Are you video interviewing yet? Here are 4 reasons to

Posted by HR GO Recruitment on 04 Nov 2015

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If you’re recruiting for a role, what tells you more about a prospective candidate: a CV with a photo, or a short video clip of them answering questions specific to that job?

Video interviewing is an interview for a job using online video technology. It's a great way to connect with candidates in the first stages of the recruitment process.

This is becoming increasingly popular as clients can easily find out which candidates are committed to finding a job and are serious about the role they have applied for. 

We’ve been using a video interviewing software tool for a year now at the Huntingdon branch of HR GO. 

It allows us to showcase candidates visually and effectively, and get them in front of hiring managers as quickly as possible. Judging by the fantastic feedback it saves clients valuable time and money, too.

We now count this tool as an essential daily resource. In fact, we believe it played a key role in us recently landing an exclusive permanent recruitment contract with one client over multiple sites.

How does video interviewing work?

In our branch of HR GO, we predominantly use our video interviewing programme to create short clips of candidates answering specific questions.

These light be questions that an individual hiring manager has created with that role in mind. Or we may write more generic prompts we feel will best showcase a candidate’s skills or experience, like ‘Can you give us an example of when you solved a problem in your last role?’

The candidate sits down in front of a laptop, tablet or smartphone to record their answers on the video interviewing app. They can do this with us, or remotely from home on their own device.

For most roles there’s the option to rerecord answers until the candidate’s happy with their response. But for sales positions they may get only one shot to see if they can think on their feet.

Then we’ll email the client a candidate pack including video links, a personality profile and a bullet-pointed work history or CV. As they view each clip they can rate and make notes on-screen about the candidate.

This kind of tool couldn’t be easier to use, which is one reason we’ve come to rate video interviewing highly at HR GO. Here are four more plus points…

1 Videos tell clients more

Presentation skills and a clear speaking voice are assets in any job, but when it comes to working in a contact centre (or call centre), these are vital.

With only a CV to go on, clients have no idea what someone’s like. Video interviews can help them decide if they’re the right fit for the company before arranging a face-to-face interview.

Video is also a time-saver for roles that require up to three interview stages. According to clients, when they’re able to see how a candidate presents themselves on video, it can give them enough to go on to cut the process down to one face to face interview.

2 Clients can discover hidden gems

At HR GO, we often meet candidates who don’t have much relevant experience for a starting role but there’s just ‘something about them’. Back when CVs dominated, these qualities wouldn’t come across on paper.

Recently, we met a bright, articulate and confident 18-year-old. Eleanor’s only job had been sweeping floors in a hair salon and on the strength of her CV no one would have given her a second glance.

But we knew that if we could get her in front of clients they’d see what we could see. We tailored the questions Eleanor answered in her clips to bring out her personality.

It worked. After one particular client saw her video profile they wanted to interview her for a brand new permanent role - and Eleanor’s now working full-time.

3 Technical expertise shines through

Some roles ask for technical skills that as a generalist recruiter we may have a basic idea about but aren’t experts on.

Rather than us judging if a candidate knows their stuff, we’ll make the video questions specific to that technical role. For example, ‘Tell me about your knowledge of X’, or ‘When have you used Y or Z in a previous role?’

That way, the client can pick the candidates they want to interview in person based on specific knowledge, rather than us.

4 Candidates are more committed to finding jobs

Just like every recruitment agency, we tend to meet people who apply for a lot of jobs they’re not serious about. Our video interviewing tool gives us the chance to weed out the poorer candidates without having to spend too much time on them.

If someone is happy to take time to sit down and record their answers to questions, we know they’re committed to working with us as an agency - and that makes us more efficient and able to place more people with clients in the long run.

More information

Want to find out more about how video can help you recruit faster and smarter for your business? Do get in touch for a chat.