In this fast-paced world where we want things to be super speedy, recruitment is a time-consuming task in the employment market. And as the technology is advancing and people are trying to build-up strategies to speed up the hiring process, a one-way video interview is one such alternative designed to accelerate the hiring process.

The one-way interview is a new interview method that came into existence because of technology. It’s a way of pre-screening before scheduling a face2face interview. Although phone pre-screening is common, it requires human labor. However, one-way video interviews are a technology driven tool and require little human effort. Employers use it to fasten the hiring process, improve recruiter efficiency and create a convenient and flexible interaction with candidates. One-way interviews are also termed as on-demand or pre-recorded interviews.

With the change in technology and businesses looking for new methods to ease the recruitment process, One-way video interviews can be a game-changer.

How do automated video interviews work?

Instead of engaging individually in the hiring process, candidates applying for a vacant post must give a one-way video that involves providing an aspirant with a list of predefined questions that they need to answer while recording and send it for evaluation. One-way Interviews are often described as asynchronous video interviews.

The time candidates are allotted to give the interview and create their videos and the availability of review and re-record options varies for different interviews. You may choose to be accommodating by giving a week time deadline to record video or providing 2-3 re-record options if they’re not satisfied with their performance or you might just prefer a more limited time.

And another variable is interview length which typically determines how many questions you want to ask and how long candidates must respond to each question.

Pros of automated video interviews

This technology driven tool is packed with some amazing pros and I would begin with pointing out how aptly it shortens the interview length. All you must do as a recruiter is post the questions on an interviewing website and wait for candidates to respond. To be precise, you can easily conduct 7-8 asynchronous video interviews in the time it takes to finish one face-to-face interview. Sometimes you easily realize that the applicant isn’t the right fit for the role within minutes but feel it’ll be rude to stop them in the middle. This tool can give you the privilege of starting, stopping, skipping the recorded video according to your need and helps in screening out poor prospects for the next stage so easily without investing much time and energy.

It gives you the benefit of comparing different applicants side by side. For instance, you can compare the body language, tone, etc to judge who’ll be a better fit. And if a certain aspirant doesn’t have the requisite skills you don’t need to approach them for a follow-up.

It also increases your ability to approach more people that are geographically distant. Just ask them to record their interview anywhere according to their convenience and don’t let distance be a barrier in your recruitment. You may also make them to respond to pre-qualification questions to assess their fitment and willingness to relocate to your location. Automated video interviews make the recruitment process highly efficient and faster without compromising quality of hires. 

Not only this, but it also solves the issue of time clashes. You no longer need to check about the candidate’s availability and waste time in scheduling interviews. You just must time the duration for the automated video interviews within a set time limit and watch them whenever you get time without worrying about your body posture, dressing, facial expression etc.

It also gives the advantage of knowing the candidates beyond their CV. It provides the opportunity to assess their confidence level, their nonverbal as well as verbal skills which are core to many jobs. It also gives you a hint of their personality and attitude and can eliminate those who you feel won’t fit in your organizational values.