Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Live Video Interviews For Long-Distance Candidates

Whether you are a recruiter, hiring manager, or job seeker, this article will give you a deeper understanding of what live video interviews are and how they can help you either: place candidates, hire great people, or land your dream job.

What Is Live Video Interviewing?

To start off, let’s talk about what live video interviewing is as a whole. Well, it is exactly what it sounds like. It is the process of interviewing, via live video. You have probably even used a live video chat platform before; whether it be Google Hangouts, Skype, or Facetime, so you are already familiar with the concept. The main difference between live video chats and live video interviews is that video interviews are specifically designed for the recruiting or hiring process.

Spark Hire recently published an infographic called “Let’s Get Virtual: Video Interviews vs. Video Chat” which details a few more differences.

Live Video Interviews For Recruiters And Hiring Managers

As a recruiter or hiring manager, utilizing live video interviews in your process to connect with long-distance candidates is a great way to avoid the costs of flying someone in for an interview. Finding the best talent may not always be in your neighborhood, so with video interviewing, you are able to reach those perfect, remote candidates from all over the world.

In fact, according to an article called “The Top 25 Recruiting Trends, Problems, and Opportunities for 2014” written by Dr. John Sullivan, he goes on to say that technology and remote work continues to expand the talent pool and will also force recruiting to increase its capability to find and land candidates. Even though you may still fly candidates in for in-person interviews, with video interviewing you can be sure to fly in only the best candidates possible, which saves both time and money for your company.

What You Can Do:

As recruiters and hiring managers, it is important to collaborate with those involved in the hiring process since many of them will feel cautious since they haven't met these candidates in person yet. The issue of involvement is solved with features like commenting and rating capabilities. Since the video interviews are recorded and stored, with these features your anyone from the hiring team can easily communicate to validate hiring decisions.

Pro Tip: While communication with your hiring team regarding who you decide to move forward with is critical, it is also important to document the candidates you reject. With Spark Hire’s rejection management tool, you can document the reason of rejection and send out customized emails to your candidate to keep them up-to-date with their status.

Live Video Interviews For Recruiters And Hiring Managers

Let’s say you live in Seattle and you all of a sudden get the “little town blues” and wish to move to New York. You want a break from the luscious mountains, outdoor life, and craft coffee. Wait, are you sure you want to leave that behind? Anyway, you want a chance to “be a part of it” (thank you, Frank Sinatra) and maybe eat some delicious pizza along the way.

Well, in order to live in New York, you’d better have a job that can pay for the closet-sized bedroom you are going to live in as you fulfill your Central Park dreams. But if you don’t have the funds to fly to New York every week to attend in-person interviews, how will you land your dream job?

Luckily, with the increase of companies now using digital interviewing solutions, such as live video interviews, you will have the same opportunities as those already living in the Big Apple all within the comfort of your home in Seattle, or wherever you are in the world.

What You Will Need:

As a job seeker, you will only need a designated space, a laptop with a webcam, and your sparkling personality. Upon joining the video interview, be sure you speak clearly, make eye contact (with the webcam), dress for success, and avoid any awkward nonverbal cues like biting your nails or slouching.

The Future Of Interviewing

It is obvious live video interviewing technology is changing the way people interview and hire, specifically for remote or long-distance candidates. Implementing this technology into your process will allow you to reach a more qualified talent pool, worldwide, without the expenses of travel. And now, as job seekers, feel free to interview for that dream job in New York (or wherever it may be) all at the convenience of your current home.

Eager to learn more? Spark Hire has a FREE e-Course just for you! “From Chat To Interviews: What Video Has Done And Will Do For Us” includes 4 lessons on how video interviewing technology will help companies like yours find great talent.


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