Recruiters are burning out at an increasing rate. It’s easy to blame the great resignation and the shift to remote work (then hybrid work) and call it a day. But that’s too easy. The real problem isn’t the challenges we face—those will always come—it’s the processes and systems we have to handle them.
In short: we need to upgrade recruiting systems to match the reality we now live in.
And an upgraded system includes video interviewing (powered by a purpose-built video interview tool) as part of your recruiting process.
How candidates benefit from video interviewing
There’s a common misconception that one-way video interviews are cold, callous, and inhumane. More than a few Linked-Influencers have posted lengthy posts about how awful they feel.
Of course, everyone reacts to things differently, so this isn’t to say those individuals were lying (far from it, my guess is they did have a horrible experience due to someone using video interviewing in a choppy way, rather than video interviewing itself being the problem).
But individual bad experiences don’t negate the benefits we’re told about by hundreds of candidates on a regular basis:
Time flexibility: Many candidates already have a job or have other duties while interviewing for new roles. Asynchronous video interviews make it easy for people to record on their own schedule at a time that works for them. It’s the ultimate mark of respect from a company—letting the candidate complete the task when they are able versus forcing them to rearrange their lives for an interview.
Comfort: Time flexibility also means control over where and how you record your videos. That means the opportunity to find a comfortable spot that makes you feel relaxed and ready to go. And if you don’t have those spaces available to you at home, having more time flexibility means an opportunity to find those spaces—for instance going to a public library or similar space.
The right video interview tools bring clarity to the recruiting process: When companies use purpose-built video interview tools with automated reminders and an intuitive interface, candidates know what’s expected of them. Self-recording a Zoom and uploading it to a Google folder? Not so much.
How recruiters benefit from video interviewing
Recruiters benefit significantly from async video interviewing, whether it’s for one candidate for hundreds.
Time savings: Most Willo users say they have a video interview segment for initial screens (replacing 25 min phone screens back-to-back-to-back) and at some point in the middle of their process. This saves six hours per week on average.
Stakeholder management: Purpose-built video interview tools make it easy to share videos with relevant stakeholders. Just be sure, when you’re picking a video interview tool, that you look at its sharing features.
Cost savings: Particularly in high-volume or cyclical hiring, bringing on extra recruiters is an enormous cost. But asynchronous video interview software can help a lot here—one company found async interviews did the work of four full-time recruiters.
You have a record of all conversations: When candidates come in for live interviews—which we advocate for heavily! It’s not about async 100% of the time—you’ll have their pre-recorded interviews to refer back to. These notes become a great foundation for authentic interview conversations.
Strong recruiting processes leverage asynchronous and live elements
A huge misconception is that adding video interviews to your recruiting process means removing live interviews. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, video interviews become a time-saving tool to use in specific parts of your recruiting process.
Based on the hundreds of companies using Willo, the best times to integrate video interviewing are right at the start to screen high-volume candidates and in the middle when answering factual questions that will be discussed in a live interview.
Even if you start with those two instances in mind, you can save significant time. All you have to do is pick the right video interview software for your business needs.
