A report from the BBC has revealed that despite greater uptake of video interviews, candidates actually prefer face-to-face interviews, as they are less awkward. In the wake of this, William MacDonald, Chief Technology Officer at StarLeaf, has provided comments on how employers can improve the experience and remove the awkwardness from video interviews.
“It is no surprise employers are increasingly turning to video services to carry out interviews with prospective candidates. The process is much easier than asking candidates to travel long distances for an interview and enables hiring managers, based in different locations, to interview candidates together.
“In the modern world of work, the telephone is no longer a satisfactory means of interviewing prospective employees. Not only is it expensive but it’s also challenging to get a real sense of a person, and gauging reactions to questions without seeing their face. As a result, companies are increasingly asking applicants to record answers on video to questions and then upload those responses, but without the live interaction with the candidate, it is not a particularly positive experience.
“The best interviews, where those hiring find out most about their candidates, are natural, free-flowing conversations which open-up beyond the usual interview questions of “what are your main strengths” and “what appeals to you about working here?” creating a more human experience.
“When a candidate records answers to questions they have been sent in advance, they lose the natural engagement of a traditional interview between candidate and employer; it is a remote experience and the applicant may not get any sense of whether the company is a good cultural fit for them. Of course, an interview is the opportunity for a candidate to sell themselves and demonstrate to an organisation why they should be hired, but equally a company needs to position itself as an engaging and supportive place to work. It’s tough to do this if a candidate’s first interaction with the company doesn’t involve any of the people that work there.
“If businesses are going to use video-based interviews in their hiring process, they need to make the experience engaging, flowing and remove the awkwardness. Video conferencing solutions can enable organisations to speak to candidates with greater flexibility, without forcing applicants to travel long distances, while still bringing the human element to the experience.”
About StarLeaf
StarLeaf enables seamless collaboration through intelligently engineered, reliable meeting room systems, superior video conferencing, and secure messaging.
StarLeaf has architected its own global platform to deliver world-class video conferencing with a 99.999% uptime guarantee, robust security, ISO 27001 certification, and data jurisdiction control. Designed and engineered by StarLeaf, intuitive meeting room systems, feature-rich conferencing, and total interoperability bring future-proof communications to the enterprise.
Founded in 2008, StarLeaf is a private company headquartered in the UK with a global presence. For more information, visit www.starleaf.com or follow us: Twitter (@StarLeafCo) and LinkedIn (StarLeaf).
