It's easy to understand why recruiters are so attached to in-person interviews. It creates a great environment to get to know the candidate and how they may fit into your organization. It also lets the candidate see your company in action, which will help them decide if they want to work for you. While this is true, these considerations usually happen too early in the recruitment process. The first in-person interviews are supposed to act as a way to narrow down about 20 candidates to less than 10. Out of all those people you bring into the office for a first in-person interview, at least half aren't going to make it any further. Why waste time trying to figure out how a person is going to fit into your company when there's a high possibility they may not even make it to the finalist round of interviews?
Instead, recruiters and hiring managers need to use live video interviews. Video software is an excellent replacement for the first in-person interview because it makes the process much easier on both the recruiter and the applicant.
What is Live Video Interviewing?
If you work in recruitment, it's likely you've heard of live video interviewing even if you haven't used the software. Also known as two-way or online interviews, it's designed to work with your recruitment process to help make interviewing more accessible and faster.
Live video interviewing allows two or more people to speak to each other using the internet, webcams, and microphones. It's designed for recruitment purposes, so it also has some added features built-in to help simplify hiring. Every aspect of it is designed to streamline the recruitment process while maintaining a positive experience for the candidates.
Top 3 Reasons Why Live-Video Interviewing is Better than In-Person Interviewing
In-person interviewing is useful because some questions can't be asked during a phone interview or found on resumes. The issue is when you have too many candidates to perform an in-person interview with, the process ends up taking a lot of time with not a lot of reward.
By using live video interviewing, the candidate will have the same experience provided by an in-person interview and recruiters will be able to make better hiring decisions in less time. Below, you'll find some of the main benefits you can only experience by using this software.
1. Reduce Bias with Built-In Structured Interviews
Unstructured interviews have been proven to be unreliable tools to predict how suitable a candidate is for a particular job position. Unfortunately, though, many recruiters still insist on using them or "trusting their gut," thinking they'll be getting a better hire with a person they connect more with. The truth is an interviewer's judgment can become clouded because they performed an unstructured interview. Better qualitative data on how candidates will perform in the job position can be mined from resumes, skill tests, and other resources.
While some companies may have a rule about recruiters not performing unstructured interviews, the best way to prevent it from happening is by using live video interviewing software. The software has a built-in structured interview guide which automatically comes on the screen while the recruiter or hiring manager is performing the interview. It makes it easy for a recruiter to follow the structured guide, reducing the number of people hired because the recruiter conducted an unstructured interview and the applicants weren't fairly evaluated as a result.
2. Candidate Experience Improves if Using Live Video Interviews
A concern recruiters have about using live video interviewing software instead of in-person interviews is the effect it could have on the candidate experience. Part of performing the first in-person interview is providing a positive candidate experience. The fear recruiters have is live video interviews will diminish the candidate experience, resulting in great applicants dropping out of the process.
Live video interviews contribute to a more positive candidate experience. When polled, about 57% of applicants said they preferred live video interviewing over in-person interviews or one-way video interviewing. The reason for this is the software was built to replicate the experience of an in-person interview but with some added perks. The applicant can complete the interview from the comfort of their own home, and the software is easy to use, which applicants say contributes to a better experience.
3. Complete All Your Interviews as Quickly as Possible
One of the problems with doing a first in-person interview is the time it takes to complete the task with each of your candidates. With scheduling conflicts and busy schedules, it can sometimes feel almost impossible to get them all done in one week, let alone sooner.
Live video interviewing makes it easier to sidestep delays because it's more convenient for a candidate to attend an interview in their own home rather than one at your office. They don't need to travel anywhere to interview if they're from out of town or take time off from their current job to complete your interview. This means there won't be as many delays to get all your interviews done, so you'll have no problem completing the process in less than a week.
There are many more benefits to using live video interviewing software instead of the first in-person interviews, but the three listed above top the list when it comes to finding the best candidate as fast as possible.
Making the Switch from In-Person to Live Video Now
Some recruiters are uncomfortable with replacing all in-person interviews with live video, but it's only the first in-person interview they should consider doing this for. There's no way you should hire someone without meeting them face-to-face first, but there's no need to meet with so many people for a first in-person interview when you're only filling one job position. The only people you need to meet face-to-face before making a decision is your finalists. Interviewing your candidates in-person before then is going to be a waste of your recruiter's time.
Now is the time to make the switch. The technology has advanced a lot since it was first conceived and will continue to do so. HR influencers all agree the future of recruitment lies in video interviewing software, and that future is here.
Tamara Gravelle is a Senior Content Writer and Competitive Research Analyst at VidCruiter. She specializes in writing about video interviewing software, HR technology, and the greater human resources industry. She tweets at @VidCruiter.
