You know it can be tricky for candidates to take time off for interviews, right? I mean, there’s only so many fake dental appointments they can have without their boss getting suspicious. It would be so much easier if they could just jump on a virtual interview from home, wouldn’t it?
Well obviously that’s what happened when Covid came calling and candidates were WFH. No having to pull a sickie. No waiting two weeks to take a day off (and using up precious annual leave). No travel. Heck, no worrying about what to wear for the interview so long as they were dressed from the waist up.
Crucially, virtual interviews gave candidates flexibility. They could fit an interview into their lunch break or at the start or end of their day when they’d normally be commuting. And that meant they could do a whole lot more of them – a great incentive to apply for multiple roles.
Virtual interviews were good for hirers, too. We all know scheduling interviews can be a recruitment nightmare. In one survey by US recruitment platform Yello 72% of recruiters said their biggest challenge was finding an interview time that suited everyone and 60% had lost a candidate due to a scheduling delay . Self-scheduling software helps, of course – all our clients are plugged into this as part of our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) – but setting up an interview is obviously a lot quicker when the candidate and hirer don’t need to be in the same room.
Are virtual interviews here to stay?
One of the biggest benefits – for both recruiters and candidates – is that virtual interviews reduce time to hire . The hotel chain Hilton Worldwide used virtual interviewing to get their time to hire down from 42 days to five and here at HARBOUR we’re thrilled that not only do we offer a Microsoft Teams integration but our partnership with video interview provider Shortlister means clients can cut their time to hire by up to 19 days.
No big surprise, then, that virtual interviews are staying put.
According to Indeed’s 2021 Hiring Trends Report , 93% of employers who turned to video interviewing during the pandemic plan to continue. Meanwhile, in a LinkedIn survey of over 1,500 talent professionals 70% believe virtual recruitment will become the new norm .
Virtual interviews won’t be for everyone. As we talked about in a previous blog, one-way video interviews can be difficult for neurodivergent candidates . And in a survey of graduates by recruitment platform Milkround nearly half were concerned that a video interview wouldn’t allow them to properly convey themselves.
As it becomes increasingly embedded in the recruitment process, virtual interviewing is bound to evolve. Already it’s being used by recruiters to screen candidates or carry out an initial assessment before a face-to-face interview.
Given the time- and cost-saving benefits it’s likely that many more recruiters will switch to video interviews or adopt a hybrid mix. But it’s never going to be a one-size-fits-all. As ever, whatever they do recruiters should always put good candidate experience at the heart of their hiring strategy.
Now, if you don’t mind, I have a dentist appointment to go to.
Want to talk ATS and video integration? Lovely – drop us a line