A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about the recruiting advantages of using Skype to manage your desk. It received a lot of favorable feedback that only reinforced how far video interview technology has advanced. One particular response of note that I received was from Joy Redmond – Marketing Manager of Sonru.com that introduced me to their video interviewing product.
For those of you not familiar with Sonru here is a bit of background information;
Sonru is an award winning video technology company based in the South East of Ireland. The name Sonru stems from the Irish phrase “Bí le sonrú” which means to “stand out” and their flagship product – the automated video interview tool enables interviewees to do just that. Their automated video interview tool has applications within the Recruitment, Education, Training and CRM sectors. Sonru was founded by Ed Hendrick, an Wexford based entrepreneur who spotted an opportunity to save people time and money during the interview process.
I had the opportunity (with assistance of Maiken O’Byrne – International Sales Manager) to see Sonru’s product first hand and I must say walked away quite impressed. Beyond a simple Skype chat, Sonru is a video interviewing tool/filter that provides a number of benefits and time-savings for recruiters and HR professionals.
Features:
– No need for 2 people to be online at the same time
– Share interviews safely and securely with colleagues
– Manage interviews in one place
– Standardised, structured and fair interview
– Reduce interviewing costs
Positives:
There were quite a few things that I liked about the product, but first and foremost was the easy user interface and set-up. Each client has a customizable landing that fits into their existing online presence (looks like a part of your site), and maintain complete control of the information. Users can conveniently create and schedule interviews in advance so that there is no need for both parties to be present in real time. There is a huge time management benefit here in that users can set time allotment for reading of questions, candidate response time, and interview deadlines. This allows users to properly budget time to conduct multiple interviews, and not lose on the down time of setting up a traditional face to face. The interviews are archived up to 2 years and multiple invites can be sent to parties/clients for viewing.
For recruiters- think of the powerful present you can make to a client by sending a Sonru video interview e- invite to view/meet candidate along with your normal resume/CV submission. Sonru’s product is developed within an API framework and can also be merged with your ATS.
Negatives:
With it ease of use and multiple functions there is very little to complain about here. The lone negative might be the pricing model used which is a pay to view credit model that is based on economy of scale. So those looking to use this tool only a handful of times annually might find the price on the higher end, but Maiken O’Byrne was quick to point of that there is a high success rate of converting first time users into Sonru clients because they see real benefit in the product.
Summary:
Will it save me time? Will it make me money? Will it make things easier at my desk? All questions as a recruiter I would ask of any new product. For Sonro- it is a resounding yes. It is a recruiting tool that is worth checking out.
Recruiting Daily Testimonial:
“Sonru is a great tool that recruiters need to know about” – Tim Spagnola | RecruitingDaily.com
Ranking:
4.5/5 Send-outs 
For more information about Sonru you can visit their official site at www.sonru.com or follow them on Twitter @Sonru.
By Tim Spagnola
Recruit Smarter
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