Video may have killed the radio star, as the 1980s novelty song by the Buggles observed. But video interviewing has a long way to go before it makes extinct more traditional forms of employee screening.
Despite technological advances in teleconferencing, video recording and streaming media, the applications for video interviewing have not advanced significantly beyond a few years ago. Still, as companies expand their candidate searches nationally, and even internationally, many expect video interviewing to grow in popularity.
Video interviewing allows long-distance candidates to be more viable, says Carole Martin, SPHR, an author and the president of www.interviewcoach.com . And one of the big advantages is that, unlike a phone interview or looking at a resume, a video interview really lets you observe the candidate, their body language and how they answer questions, adds Martin, who is also the interview expert on the Monster.com web site.
Right now, video interviewing has three primary constituencies:
- Universities and community colleges, which offer video interviewing facilities to employers to assist their campus recruiting efforts.
- Executive recruiting firms, which use video interviewing to sort through candidates from around the country and even worldwide without incurring the expense of flying them in.
- Large corporations that use video interviewing to screen candidates in remote locations.
We see video interviewing being used most often by larger organizations, often the Fortune 500 companies, says Kathleen Vanyo, a managing consultant in the Phoenix office of the outplacement firm Drake Beam Morin. Not surprisingly, its most popular with high-tech companies as well as those in the communications industry.
The key advantage video screening offers is cost savings, says Jim Dick, chief executive officer of Candidate Quality Management (CQM), an Owings Mills, Md.-based firm offering video interviewing services primarily to academic and government units.
Most employers that use video interviewing have a tendency to focus on how much theyre saving in travel costs, which video conferencing certainly does help with. But, another thing that companies have recognized is that video interviewing results in significant savings in administrative costs, Dick says.
Generally, the purpose of the video interview is as a pre-screening tool. Candidates are given a list of 10 questions, based on their profile, says Kathleen Zaccaria, founder and president of Hire Intelligence. The interviews take the place of phone screens performed by HR offices and staffing firms. With a video, a hiring manager can get a better idea of how well an applicant communicates and presents himself. And, it gives the candidates a better opportunity to represent themselves. I cant tell you how many times a candidate has said to me, If I could just get in front of the employer, I know I could get this job. Video interviewing allows them to do that early on in the process.
With employers casting their nets ever more widely to snag high-quality candidates, video interviewing is becoming increasingly common. And, industry observers believe, advances in telephony and technology will make video interviewing more practicaland effective.
Martin expects job candidates to incorporate video presentations in the materials they present to potential employers. CDs will eventually replace plain-paper resumes, and videos and electronic profiles will probably not be far behind, she says.
Still, it's unlikely the video interviewing will ever completely replace the in-person approach to hiring. Says one industry expert: "Employers still want to meet the people they are hiring face to face.
