4 Reasons Not to Incorporate Video in your Recruiting Process

Video Interviewing is hot, and widely debated.  Here Ty Abernethy of TaketheInterview.com discusses why NOT to use this tool:

Every good recruiter has a packed tool kit full with useful tools for sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates – tools likeLinkedin, job boards, assessment tests, and an easy-to-use ATS.  As technology advances and online video consumption explodes, recruiters have begun finding creative ways to incorporate video into the recruiting process as well.  These ways include candidate interviews via Skype, marketing job openings with video content, and screening candidates with recorded video interviews.

With every new recruiting innovation, there is typically reluctance to adoption and a general skepticism at first.  Can the tool do what it says it can?  And at a price that makes sense?  As an ex-recruiter who used YouTube to screen candidates when I was understaffed at my recruiting firm, I’ve experienced the benefits and issues of video first hand.  I felt so strongly about video recruiting that I went on to help create and launch a video recruiting solution in 2010.  Over the past few years, I’ve heard many of the same objections from companies that are drawn to video.  Here are the 4 most common objections I hear and the reasons why most organizations end up adopting video once they try it out.

#1.  Video can hurt your organization more than it can help it. 

When you utilize video to market your organization or job opening, if you half-ass it, it will show.  If your video does a poor job of reflecting your brand’s values, it will show.  However, if you take the time to do it right, there is no better way to showcase your brand and captivate potential candidates.  A new generation has emerged, dubbed the “YouTube Generation”, and they have grown up consuming online video content.  When your brand messaging incorporates a medium that candidates engage with regularly, communication becomes easier.   Check out how Twitter used video to market their company and job openings, in a funny, engaging way.

#2.  Candidates don’t want to be interviewed via video. 

Candidates actually don’t mind being interviewed via video.  What they do mind is having to spend their time on activities that waste their time.  A ridiculously long job application is an example of this, especially when candidates don’t get any feedback from recruiters.  However, if you properly set candidate expectations up front and  provided feedback along the way, candidates take the process seriously.  Suddenly, candidates will jump through any hoop they need to, because they know you won’t waste their time.   When companies incorporate video interviewing, as long as recruiters set expectations up front, candidates are eager and willing to go through the process.  Typically, candidates love it because it saves them time and allows them to interview at home at their convenience.   It’s all about setting expectations up front, regardless of your hiring process.

#3.  Video interviewing isn’t EEOC and OFCCP compliance. 

This is an objection I hear a lot.  Video interviewing is both EEOC and OFCCP compliant.   In 2004, the EEOC ruled that viewing a video clip of a candidate is no different from ascertaining the rate, sex, or ethnicity of a candidate from a paper resume.  Additionally, with asynchronous video interviews, every question is asked in the same manner to all candidates, enabling a more equal evaluation than a phone interview could provide.  This ensures that every candidate is interviewed the same way and has the same opportunity as every other candidate.   Video helps keep you compliant, no prevent you from being so.

#4.  Candidates don’t have webcams. 

Surprisingly, most candidates do have webcams.  Most laptops sold in the last 4 years have come with a built-in webcam, as well as many desktop computers.  On top of that, virtually everyone now has a smartphone or tablet with a camera built in.  And on the rare occasion that a candidate does not have access to a webcam, all public libraries now provide access to computers with webcams.  It’s never been easier to interview candidates online.

Video is exciting, engaging, and very effective when incorporated into a hiring process.  It saves time and money, and allows recruiters to receive feedback from hiring managers earlier in the process.   It also allows organizations to screen more candidates than they could with phone screens, ensuring that they find the overall best candidate, not just the best resume.   To supe-up your hiring process, maybe it’s time to try out video.

Guest Contribution by Ty Abernethy

By Noel Cocca

CEO/Founder RecruitingDaily and avid skier, coach and avid father of two trying to keep up with my altruistic wife. Producing at the sweet spot talent acquisition to create great content for the living breathing human beings in recruiting and hiring. I try to ease the biggest to smallest problems from start-ups to enterprise. Founder of RecruitingDaily and our merry band of rabble-rousers.