Video Interview Applications: Too Much Or Reasonable Expectation?
“Hiring people is an art, not a science, and resumes can’t tell you whether someone will fit into a company’s culture.” – Howard Schultz
Back in the day, you posted an ad in a newspaper or hung a sign in the window that said you’re hiring. Job seekers would walk in with a typed resume and you’d read it over before giving a face-to-face interview. Job opportunities were mostly limited to a candidate’s immediate radius. Now, with digital technology, practically every job conceivable from anywhere in the world is an option. There’s practically no limit to where you can find candidates. However, that also means every Job Seeker out there can find your job listing and apply, regardless of their qualifications. And Hiring Managers like you are constantly relying on technological advances to try to sift through applications to find viable candidates. In this blog, we’ll talk about one particular trend: Video Interview Applications. And we’ll ask the question: “Is it too much, or a reasonable expectation?”.
The Current Job Market
Things are getting back to “normal”, whatever that is. Layoffs are slowing, new job postings are slowing, people aren’t quitting, and nearly 75% of those surveyed are at least somewhat satisfied with their current jobs. So how do you attract the right talent when you have a position that needs to be filled?
Remote work is still a priority for job seekers, but the remote job postings have declined significantly. A lot of that has to do with the industries that are hiring. After over-hiring during the pandemic, many tech companies have made sizable layoffs as the increased tech demand has dwindled. Industries hit the hardest over the last few years (construction, hospitality, tourism) are now growing quickly. And those aren’t jobs that can be done from home.
So when a remote position does get posted (like an Acumatica Consultant or a Sage Intacct Administrator or an Odoo Analyst), are you getting applications? Are they quality applications? With an even smaller talent pool available now than over the last few years, the common strategy is to go after what are called “passive candidates”. These are candidates who are currently employed and must be lured away from their current position. So how do you either sift through piles of unqualified resumes or attract talent that isn’t looking for work? Technology and Recruiters.
Your Internal Hiring Process
If you handle recruiting and hiring internally, you’re regularly running into one of three scenarios:
- You’re posting your job and getting no responses
- You’re posting and getting a ton of responses and your team is spending all their time sifting through resumes
- You’re posting and only getting very qualified candidates applying which makes your job quick and easy (yeah right)
For these scenarios, working with a 3rd party recruiter can definitely help. Recruiters have tricks up their sleeves to find candidates where you can’t. Recruiters can also take the burden of sifting through tons of resumes and only presenting you the best qualified candidates. You have a few options when considering working with a 3rd party recruiter. We’ve written a blog that lays out your options and which might be best for you. There are technological advances that can also help. AI can help you craft a catchy job description. AI can also help you sift through resumes. However, like most software, it does what you ask it to do, not necessarily what you want it to do. If you’re asking the AI to find resumes with Acumatica ERP or Sage ERP or Odoo ERP experience and the resume only lists ERP, but not the specific brand, you could be passing over great candidates. But we’re here to talk about one piece of technology that is a topic of conversation for hiring managers: one-way video interviews as part of the application process.
One-Way Interviews
Although it’s still rare, some companies are using one-way video interviews as part of the application process to pre-vet applicants. But is this asking too much, or a reasonable expectation? First of all, what is a one-way video interview? A recent article on Indeed sums it up nicely:
“A one-way video interview is a brief video recording you send to employers to help with their screening process. Within this video, you typically answer a few pre-selected interview questions or follow a prompt.”
There are a couple inherent problems with one-way video interviews.
- You have to invest even more time of your staff to go through all the videos
- Again, if you’re using an algorithm, it’s only looking for specific answers and could reject some great qualified candidates
- You could scare off some great candidates who aren’t willing to do this just to apply for a job
And it’s the third point we’re really looking at here. If you’re not getting any applications at all, you probably want to avoid creating more hoops for applicants. If you’re getting too many, this could be an effective way to “thin the herd”. And, it might be worth the risk of losing some really good candidates if it means narrowing down the applicants to only those really interested and serious about the job.
Now, is this something you should consider using? I will say this: the majority of those touting its benefits are usually the companies selling these video platforms. So the answer is simply complicated: if it gets you more targeted and qualified candidates, then yes, it’s a reasonable expectation. If not, then perhaps it’s asking too much.
