The Future of Video Interviewing

Recruiting, for all the new tools hasn’t changed that much in the last decade or so. The goal is still the same, to match the right talent with the right role. When video interviewing leaped onto the scene, no one really thought it would impact the screening and recruiting processes the way it does today.

Initially, people thought that video interviewing would save money. Efficiency was the name of the game, especially for large corporations. But with every potential issue or liability that presented itself in the path of interviewing via video, another overwhelming positive floated to the surface. Vendors and practitioners alike noticed that employment brand was getting a boost; time-starved candidates were more eager and willing to do a video interview and internal recruiters appreciated the time save. From compliance woes to technical questions, the platforms, technologies and processes of users just keep getting better.

Because it’s easy to confuse a video interviewing platform with a free consumer service like Skype or Google, many don’t understand the value or even necessity of a branded platform to use with candidates. The answer lies in technical assistance, compliance and regulatory practices, hosted secure environments and ease of use for candidates. These features and more have become standard in virtually every video interviewing platform that exists. 

Present-day video interviewing has brought about the distinction between video resumes, time-shifted or pre-recorded interviews and the live interview (which can be further divided into 1-to-1 or panel). Initially, interactive recruiting platforms offered one or the other, before realizing from their customers and candidates that different interview types work well for different jobs, candidates and even regions of the globe. For example, pre-recorded interviews might work very well for screening large volumes of retail candidates, while a live panel interview with back end notes and rating systems would be far more suitable to an interview when selecting an executive or high level manager .

While video interviewing (or digital interviewing, or interactive interviewing) has been quietly but firmly entrenching itself in the talent acquisition process of startups and Fortune 500 companies alike, the mobile revolution has been slowly burgeoning among the recruiting set. While not embraced by everyone initially, the statistics for mobile usage among jobseekers kept climbing, prompting analysts and vendors alike to reverse their positions. Now every major job board has an app or a mobile optimized site and HR technology vendors are realizing that their sites, apps and software need to be one step ahead of the mobile revolution.

Anytime/anywhere is truly the future of interactive interviewing. Already many video interviewing providers have mobile optimized apps that are simple, easy to use and built from the ground up with the candidate in mind. Candidates can receive the invitation, download the interview questions, and complete the interview before the deadline, all from a web-enabled device. As always, enterprising recruiters and HR professionals are using this to their advantage, coming up with clever and interesting ways to use smartphones and tablets in their recruitment marketing campaigns.

Anytime/anywhere interviewing takes away many of the bottlenecks that we’ve come to deal with and expect in the interview process, allowing both candidates and recruiters to invest in the interview without sacrificing their current job or workload. And in a world where more people own mobile technology than toothbrushes, reaching the global workforce has never been simpler.