6 Benefits of Video Interviews
The hiring process has come a long way and technology is helping hiring managers and applicants. In our post on the ‘Future of Interviewing is Here – Mobile Video Interviews’ we outlined how mobile video interviews allow you to increase your exposure to new candidates by as much as 36%. As such, video interviews are becoming very popular and are particularly useful during the first stages of screening candidates where valuable time and resources can be saved by streamlining the hiring process.
Easier Scheduling
Trying to juggle multiple candidates for in-person interviews is a colossal waste of time for HR managers who can end up going back and forth with them over email or phone for days and even weeks. Trying to find a time that suits everyone can become a nightmarish puzzle of epic proportions. Embracing technology, therefore, and conducting recruitment interviews through video can save your company precious time. The Market Journal outlines how video interview tools not only save time, they are a great way to track candidates, with over 60% of recruiting firms depending on these tools. Through video interviewing hiring managers can get a good sense of what candidates are all about and a greater number of candidates can be screened in less time.
Cut to the Chase
With face-to-face interviews there will inevitably be some amount of time dedicated to small talk and other chit-chat. While this can be a good way to get to know the candidate’s personality, for recruitment managers on a very tight schedule, small talk with each applicant can cause major delays. It can throw off the manager’s schedule and, in turn, generate extra costs due to the delay in filling the position. With video interviews hiring managers can cut right to the chase and be more direct, keeping the initial screening process short and to the point. Once the hiring manager creates a shortlist of the most qualified candidates, they can then devote more face-to-face time with them to get to know them and make an informed decision.
Save the Commute
Video and remote interview tools allow your company to establish itself as a progressive brand that keeps pace with the latest trends, like remote work. HR experts have claimed we can cut travel costs substantially, compared to conventional recruitment techniques. In fact, two-way video interviews can save as much as 67% on unnecessary travel costs. This becomes especially important when we consider that millennials make up the largest generation in the workforce today. The trend with this demographic is that fewer millennials are driving and they’re generally looking to avoid commuting to work. A feature by Marcus on ‘The Future of Transportation – What Should We Expect?’ describes how there were less than “9 million young drivers between 2012 and 2017 for the first time since 1994”. With transportation trends showing how more candidates prefer to avoid commuting, your recruitment strategy needs to take this into consideration. This is why starting your recruitment process with video interviews will increase your company’s chances of attracting and recruiting the top millennial talent.
Flexible Schedule
Many potential candidates looking for new jobs and career prospects are most probably already working or studying, so making time during regular business hours to come in for an interview can be a struggle or even impossible. It’s not uncommon for many who are already working to make up excuses to their employers or fake a doctor’s appointment to be able to attend an interview. This not only creates unnecessary stress but shows that your hiring process is inflexible and doesn’t take into account the needs of your candidates. What does that say about how you treat your employees? Using video interviewing then enables you to screen candidates at any time without having to take them away from previous commitments and demonstrates that you’re flexible and progressive.
Reduce Costs
Hiring managers know that the costs associated with recruiting and hiring can easily skyrocket. Especially when a company is scouting potential candidates who are not in the same city or even the same country, bringing in this talent will involve flying them in and paying for lodging and meals. Companies are already facing high costs to replace employees, up to four times their annual salary, and bad recruiting can cost companies over $50,000 on average. With video recruiting, companies can easily avoid the above pitfalls by inviting potential candidates for video interviews and from there gauge whether the opportunity cost of bringing these people in for face-to-face interviews is worth the trouble.
Improved Collaboration
Doing face-to-face interviews everyone on the hiring team has to be present and take time away from their schedules to meet for the initial screening interview. What’s more, they all have to wait until the end of the interview to voice their opinions. Additionally, key elements about the candidate, both good and bad, can be missed or overlooked. In this sense, video interviews can be recorded and re-watched later by the hiring team at their own convenience, allowing them to collaborate in real-time and make observations about the candidate, their body language and responses. This enables everyone involved to make better assessments and in-turn make better decisions before calling the candidate in for a face-to-face interview.