Recruitment has and always will be about people, but technology is changing the way we hire, with video interviewing the latest tool tipped to become the future of recruitment. Sixty percent of US employers now include video in their recruitment process, and the UK is fast playing catch up as organisations start to understand the time and efficiency benefits.
Here at Concept we constantly invest in new ways to solve different pain points in the recruitment process, reinforcing our reputation for combining an innovative approach backed up with great service for clients and candidates alike.
Finding the best staff is a challenge. It’s not just about the candidate’s skill set, their experience or their portfolio – it’s about understanding the pressures of the industry and finding the right culture fit for each team.
That’s why when we launch our new Concept Live video interviewing platform in January, we will be blazing a trail in the recruitment industry here in Milton Keynes and in our North East heartland.
Building a technology-led early stage screening tool into our service portfolio will let candidates shine through the use of video, speed up the process of presenting clients with a shortlist of candidates to interview, and give them a feel for the candidate’s personality early on in the process. It allows us to present our candidates to clients in a much more interactive and engaging way than just sending out a CV.
In the long term this will save our clients precious time and budget, better support our candidates, and reinforce our position as the agency of choice when it comes to matching talent with opportunity.
How video interviewing works
Live video interviewing is delivered via the cloud, on a software as a service (SaaS) basis so it can be accessed from any device, anywhere. It requires no more bandwidth than general internet browsing, even when several people are involved.
One of its big advantages is the recording feature. This allows us to review and score candidates, then share videos with clients so they can watch at a convenient time. They can even go on to show their own colleagues the video, helping them become more engaged with the screening process, and supporting them to select the right candidates for interview.
As interviewers we can also ask follow-up questions to probe a candidate’s initial response to pre-set questions, and develop the conversation just as we would in a face to face situation. This gives us a good picture of job candidates much sooner in the process.
From video interviews, not only can we get answers to our questions, we can also gauge a candidate’s professionalism and confidence to see whether they will be a good fit for the client’s culture, before investing in the time and resources to bring them into the office for an interview.
A CV can often look great and a follow up phone call can prove fruitful, but when we meet a candidate it becomes apparent that they are not the right person for the job or the organisation and time has been wasted on both sides. Video interviewing removes any doubt from the outset.
Seamless and time saving
Video interviews make the whole recruitment process faster and more seamless, taking up half the time of a typical in-person interview. When a candidate submits a CV online we can simply respond with a video interview request, there is no need to go back and forth finding a time that suits both parties, particularly when candidates need to arrange time off from their current job. It also cuts out the need to block out diary time to prepare and conduct every single preliminary interview before we prepare a shortlist.
We are very excited about being able to offer access to this new and powerful tool, which is set to make our clients’ lives easier and make recruitment an all-round positive experience for everyone involved.
Adding video interviews to our services gives us an additional layer of screening that will help to narrow the talent pool, improve the quality of candidates reaching the next stage, and reduce the time it takes to fill a position.
And which employer wouldn’t want some of that?
