Video interviewing and the art of the F2F interview

Uptake of business technologies like video accelerated by 4-7 years

Lock down has caused recruiters to adjust by embracing new ways of working. Appropriate practices and tools have allowed work to continue while minimising the potential for infection, from commuting and being in enclosed office spaces.

As economies attempt to recover, it is clear that some methods used to continue operations under Covid induced restrictions are creating deep, permanent changes for businesses.

The increased use of remote working has enabled organisations to see how it is possible to reduce the physical footprint of the business, with the consequential knock on effects for cost savings, productivity and work-life balance.

Video tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have been huge enablers. They are prime examples of a McKinsey research finding, where responses from business leaders suggest B2B technology uptake has been accelerated by at least 4 and perhaps as much as 7 years by the pandemic.

Video interviewing: Adopt, adapt or be disadvantaged

Many businesses are slow to adapt to new ways of working, and some recruitment firms have held off adopting video, denying themselves a source of competitive advantage.

Recruiters that have been in post for many years and are very experienced tend to use what they know works for them. Many firms will have only got to grips with ATS, accounting and back office integration in recent years. Technology moves so fast it’s hard to keep up. Maybe that was OK pre Covid. But the time is now right to consider extending the use of video further, by embracing video interviewing technology.

Many recruiters have used Skype or FaceTime for basic video calling, and tools like GoToMeeting and Zoom for B2B video conferencing for a number of years. But what does virtual interviewing video software offer to elevate it above these established video calling and conferencing tools?

Video interviewing technology provides enhancements that help to make video a better fit with the needs of recruiters and hirers. These are some of the key features and headline benefits being offered by specialist video interviewing cloud platforms.

• One way video interviewing – allow candidates to record answers to standard questions – saving recruiters time on live calls

• Live video interviewing – conventional real-time video calling with recording capability to allow review and comparison – don’t miss anything important

• Interview scheduling – enable candidate self-service by allowing prospects to select from the times made available by recruiters – save time making appointments

• Evaluating interviewees – rate by scoring, organise shortlists and communicate properly with candidates that are not selected – transparency of data backed decisions

• Collaborative interviewing – share recorded interviews with hiring managers and co-workers to get feedback and second opinions – work together to select the right workers

• Interview branding – use recruiter branding and drive a consistent experience, personalized for each candidate – strengthen and promote recruitment brands

• Integration with recruitment software – plug in to the applications already in the recruitment software stack – prevent manual activities slowing things down

• Integration with non-recruitment software – connect with some of the other apps that are in use, such as those for collaboration – a more seamless workflow

The message for recruiters, especially the laggards that are deferring the use of video for interviews, is to:

• Adopt video interviewing technology
• Adapt their agency processes to using it
• Avoid getting left behind by competitors

Back office tech to keep recruiters ahead of the curve from ETZ

For some recruiters, face-to-face (F2F) interviewing, is something of a cherished immovable object. They see the art of the F2F recruitment interview as a key element of their value-add, because it facilitates identifying the best candidates more effectively.

However, many are adopting video interviewing, enabling them to process applicants much more quickly to fill vacancies faster. This is going to significantly disadvantage recruiters that avoid video interviews, especially when it comes to hiring in a jobs market where there are significant skills gaps.

Alongside video interviewing, ETZ’s leading timesheet, invoicing and payment technology solution is an important element of the recruitment software stack. To find out more about how we help agencies like yours to streamline your back office to deliver more efficient admin and processing, call us on 0800 311 2266 or book a demo.