On-demand video interviews – sometimes known as asynchronous interviews, allow candidates to complete an online interview whenever it fits their schedule and wherever they are most comfortable. On-demand video interviews also give recruiters more options than ever to tailor 100% virtual hiring workflows to the job type and make the hiring experience personal for candidates. Modern on-demand video interviewing technology is often part of an enterprise hiring platform that may include live video interviews, pre-hire assessments, and automated interview scheduling, too. Here are some tips for getting the most value from your on-demand video interviews.
Use on-demand video interviews in place of traditional phone screens. Replacing phone screens with online video interviews is an easy workflow adjustment that will improve hiring speed and the strategic use of your recruiting team’s time. With a single email sent through the hiring platform, recruiters can invite an entire candidate pool to participate in on-demand video interviews. Candidates’ completed responses will start coming back within hours. Recruiters can efficiently review and rate the responses and forward candidates with the best potential to the next step in the process. The hiring team can also review the responses they’ve shared to prep before a live interview. On-demand interviews allow the interview team to see small yet critical details that help the hiring team decide whether candidates fit. For recruiting teams with high-volume workloads, on-demand video interviews are a game-changer. Read how Penn Medicine’s TA team transformed the hiring experience for its recruiters, candidates, and hiring managers.
Combine on-demand video interviews with pre-hire assessments. Some platforms offer this feature combination to help you prioritize fit faster and sooner in the hiring process. With pre-hire assessments and on-demand interviews, you can significantly reduce your interview-to-hire ratio. It also streamlines your candidates’ process: Two steps are taken care of in one, with no extra logins.
Handle internal mobility in virtual work environments. On-demand video interviews can facilitate talent transfers within the organization, especially when everyone’s working remotely. It’s simple for current employees to show their interest in a position or department, and allows department leaders to get to know a potential candidate pool.
Make hiring experiences more personal. Structure your on-demand interviews to fit the specific position. Think about how you would design an interview for an entry-level position versus mid-management, or a highly technical position. Some platforms offer a high level of configurability in terms of how questions are asked, how candidates should answer – multiple-choice, multiple-select, and fill-in-the-blank, how much time candidates have to answer, and whether or not they have the option to re-record their responses.
Another way to make on-demand videos more personal is by showing candidates what your organization’s culture and employment experience are like. Visually brand your on-demand interviews, and add content to help candidates get to know you as an employer. Ask hiring managers to use the platform to quickly and easily create a welcome video that becomes part of the interview experience. Or, feature the hiring managers asking the interview questions.
Some organizations give candidates extra insight by incorporating employee videos using the hiring platform. Candidate Experience (CandE) Award winner Brown-Forman has used this strategy with success.
“We’re a diverse, global team, and we want candidates to see that characteristic of our organization,” explains Arelis Correa-Arnold, Director of Global Talent Acquisition & Onboarding, Brown-Forman. “We’re now using employee videos to welcome candidates. These are employees from all over the world, and they’re an authentic representation of Brown-Forman.” Read the case study.
Introduce new hires to the team. As part of your onboarding process, ask new hires to make a video about themselves using the on-demand interview technology. When you have new hires introduce themselves to colleagues and peers by video before their start date, it makes their transition to the team easier for everyone.
One final tip: QC your on-demand video interview experience. Before you invite candidates to participate in an on-demand video interview:
- Go through it yourself with a candidate’s eye. You can also request that a team member in the hiring department tests it and provides feedback.
- Ask your quality control helpers to watch out for questions that could be confusing, the logic in the sequence of questions, and any unclear directions, and the length of time it takes.
- Use the feedback to make candidates’ experience with your on-demand video interview top-notch.
