It’s not just the initial interview, recruiters are using the medium of video at various stages of the recruitment process. The use of video brings a number of benefits to both employers and candidates but also raises ethical questions.
What Are The Benefits of Video?
Thanks to national lockdowns and wider restrictions on travel over the course of 2020, even the most tech-fearing of grandparents know about Zoom and Facetime. Specialised tech offerings are a different animal however, designed to solve specific problems and improve the recruitment process.
Although it was a relatively nascent sector within the recruitment industry, recruitment technology built around video were growing in popularity before the pandemic struck in 2020. Companies such as Shine, HireVue and Odro offer video-based solutions that have a number of use cases.
Overcoming Geographical Distance
An in person interview is often an essential part of the hiring process. As an employer, we recruit based on character and it’s important for us to actually spend time with candidates to observe their behaviour and learn about their personalities. Of course, a face to face interview is the best way to do this but when there’s a considerable geographical distance a video interview is the next best thing.
Video is a great tool for building fully remote teams. It opens up the global talent market and improves possibilities.
Cost Savings
The cost-saving applies to both the recruiter and the candidate. Incorporating a video CV or interview into the recruitment process allows recruiters to effectively screen more candidates than they would be able to through face to face interviews. There’s a time saving for recruiters there.
On the candidate side, they don’t need to shell out on travel costs or taking time off from their current job to attend an interview. After all many first stage interviews lead to rejection.
Showcase Important Skills
One of the most common complaints we hear from recruiters who are screening initial applications based on written CVs is that candidates often appear very similar. It’s hard to really assess an individual’s soft skills through the written word and their experiences alone. Video allows a candidate to really showcase their soft skills.
Of course, certain customer-facing roles or jobs that require excellent verbal communication also place great emphasis on verbal fluency and body language. A video allows us recruiters to get an idea of a candidates’ proficiency in verbal communication straight off the bat. Furthermore, video allows hiring managers to really pick up on what a candidate is passionate about. Being able to get a sense of their character allows us to make better judgements on the fit between the candidate and the role or hiring company.
Issues
Although the use of video technology may bring opportunities for recruiters and candidates alike, it does raise issues around discrimination.
With a video CV, for example, the hiring manager can see characteristics such as ethnicity and can hear a candidate’s accent. So, when incorporating video CVs into the recruitment process, employers and recruiters must be mindful of unconscious bias and discrimination. Other individual details that can be imparted through video and impact unconscious bias include religious belief, as shown by items of clothing or jewellery.
Let’s Talk About It
Incorporating video into the recruitment process isn’t always easy but there’s plenty of different offerings available that may suit your needs.
We’re forward-looking in our approach and always happy to help where we can. If you’re interested in video and other technological innovations affecting recruitment we’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.
For more information on how we can help you, click here.
