent. A video interviewing initiative instantly shows candidates that your company is willing to embrace new technology.
Best practices for conducting a live interview:
Check your Internet connection and equipment
Just as you would expect a candidate to prepare for a live interview, so should you. It’s important that you check your Internet connection, webcam, and mic beforehand so as to avoid any mishaps in the middle of the interview.
While you can carry out a successful live interview over wireless internet, we recommend connecting to the internet using an ethernet cable for better performance. You will also want to close any programs and web browsers that you won’t be needing to conduct your live video interview as these can take resources away and slow down your device.
Your webcam is obviously a crucial part of having a successful video interview. Make sure that it is connected to your computer and close out any programs that might be utilizing it (e.g. Skype or FaceTime). Most webcams come with a built-in microphone, however, if you decide to use a stand-alone mic or headset, double-check to make sure the mic is connected to your computer. Again, close out any programs that might be utilizing the mic prior to the interview.
Mind the surrounding noise, background, and lighting
Where you choose to conduct your video interview is very important. A video interview can be done pretty much anywhere, however, you need to keep in mind the surround.