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Hiring practices and telephone interviews have gone hand in hand for a long time. However, the introduction of pre-recorded video interviews allows recruiters to save time and money while expediting the recruitment process.
Consider this scenario: you receive a promising application, so you pick up the phone and call the number listed to arrange a telephone interview. The problem is, you can’t seem to get through. You leave a voice message and the applicant eventually returns your call, but only once you’ve stepped away from your desk. Just like that, you’re stuck in a hopelessly frustrating game of phone tag.
Everyone’s been stuck in this maddening position before, yet hiring methods continue to heavily involve phone interviews, rendering them an inescapable evil. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Video interviewing can end that giant game of phone tag once and for all.
It’s difficult enough to fit the tasks of scheduling telephone interviews, taking notes on an applicant’s answers, and liaising with other managers into one person’s busy workday. It’s even harder to find a specific date and time when all involved parties are free to get in on the action.
In an article posted on TechTarget, Kyle Lagunas, a talent acquisition analyst at Brandon Hall Group, explains how much time recruiters waste trying to schedule and execute screening calls, deeming it “the biggest time spend in their day.” He adds that these recruiters constantly “spend time on the phone trying to chase candidates ... [and] hiring managers [down] and get everybody's calendar synced up just for that first call."
HR Review reveals that traditional hiring methods (encompassing the processes of receiving online applications, conducting interviews, and making job offers) can cost an astounding £2000 per hire, comprising management time spent interviewing candidates, recruitment agency fees, advertising the new role and HR time spent processing an employee.Furthermore, just getting through a telephone interview takes a lengthy 30 minutes on average.
So where else can you turn? You could actually complete ten video interviews in the time it takes to finish up just one over the phone, making the latter a whole lot more efficient for recruiters on the front line.
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Already an efficient alternative to the slog of traditional phone interviews, video interviewing has grown increasingly convenient with the advent of more advanced technologies. As Dave Sinclair, a corporate recruiting manager for Henkels and McCoy, told CIO, “We recruit people from around the world. Coordination of interviews can take months, but with a tool like this we can kick off the interview process 24/7, regardless of geography." The cost and time savings on travel alone make the switch to video a no-brainer.
Furthermore, recorded videos allow recruiters to easily view and share interviews with the appropriate hiring managers at their leisure. Sinclair sends his comments along with the video, and then receives a notification when his client views the link, allowing him to immediately provide further feedback and move on quickly to the next step.
According to Iona Ferguson, a former recruiter for the luxury retail industry, LaunchPad Recruits’ video interviewing software allowed the retailers Selfridges and Liberty to avoid conducting well over a hundred fifteen-minute-long telephone interviews, transforming the hassle of massive recruitment campaigns into something completely manageable.
Similarly, Group Resourcer at KCOM Group PLC Jenny Domaille explains that, thanks to LaunchPad’s pre-recorded video interviewing process, she no longer “needs to delay the recruiting process up to ten days in order to schedule a 15-minute interview.”
In an article for U.S. News & World Report, Hannah Morgan explains of video interviewing, “These capabilities will not only accelerate candidate screening, but they also reduce remote hiring costs and facilitate panel feedback early in the hiring process, leading to better candidate matches.”
Speed is important, but so is maintaining the quality of hires to ensure successful recruitment. According to Recruiter, some companies reported that bad hires cost them tens of thousands of dollars. Furthermore, a Harvard Business Review study found that 80% of all employee turnover can be attributed to faults in the hiring process.
As Ferguson explains, telephone interviews have only worsened the poor hiring conundrum, as candidates who subsequently arrive for an in-person interview “perform very differently or… bring a completely different attitude than the one that they had during the telephone interview.”
In an article for TODAY, Kelsey Fast, a division director for the Seattle-based staffing agency OfficeTeam, notes that video interviewing “helps companies narrow the candidate pool down quicker” because “you obviously get to see how they present themselves.” In stating her case, Fast highlights confident facial expressions and body language as primary indicators of candidate quality.
LaunchPad’s video interviewing software can increase the likelihood of recruiting the truly high-calibre candidates you want. It also heightens work productivity and efficiency, resulting in significant time and cost savings. Don’t you think it’s time to hang up the phone?
