Learn More About Video Interviewing Software
What is Video Interviewing Software?
Hiring the right candidate for an open position can be a time-consuming and expensive process. From scheduling job interviews with out-of-town candidates to coordinating internal feedback on applicants, inefficiencies in the hiring process are costly for businesses. Video interviewing software products aim to address some of the inefficiencies inherent in scheduling and conducting hiring interviews by using digital devices to make virtual interviews possible at any time and from any place. These products allow companies to collect prerecorded videos of candidates’ responses to job interview questions, facilitate live video conversations between an interviewer and a candidate, or both. Especially with the rise of remote hiring and remote work, video interviewing is becoming a more prominent feature of how many companies hire employees.
Key Benefits of Video Interviewing Software
- More efficient hiring process
- Improved collaboration on the hiring team
- Enhanced job applicant experience
- Expanded applicant pool
Why Use Video Interviewing Software?
Improve interview process efficiency — Video interviewing platforms help streamline the process associated with arranging job interviews during the recruitment process. For products that offer prerecorded video interviews, candidates submit their interview answers whenever it is convenient for them, and recruiters or hiring managers similarly review the answers at their leisure. A recruiter could skip through videos of multiple candidates quickly, saving time compared to if they had conducted a phone interview with each individual. Automated scheduling functions also streamline the process of arranging a live video interview, avoiding back-and-forth email exchanges to find a time slot that works.
Facilitate collaboration among hiring managers — Interview processes typically involve multiple stakeholders at a company. Video interviewing tools offer collaboration features that enable recruiters, hiring managers, and others involved in the process to efficiently share information and feedback about a candidate. Videos of candidate interviews are recorded and stored so that people can review them at different times. Scoring functions allow interviewers to rate candidates and submit notes about their impressions of the candidate, facilitating a collaborative discussion that ideally results in a more informed final decision about whether to hire a particular candidate.
Enhance the candidate experience — A well-run interview process creates a more positive impression of a company in candidates’ minds. Many video interviewing platforms offer the ability to include a company’s branding on the interview platform for a more polished external-facing look. Empowering candidates with the ability to easily schedule interviews for time slots that work for them or to record video responses on their own schedule also adds to the interview experience.
Expand the applicant pool — Enabling candidates to sit for interviews anytime and anywhere greatly expands the reach of a recruitment effort. Especially for positions that are harder to fill, attracting a broader pool of candidates increases the chance of the company to find a good hire for the role. With video interviews, companies are likely to attract quality candidates who might not otherwise be able to participate in a traditional interview process because of the person’s geographic location or inflexibility in their schedule.
Who Uses Video Interviewing Software?
Typically, video interviewing software is used by people who have roles related to recruiting and hiring, including recruiters and hiring managers. Candidates also interact with the software when they apply for a job.
Job candidates — Applicants for an open position use video interviewing software to submit prerecorded video answers to questions that the company wants to ask. Alternatively, they use the interviewing portal to join a live video session with a remote interviewer from the company.
Recruiters — As the people responsible for finding prospective candidates and narrowing down the field, recruiters use video interviewing software to facilitate video interviews with applicants who they think might be a good fit for the role. Depending on the hiring process and a company’s recruitment strategy, the video interview might be an early screening tool used by recruiters to determine who moves on to the next round or used with candidates who have already passed an initial assessment or phone screening.
Hiring managers — Decision-makers use video interviewing software to review candidates’ video-recorded answers, assign ratings, and write notes about their impressions of each candidate. While it is common for companies to also invite candidates for an in-person interview after a video interview, the video interviewing step serves as another data point for the hiring manager to consider when creating the shortlist of candidates.
Kinds of Video Interviewing Software
The main distinction between types of video interviewing software is whether the product has functionality for recorded video interviews or live video sessions. Some products have the ability to conduct both prerecorded interviews and live interviews.
Recorded video interviews — The software enables companies to develop a list of questions for candidates, either written or delivered by an employee reading the question in a video. Then, candidates use the platform to record videos of their answers from their own homes and submit those answers to the company. Recruiters or hiring managers can then review each candidate’s recorded answers.
Live video interviews — The software facilitates live video interviews between a candidate and a recruiter or hiring manager. These sessions may be set up using automated scheduling functions that integrate with calendar software.
Video Interviewing Software Features
Video introductions — Some platforms allow hiring managers or recruiters to record a video introducing themselves or describing the position. The video can be played before the candidate answers the interview questions to make the interview feel more personal.
Question management — The ability to write custom questions enables interviewers to ask questions that are most relevant to a particular role or a company’s mission, although products sometimes include libraries of premade questions for employers to pick from. Some tools also enable users to dictate how a candidate responds to a question, such as via text, audio, or video.
Recorded video interviews — Most products offer a way for candidates to record video answers to interview questions at any time and from the comfort of their homes. Their video answers are then uploaded and are available on demand for hiring managers or recruiters to view.
Recording parameters — Recruiters are able to establish certain restrictions for video-recorded interviews, depending on their needs. For example, the recruiter could limit the length of a candidate’s answer, how many takes they are allowed to record for each answer, and how much time they may use to think after getting the question.
Video sharing — Once a candidate’s video interview is recorded, many platforms enable a user to seamlessly share the video with other hiring managers or recruiters, allowing multiple people to be involved in the interview process.
Live video interviews — The ability to set up a live video interview session offers another option for hiring managers who would rather ask candidates their questions directly. Many tools automatically record live video sessions so they can be shared later, and some enable interviewers to share ratings or comments about the candidate as the session is taking place.
Scheduling tools — Scheduling functions that integrate with a user’s calendar streamline the process of arranging a live video interview between the candidate and the employer. An interviewer can allow the candidate to pick from a range of available dates and times for the live interview, then link the appointment directly to each party’s calendar software.
Interview rating and comments — Rating functions (such as a simple star system) enables managers to give quick quantitative feedback on a candidate’s video responses. Comment features let reviewers share more substantial notes with their colleagues.
Candidate shortlist — A shortlist function enables hiring managers to manage a larger list of candidates and narrow it down to just the people they want to move on to the next round.
Email automation — Automated rejection emails for candidates who are not moving on to the next stage in the process can save hiring managers’ time. Emails notifying successful candidates of the next steps also help the interview process run more smoothly.
Custom branding — Companies aiming to provide a polished visual experience for candidates may implement their branding on a variety of elements of video interviewing software, including landing pages, interview rooms, and automated emails.
Analytics and reporting — Dashboards and visualizations help companies better understand their hiring process and how to improve it.
User, Role, and Access Management
Potential Issues with Video Interviewing Software
Unconscious bias — Adding video to the recruiting and interviewing processes offers a potential source of unconscious bias since the interviewer is able to see the candidate in a way that wouldn’t be possible in a phone interview. However, many video interviewing companies argue that their platforms offer standardization that helps eliminate bias, such as delivering the same questions to each candidate. In addition, some software companies say that the ability of video interviewing software products to share videos and ratings with multiple people involved in the process helps ensure that multiple perspectives are heard and that the process is fair. Ultimately, it is up to the employer to ensure that the company’s hiring process is free of bias, regardless of which technologies it is using.
Integrations — Video interviewing systems often integrate with other platforms that hiring managers use to facilitate the seamless transfer of data, such as scheduling information and candidate profiles. Buyers considering video interviewing software should ensure the products integrate with the systems that the company intends to use for recruiting and hiring.
