7 reasons why video calls are not a good idea for hiring top talent remotely

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Talent Smith's chief business officer Roland Glass on why you shouldn't 'just do a video call'.

The war on talent? It’s over. And talent won. This means that, if you want the best people for the job, you can’t afford a negative candidate experience, even in the earliest stages. 

Now, I’m not going to try to sell you on online recruiting being the future. I don’t have to. Because it is becoming increasingly clear to everyone that, with the novel coronavirus and lockdowns worldwide, this scenario has now arrived. And, even beyond the lockdown period, sentiment has started to shift to a perpetual state of remote or virtual working. 

So whether you are new to online recruiting or you’re a seasoned online recruiter, you must develop relative certainty about the productivity and success rate of your online recruitment. 

Yes, everyone’s online right now and yes, you may need to do your hiring from home – but you shouldn't “do a video call”. You need video recruitment technology, not another video conferencing or video chat platform because the are two very different needs.

Here are seven reasons why you shouldn't be hiring top talent using a video call. 

1 No support structure

Zoom – and platforms like it, including Skype, Google Hangouts, and FaceTime – is great. No question. This video conferencing application saw 200 million daily meeting participants in March 2020. The following month, this figure had risen to 300 million, confirms Zoom founder Eric Yuan. Compared to 10 million in December 2019, this is extraordinary. 

But it’s not fool-proof and I don’t believe that it works all that well for hiring talent. 

Let’s say you’re in the middle of an interview, the professional chemistry is off the charts, and something goes wrong. Skype Support isn’t going to help you. Not immediately.

Granted, these platforms are designed to be intuitive and for the most part, you can Google a fix. But video recruitment technology offers candidates access to 24/7/365 support, and recruiters access to customer success programs, to assist with set-up, training and more.

2 Onerous on the user 

Another down-side of ‘free’ platforms is that users must create accounts with log-in credentials in order to access them. This can turn applicants off, or cause glitches at awkward times – like when the interview is about to begin. But, when you’re using video recruitment software, applicants don’t need to download programs or open accounts to complete applications or participate in interviews, making things more seamless.

3 Inadequate functionality

There’s not a lot you can do to make a video chat sexy – including virtual backgrounds, which are almost always awful and make your hands disappear like they’re in a magic show.

But video recruitment technology creates rich candidate portfolios that incorporate functionality like video pitches, automated interviews, live panel interviews and built-in personality profiles, so you get a deeper understanding of the person behind the CV. 

You can automate tasks like interview scheduling and applicant updates, carry out custom evaluation and collaborative reviewing, and access a question library - creating a smooth and professional applicant experience. And, most top video recruitment tech has been designed for accessibility on any device – including smartphones.

4 No branding opportunities

Free video conferencing platforms are equally free of branding, which makes it tough for you to hero your brand in the quest for talent. Imagine if, from video job descriptions, to interview invites, welcome videos and branded environments, your candidates could experience a video interview process that leaves them understanding why your company is different. Imagine intuitive user interfaces, built by recruiters for recruitment, with your branding. 

5 Insufficient security

WhatsApp, Skype and Zoom have long been the obvious choices for conducting meetings from home. And they got the job done, more or less. But, when used for interviewing candidates, they lack the functionality to deal with personal information and data privacy.

Candidate consent is high-risk and, as #workfromhome continues to become a way of life, it’s important to mitigate all of the unintended security risks of off-the-shelf solutions.

6 No integration? No thanks. 

Video conferencing software doesn’t integrate with your other systems, because it isn’t designed to. But this can mean manual processes – and human error as a result. When you choose the right video recruitment software, it integrates with your applicant tracking system and your core HR system. There are less admin and minimal duplication. It just… works.

7 Missing measurement 

Can you measure the performance of your recruitment team when you’re using a free video chat platform? Nope. You have no access to cost, time and quality metrics. But when you use video recruitment software, it’s easy to access data, analyse insights, and report back. 

Recruiters can screen and assess more candidates in less time, get quick responses from reviewers and hiring managers, and make the entire process more fair and objective for the candidate. Plus, truly remote recruitment should always go beyond live interviews...

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