Video interviewing: best practices for employers [interview]

 

Recruiters who spend precious time on the time-consuming administrative task of scheduling telephone interviews should seriously be looking at video interview software. College Recruiter recently spoke with Martin Edmondson, CEO of Gradcore, about the trend in asynchronous video interviewing. Gradcore helps employers understand colleges and their graduates, and they help the graduates understand potential employers. Edmondson, a member of College Recruiter’s  Panel of Experts, provides tips for employers who are considering using video in their interview and hiring process. He has seen this trend on the rise and believes employers can save time and otherwise benefit by implementing video interviews.

Watch our discussion below or read major takeaways in the blog post the follows.

 

More employers are conducting video interviews to save time.

More employers are using video interviews, and the opposite trend is true for telephone interviews. Edmondson says he is “seeing a big growth, especially in UK and Europe, around asynchronous video, particularly that second phase of the interview that replaces telephone interviews.”

In fact, a recent survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (the national body in the UK for student and graduate recruitment), showed that in the last year alone usage has gone from 29% to 43% of graduate recruiters using video interviews as a selection tool.

They are not meant to be the first or final stage of interviewing. A video interview should be used in the middle of the process, especially for employers who have high volume of student or grad recruitment. A video can give a good picture of a candidate at that stage.

Source: AGR Annual Survey 2016

Edmondson adds, “There isa wide range of providers of asynchronous video interviews out there. Many of them carry the same functionality, but with the intense competition in the field there is a constant flow of innovation to improve the technology. The initial battle for market share led to low pricing,  but there is growing differentiation in product and pricing.”

Pros and cons of an asynchronous video interview

First, the pros. An asynchronous video brings the advantage of efficiency, much greater flexibility for both the candidate and the recruiter, and it cuts down the overall process time. This improves candidate experience and saves time and money for the recruiter.  In addition, Edmondson adds, “video interviews are really useful for multinational organizations recruiting internationally.”

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“They are best deployed when looking to reduce a large pool of applicants down in a short space of time whilst still using a robust process.” In the middle stage of the process, when  you still have a big pot of candidates to get through, an asynchronous video interview gives you pretty good picture of someone without being too time consuming.

Recruiters are used to using telephone interviews, where they can lose days just scheduling them. However, with an asynchronous video interview, you “literally just get your question into the system, send it off to 500 or 1,000 graduates, and you give them 48 hours to respond. They come back with their responses that they film themselves. You can then send it out to the recruitment team to review. So it’s very efficient.”

Edmondson says there is one disadvantage. “They have some drawbacks in comparison to telephone interviews as they don’t allow as much drilling into answers, but the other benefits tend to outweigh this.” That’s why he says it’s meant for  a middle stage, not a final interview. The quality of results from video interviews, adds Edmondson, “as with telephone interviews, is down to the quality and experience of the assessors rather than the medium.”

How video interviews impact bias in the hiring process

An asynchronous video can, on one hand, reduce bias because it is structured and remains a standard in the hiring process that is unchanged for every candidate, as opposed to the bias that is introduced by “winging it” with small talk, for example. On the other hand, introducing a video in the middle of the hiring process may introduce new bias because now the recruiter can see the candidate’s face.

Related: Predictive analytics and interview bias

“Bias is in the hands of the person watching the video,” says Edmondson. “If you’ve got well-trained recruiters watching, who are conscious of bias, then you shouldn’t have a problem. If you distribute it to managers who aren’t as well trained in bias, then you may have some more issues.” That is to say, it is the organization’s responsibility to manage and control bias more generally in their interview process, be that through video interviews, face to face interviews or any other form.

“When reviewing video interviews you should use the same fair and robust principles you apply in any interview or assessment center context. You should ideally use assessors with an experience and a clear understanding of bias, and score consistently with clear behavioral indicators.”

To control for bias, the video interview offers another advantage in that they are recorded. “So if you have a concern or if a candidate raised a concern, you can just go back and rewatch it to see if the candidate was reviewed fairly.”

Considerations while reviewing a video interview

“When reviewing video interviews you should use the same fair and robust principles you apply in any interview or assessment center context. You should ideally use assessors with an experience and a clear understanding of bias, and score consistently with clear behavioral indicators.”

Another consideration is background interruptions, and recruiters may decide to expect some level of interruptions as just par for the course. “The flexibility of the medium allows them to record day and night, but does mean you sometimes get unexpected interruptions from a friend or parent inadvertently appearing in the back of shot.”

Videos allow interviewers to take into account how the candidate is communicating. However, Edmondson warns of coming advancements in assessing communication. Video interviews may soon be subject to assessing candidates using biometrics, facial expressions, “but for me,” adds Edmondson, “that gets slightly dangerous” and needs more exploration.

Finally, Edmondson advises that employers considers cultural differences if their organizations operate in multiple countries. There are lot of different suppliers out there, so get a feel for the demos. It’s possible that videos may not be considered totally appropriate in certain areas. If that’s the case, consider not using them at all, or introducing them gradually. If certain candidates can’t access he media for any reason, you have to work around that too.

Video interviews shouldn’t be used in isolation, and are really at their best in the mid stages of a large scale selection process.