Why Candidates hate Video Interviews?

A couple of decades ago, the job interviewing process was simple and straightforward. The candidates were called for interviews, and they would present themselves at the destined place and time. The interviews took place in person, the hirings were done and the job positions were filled. As I said, simple!! With the advent of Mobile phones, the initial screening started happening through a phone call. Only when the Candidate was found suitable, would he/she be called for in person interview.

Skype Call

Now with further enhancement of Technology, Recruiters started using tools like Skype to do pre-final interview. But they however preferred to always meet first before taking a final hiring decision. But Skype was only adopted for very specific senior level hiring only while the Fresher to Mid never got done through Skype.

Video Interview through Smart Phone

Coming to the current era, where plethora of Video Interviewing tools have emerged, where one could do a Video interview even on using a Smart phone. The Recruiters assumed that with Video Interview, they would be able to see the applicants’ appearance and observe their expressions and body language and probably even skip the in-person interview!

Video Interview Adoption

So, while this sounds great, has this trend of conducting video interviews for the purpose of scanning applicants really caught on? Sadly, NO….No, Nada, Nein, Nahi……Why?

Why Not Video?

The most important reason is that Candidates do not prefer to give video interviews! Period. So if Candidates are not going to prefer with an Video Interview and hence delay their responses, the Recruiters are not going to get what they want in the finite period they operate. An Average Video Interview turn-around-time is 4 Days! This happens because:

1. The Candidate needs to mentally & physically prepare for a Video Interview
2. Candidates don’t like their own image captured as Video (interestingly the only image humans prefer of themselves is the one they see in their bathroom mirror everyday! Yes its true…). No wonder it takes 3 days to shoot for a 30 second TV Ad!
3. If the Candidates are Introverts by Personality, the hit ratio further reduces

Other key reasons for low Video Adoption

Desktop based Video Interviewing never took-off really, except in a very organized hiring, where the Candidates had no choice what so ever. There are a lot of (struggling) tools trying to push Smart Phone based Video Interviewing. Now that raises several problems for the Candidates, apart from the discomfort of a Video medium. They are:

1. The Candidates have to download the Video Interviewing App on their Phones and the file size of such Apps is usually very high directly consuming the Phone’s storage capacity
2. During the Interview, the Video consumes huge Data Bandwidth of the Phone, which is paid for by the Candidate.
3. Candidate has to make sure they in a secluded space with reasonable lighting (well-lit place actually).
4. The Internet connectivity has to be above average for a decent Video capture otherwise high risk of the session just dying down on the Candidate in midst of his well prepared mind

No wonder, video interviews have not taken off successfully. So what options do Recruiters have in order to screen hundreds of candidates and select the best of them?

There are tools like Reckrut.com especially for the first stage candidate screening, which enables Recruiters to conduct quick screening for Interest, Skills, Communications and Personality without them even having to call the Candidates. And Candidates love it because it does not require them to download any App and does require them to try and look presentable and yes, they can do a great interview even if the electricity of their entire area shuts down!

Finally, organizations hire Candidates based on the skills, communications and cultural fit and not how they look, and further over 80% of organizations will never hire someone without meeting them face-to-face at least once, so why bother with a video!

To know more about Reckrut’s technology or how it can be useful for your hiring process, visit Reckrut.com and try screening 50 Candidates for FREE!