Common Questions About Video Interviewing
Updated
by
Sean Welch
General queries
What is video interviewing?
Our video interviewing tool gives you a simple and efficient way to conduct first round interviews, replacing the traditional phone screen or first face-to-face interview. You can see and hear numerous candidates answering your pre-set questions in a matter of minutes. It’s a fast and effective way to build a high- quality shortlist so your people can focus their time and energy on the most promising candidates. Candidates can complete their interviews anywhere on any device. Evaluators can review and rate interviews from anywhere in the world, 24/7.
Who is video interviewing for?
- Customers who already use Criteria assessments and want to add another reliable data point to help them make a more informed selection decision
- We recommend using video interviews (in most cases) to replace phone screens, which avoids the hassle of scheduling, dealing with no shows, and the time interviewers need to spend on each call
- People with remote or hybrid teams
- People looking for a way to save the time spent on phone screens - which includes interview times and scheduling effort
- People who understand the benefits of structured interviews. When combined with cognitive aptitude testing, you're getting the fastest, most accurate prediction of future job performance
- People who want to present their brand positively and give candidates a real feel for what it's like to work for them.
How does one-way video interviewing work?
Here is a brief overview of the process:
- Hiring teams set up interview questions to a job role they are wanting to fill and invite candidates to respond.
- Candidates record their responses using their laptop and webcam or any compatible mobile device.
- Hiring teams can instantly review these interviews in their own time and share these videos for additional feedback before shortlisting selected candidates to move forward to the next stage.
Why should I include video interviewing in my recruitment process?
In general, if you are looking to reduce the time you spend on early screening and get reliable and accurate data about your candidates to help inform your selection decision, you should consider adding video interviewing to your recruitment process. But it's also particularly useful for:
- Bulk or graduate recruitment exercises, which have a large candidate pool - this helps you shortlist more quickly and present a modern and engaging candidate experience.
- High recruitment volumes, for the reasons listed above.
- Clearly providing a fair and standardised recruitment process. One of the reasons structured interviews are under utilised, despite the fact that they offer a much more reliable way of predicting candidate performance than an informal or unstructured interview, is that they can often feel staged and tedious when conducted live. Video interviews will help you adopt a fairer approach by ensuring every candidate is asked the same questions and evaluated according to the same criteria.
- Promoting DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) - this helps you to ensure all candidates have an equal opportunity to showcase their abilities, and also reduce unconscious bias during the selection process.
How is Criteria's Video Interviewing different to doing an interview using Zoom or another online meeting platform?
Our video interviews are asynchronous or pre-recorded, so you can evaluate and compare candidates quickly. Each candidate can complete their interview at a time and place that suits them, and your evaluators can review them when it suits them best.
Our tool also ensures that every candidate has the exact same experience in terms of the questions they’re asked and how they’re evaluated, providing a more consistent and fair experience. Even with the best of intentions, interviews that are conducted "live" can go off on tangents as interviewers try to ensure candidates feel comfortable and that the process doesn't feel too contrived or tedious.
While you can conduct live interviews with your candidates using Zoom or similar, it takes more time, can often be less standardised, and you won’t get access to the same evaluation tools as our video interviewing platform offers. It can also be difficult to collect and collate evaluations for each candidate using a tool like Zoom, while our video interviewing platform is specifically designed to allow evaluators to quickly and easily assess each candidate across a predefined set of criteria.
How do I add Video Interviewing to my Criteria account?
Please contact your Customer Success Manager to discuss adding Video Interviewing to your Criteria account.
Candidate Experience
What do candidates think about video interviews?
Candidates respond very positively to video interviews because they see these interviews as flexible, convenient and they provide them with an opportunity to make an impression beyond their resume. With one-way video interviews, the candidates can complete the interview at a time that is convenient for them and they can also choose where to take the interview. They don't have to take time out of their busy work schedules and they can also be provided with the opportunity to prepare for the interview.
What kind of completion rates can we expect with video interviews?
We've seen completion rates of 90%+ with our video interviews. We've streamlined our video interviews to be convenient and appealing for the candidate. Being able to complete the video at any time and on any device along with access to 24/7 candidate support contributes to a higher than 90% completion rate.
It's already challenging attracting good candidates. Won't this add friction to the recruitment process?
In today's remote and hybrid working world, candidates are increasingly familiar with online and virtual hiring methods. Video interviews give customers a great way to showcase their brand and provide a great experience for candidates. Most candidates also expect to complete a phone screen as part of the recruitment process, so this is just a different way of performing that function. It also lets them see that you've adopted a fair and standardised recruitment process that gives all candidates the same opportunity to showcase their talents.
We recommend giving candidates as much information about you and your recruitment process as possible, so candidates understand why you’re doing this and that you’re committed to a quality process. Video (and assessments) can be a very efficient way of identifying the most qualified applicants so you’re not wasting your hiring team’s - or the candidate's - time. There's also the added benefit for candidates of completing their interview in a time and place that suits them so they don't have to adjust their schedule or take time off from their current job to attend their interview.
What are some of the ways we can really enhance the candidate experience?
- Give candidates as much information and context as possible, including why you’re asking them to complete a video interview.
- Think through the structure of the candidate experience – what process do you want to take them through?
- Make the experience as personal and user-friendly as possible.
- Make sure the process is clearly fair and equitable, including the option of reasonable adjustment so candidates can perform at their best of their ability.
What support can candidates get if they have problems completing their interview?
Candidates can access 24/7 support via email (this email is included in the email invitation) and through the chatbot throughout the interview process. Through both of these channels, we provide first level troubleshooting (for example, helping candidates resolve issues such as the video interview picking up the wrong camera). Second level issues are escalated to our Support team for action.
Where can I go to learn more?
Click here to learn more about video interviewing.
If you have any additional questions about Integrated Video Interviewing, please feel free to reach out to your Customer Success Manager or the Customer Support Team for advice and assistance.
