The benefits of video interviewing greatly outweigh the rather minimal costs. It saves companies roughly 67% on traveling costs over traditional face-to-face interviews. As wonderful as it is for companies to save that extensive amount of money, what about your candidates? It’s important for them to feel at ease during the interview process as well, so you don’t want a piece of technology that only saves you money but is difficult for the candidate. Your employer branding will suffer and so will your candidates.

Jobseekers look for companies who are technologically savvy. In fact, some won’t even apply if they can’t at least send their resume from their mobile device. Video interviewing attracts tech talent, currently a very coveted career field for employers. While it does save recruiters a lot of time and money to do video screens over phone screens, it saves candidates time and nervous energy too.  In a recorded video interview, candidates have the opportunity to prepare answers to questions if they are prone to pre-interview jitters.

Convenience

It seems as though every device in today’s increasingly global community has a camera. In fact, 86% of jobseekers use their mobile devices to look for new employment opportunities. There are endless supplies of apps that are dedicated to the use of the smartphone camera: Snapchat, Vine, Instagram, etc. Video interviewing now has a hold on the camera for potential job seekers. What does that mean for you as a recruiter? Every candidate who has a smart phone has the capability to do an interview at the touch of a screen. Mobile applications give candidates the ability to interview with mobility.

Not all candidates work during the day at their current jobs, some work afternoon, or evening shifts. Video applications give your talent pool access to the interview at a time that is convenient for their schedules. Not to mention you can go through 10 video screens in the time it takes to do one phone interview.

Control

With video screening, your candidates have control over the background, the lighting, even the noise. This means they have greater control with how you, the recruiter, see them. It shows their attention to detail and their professionalism. Typical sounds from the home like barking and the doorbell are not only distractions, but they can actually hurt the candidate’s chances of getting hired.  Video screenings save them from the stressful environments that often come with face-to-face interviews. Brutal interviews are a thing of the past. No one likes to see nervous candidates embarrassed by their nervous ticks like fidgeting and stuttering.

Candidates don’t always realize they have an advantage during video screening, even though they can control much of the interview itself. During a traditional interview, the interviewer sits right across the table, resulting in 92% of candidates feeling anxious about some portion of the interview and hiring processes. However, with video interviewing, candidates are separated by a screen, which removes some of the anxiety associated with the interview process.

In fact, 60% of candidates prefer video interviewing to the traditional face-to-face interview. It is more closely related to the traditional interview feeling without the hassle of travel and tense first impressions. Only 7% of communication during an interview is through actual words, only 7%. For recruiters, this is why video screening has superseded the phone screen. The registration of the human face accounts for 55%, a majority of the interview, which is why it is so important to see a candidate’s face when they are responding to questions. The remaining 38% is distributed to their tone of voice.

Even if they don’t realize it, candidates do have the upper hand during video interviews. They have control over preparing their environment and their answers so recruiters and hiring managers not only interview them in the comfort of their own surroundings, but also at their best. Give your potential new hires the chance to be at their best; take video interviewing for a spin and see the differences in their experience and yours.

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Julie Salerno, VP of Sales, Strategic Partnerships and Alliances at GreenJobInterview, is a talented professional who provides GreenJobInterview's sales team with strategic leadership and guidance that has helped more than 300 of the world’s leading organizations discover global talent through cloud-based virtual interviewing solutions, which reduce time and costs associated with scheduling and conducting interviews.

photo credit: PMillera4 via photopin cc