Are online interviews a smart idea?
September 30, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Budgets and spending, Communication, Compliance, Gadgets, Green technology, Hardware, IT employment, In this week's e-newsletter, Information security, Latest News & Views, Software, operating systems
The Internet’s become the primary way companies recruit job candidates — is it safe for Finance or IT to interview them online, too?
Could this method wind up saving you money to boot?
A new Web site known as LiveHire.com offers the chance to try out this new interviewing method. Here’s a rundown of how the service works:
- Employers post jobs or search through a resume database to find candidates they’re interested in hiring
- The candidate is e-mailed with a suggested time for a virtual interview
- Once the schedule is worked out, the employer interviews the candidate via webcam
Also, if a company comes across a resume somewhere other than LiveHire, they can invite the candidate to join for the purpose of being interviewed (candidates can sign up for free — for employers, there’s a free 15-day trial available).
This method could also be a boon to companies who want to cut their recruiting and hiring costs. Bringing job candidates from a distance in for interviews can be costly when you figure in the rising price of transportation, lodging and meals for someone you might not hire anyway.
One big drawback, of course, is that the candidate needs a Web cam. But it could be an effective way to get a first round interview with someone who lives far away but would be willing to relocate if hired (the site seems to be going after college students, in particular).
The question remains: Can you make a good enough assessment of a job candidates skills, honesty and dependability using what amounts to video chat? Or do you need to see the candidate in person to make the call, especially if the individual’s going to be expected to handle sensitive personal and financial data?
What about IT hires as well? Let us know what you think.
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October 1st, 2008 at 5:46 am
70%+ of the workforce is at some level disengaged in their work costing the economy billions $ each year. This is the result of the traditional hiring system. Online video interviews is just taking the old way of doing things and transferring it to a new media.
Yes this tool can save organizations money – however an even greater opprotunity is to take the technology and change the way that hiring is done. Start with an online interview that replaces the resume. Ask different questions and have the answers to those questions in front of you so when you have the face-to-face interview (or video version of same) you are now probing beyond the orginal questions getting deeper into understand the answer to the four cornerstones of engagement – fit with the job, fit with the manager, fit with the team and fit with the culture. You can meet companies who are doing this now at http://www.HiringSmart.ca and http://www.YouTube.com/HiringSmart
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Absolutely, online interviews are a smart idea!
If you have ever invited someone to an interview and 5 minutes into the interview you think “wow…not a good fit for us..” (and then look at your watch to see that you have another 55 minutes to kill)…then you should be the first on-board for the webcam interview process.
How much time was wasted (by both parties – the employer preparing to interview and the applicant preparing to be interviewed)? Now, multiply that time by the number of interviews being done per year and the number of interviewers/applicants involved and you can see the amount of wasted time and money.
There are several companies like ours (www.interactiveapplicant.com) trying to change the currently archaic hiring process into one that is more efficient and more effective. Embracing the webcam interview will save a huge amount of headache for both applicants and employers, while speeding up the time to hire.
Webcam interviewing is only going to grow in the coming years and those who embrace it earlier in the hiring process will be the biggest winners.
Darryn Severyn, MBA, B.Sc.
Founder/CEO, InterActive Applicant
http://www.interactiveapplicant.com