Recruiters have one of the most demanding jobs in the HR ecosystem and sometimes across the business as a whole. Often, issues fall on the shoulders of recruiters — like when your hiring efforts can make or break the business. Recruiters must create the perfect cocktail of fast hiring and thorough vetting.
Most recruiters today are turning to software systems that can help them speed up the hiring process. Finding the right hiring tools can help, especially interview software. According to Yello, recruiters are spending two-thirds of their overall hiring time on the interview process. Interviewing can be the biggest bottleneck in the hiring process, often adding an entire week to the hiring cycle.
Many recruiters are using pre-recorded interviews to help speed up the interviewing process. Pre-recorded interviews are also known as on-demand, asynchronous, or one-way interviews and usually are either in the form of phone or video interviews.
The benefits of on-demand video and on-demand phone interviews can seem very similar. But which one is better for your recruitment team? We created this ebook to help you assess which one would be the ideal choice for your company.
Each piece of your HR tech stack plays a vital role in your hiring process. Ideally, each tool makes life a little easier for you and your team. One of the keystone pieces in a hiring tech stack is how you interview your candidates.
Most recruiters are turning toward some sort of automation in their hiring process. There are a few things we know.
Recruiters today need to have automated interviews as part of their hiring process. You have two options to gather your interview responses — self-guided phone interviews or on-demand video recordings. Below are six factors to consider when you are starting to think through whether video or phone interviews are best for your organization.
Video interviews do provide candidates with a greater chance to make a visual impression. However, removing the visual aspect of an initial interview (by using an on-demand phone interview tool) is proven to reduce biased decisions and subconscious discrimination.
Phone interviews are more accessible in terms of technological access and often better for neurodivergent applicants. Video interviews also require candidates to get dressed up and create a “professional” or “neutral” background — both of which are less accessible for every economic class.
Automated video and phone interviews can allow your team to record your questions in the tone and style of your brand voice. Both options can maintain a “human touch” in virtual interviewing.
Because one-way phone interviews require recruiters to pre-record their questions, each candidate receives the same experience with both video and phone interviews.
Automated phone interviews (like Qualifi) allow recruiters to send out pre-recorded interviews and gather all of the responses simultaneously. Recruiters can then listen to answers like a playlist while multitasking, filtering answers by relevant keywords. Video interviews require a time-consuming manual review of each response.
High-volume recruiting requires a speedy time-to-hire to bring in that many new employees at once. Filling many open roles is easier when you use interview tools that won’t bog down the review time.
As a recruiter, you are constantly searching for ways to speed up the hiring process. More recruiters are turning to on-demand interviews to cut out wasted time with traditional interview scheduling and reviewing candidates one by one.
On-demand interviews, both video and phone, allow a recruiter to record their questions and send those questions directly to the candidate. Candidates then record their answers for the recruiter to review at a time that is convenient. While one-way audio and video interview methods are similar, they do have distinct differences.
To figure out which interview method is most efficient, employers must first consider their time-to-hire and which steps take the longest. Employers can then prioritize which steps they need to speed up. Start by asking questions like:
Recruiters today are constantly assessing what interview method works best for their team and keeps candidates engaged. According to Zippia, About 51% of hiring managers have found that interview scheduling software provides a faster time-to-hire.
If you are on the fence between one-way video or phone interviews, evaluating how each can impact your hiring process is crucial. Here are a few steps to help you start that process:
When you are trying to decide between introducing one-way video interviews or one-way phone interviews into your hiring cycle, the deciding factor is probably whichever one helps speed up your time-to-hire. Your time-to-hire is the time between a candidate applying for a job and the candidate accepting the position. A short time-to-hire is critical in saving money and hiring top talent.
Start assessing your time-to-hire by tracking the day you posted the job, the day they applied, and the day you hired your candidate. Consider the day you posted the position as day 1. You may then hire someone on day 30. If that candidate applies on day 4, you would subtract 4 from 30, and find that your time-to-hire is 26 days.
The average time-to-hire in the United States is 36-42 days, and every day is costly. On average, a company’s time-to-hire costs $98 per day, adding up to $4,129 in a 42-day time-to-hire (Zippia). This cost is often due to other employees filling in the temporary gap, recruiters spending resources hiring, and reduced overall productivity from the right person in that role. This is precisely why recruiting teams must understand what processes take the longest and find ways to shorten their time-to-hire.
The first interview is often the biggest bottleneck in the hiring process. When recruiters have to schedule manual interviews, it adds days to their time-to-hire and makes for a negative candidate experience. Instead, using the right automated phone interview tool will speed up the first interview step and help you reach your hiring goals seven times faster.
As you are comparing platform options, you may wonder how a one-way video interview differs from a one-way phone interview. The most prominent difference is the review time. While both methods are asynchronous, video interviews require a recruiter to sit and watch the recorded videos. Automated phone interviews, however, promote multitasking. A recruiter can listen to an interview as if it’s a podcast and simultaneously complete other tasks, all while candidates complete interviews 24/7. Qualifi’s research found that when candidates are given the flexibility to take an interview when it’s best for them, 43% of interviews took place outside of typical business hours (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Flexibility helps you move more interviews through the hiring pipeline.
A faster review time also means a candidate will hear back from a recruiter sooner, improving the candidate’s experience. Harvard Business Review found that onboarding is crucial to the employee experience and can impact your company’s employment term. By communicating with a candidate quicker, new teammates have a positive onboarding experience, creating a positive start to their new position. Automated phone interviews help recruiters review candidates faster, shorten their time-to-hire, and nurture a positive candidate experience.
In high-volume recruiting, companies are recruiting large amounts of candidates at once. This requires an efficient process of sourcing, communicating, and especially interviewing. Asynchronous interviews are self-guided, making them perfect for high-volume hiring. With asynchronous hiring tools, recruiters don’t have to conduct the back-and-forth of interview scheduling or conduct a multitude of interviews. This gives recruiters the chance to increase their hiring efficiency by 80%, according to our findings.
Recruiters not only review more candidates with on-demand interviews, but they also attract more candidates. Many candidates today are disinterested in the traditional interview process. Similar to a traditional in-person interview, a one-way video interview requires a candidate to have an appropriate video background, internet access, and dress up for the interview — all potential barriers that could prevent someone from showing up for their interview. A candidate may be more intrigued by an audio-based interview and will respond faster than a video interview. When you send out bulk invites to a one-way phone interview, you will see interviews typically completed within 24 hours.
The right hiring tools can significantly impact your response rate as a high-volume hiring team. If you are receiving thousands of responses, you need an easier way to find top talent. Many recruiters find it extremely helpful to use an on-demand interview tool that uses automated transcriptions and AI to search for keywords. This way, you can sift through candidates based on keywords to quickly find top talent instead of listening to each response one by one.
In most cases, phone interviews can speed up the time-to-hire by a week. Companies using Qualifi are seeing a 70% response rate and an average response time of 20 hours. Not only will on-demand phone interviews improve your candidate experience, increase internal communication, give your team back time in their day, and mitigate bias in the hiring process, but you'll be improving the biggest bottleneck of your hiring process!
The traditional interview process can leave room for implicit biases. That is why many companies are looking for new interview tools to help their companies meet diversity goals.
One-way phone interviews are shown to provide more accessibility than video interviews and reduce bias in the hiring process. Recruiters need to understand how each interview method impacts their DEI efforts to find the best hiring tool for them. While technology has dramatically evolved to make asynchronous interviews a seamless process, recruiters must choose between one-way phone or one-way video interviews. These two types of asynchronous interview methods hold similarities but create vastly different impacts on companies attempting to eliminate bias.
Biased hiring happens when a recruiter either hires a candidate based on an unfounded positive opinion of them or disqualifies a candidate based on a perceived negative idea of them. Everyone has their own implicit biases that form throughout their lifetime. These implicit biases can grow to impact an entire company’s hiring decisions.
There are layered and intersecting biases a person may have that can affect their hiring decisions, despite the fact that these factors are irrelevant to a candidate’s job performance. Unfortunately, these biases are often unexamined and can lead to a homogenized workplace. If an organization doesn’t take action, implicit bias can go unquestioned and continue to influence the hiring process.
While a person’s implicit biases are often not purposeful, it is still crucial to be aware of them.
Awareness of one’s bias is key to making workplaces more diverse. As recruiters and hiring managers begin to recognize their own biases, they can analyze how it affects their decisions. Then they can make decisions based on what is best for their companies rather than their bias. According to the World Economic Forum, as workplaces become more diverse, their innovation increases by 20%, and their innovation revenue increases by 19%.
Both one-way video and one-way phone interviews provide candidates with a consistent interview experience. No matter the candidate, they will be asked the same questions and given the same opportunity to answer them. However, an automated phone interview reduces appearance bias by nature.
When a recruiter sees a candidate's appearance, they can be influenced by a myriad of biases. With a one-way phone interview, the recruiter doesn’t see a candidate's face or demeanor and can focus on the candidate's experience and skills.
In one-way phone interviews, a recruiter doesn’t have the chance to subconsciously judge or discriminate against candidates, inherently providing a more diverse talent pool. This way, recruiters can consciously make more moral decisions. When companies are more diverse, they heighten their innovation, increase performance, and improve employee retention. In fact, companies that build a more diverse team see a 22% lower turnover rate.
When interview processes become more accessible, recruiters can widen their talent pool and heighten their chance of finding the perfect hire. On-demand interviews are the best way to make interviews more accessible. Whether a person does not have means of transportation, they can still easily access on-demand interviews.
Automated phone interviews, however, take accessibility a step further. Some candidates may not have access to the internet or a webcam to conduct a video interview. Other candidates may have a disability that prevents them from easily using such technology. One-way phone interviews remove many technological barriers, which make them more accessible.
Your perfect candidate may be someone with a busy schedule, a stay-at-home parent, or someone without access to Wi-Fi. With phone interviews, candidates don’t have to worry about their kid appearing in the video or their housemates slowing down the Wi-Fi.
Because phone interviews take away appearance biases, candidates start from an even playing field. In video interviews, candidates have to be dressed up, worry about their background appearing professional enough, and be mindful of their demeanor. A one-way phone interview gets rid of this stress. A top-tier candidate may not have access to a “neutral” background. Phone interviews are more accessible to every economic class.
The right hiring tool can make your interview process accessible and promote diversity. Qualifi’s on-demand interviews are audio-based, immediately eliminating appearance bias and providing accessibility to more candidates. Recruiters can record their questions, and Qualfi can simultaneously invite hundreds of candidates to participate in an asynchronous interview.
Qualifi is the perfect hiring tool to help mitigate bias. When recruits listen to candidates' responses, they can focus on a candidate's experience and answers instead of their appearance. Qualifi levels the playing field for every candidate and helps recruiters view every interview objectively.
Creating a positive candidate experience is crucial to finding and retaining top talent. That is why many companies are looking for one-way video and phone interviews to upgrade their interview processes. Both methods of asynchronous interviews have their pros and cons, but which self-guided interview method provides the best candidate experience?
One-way video interviews allow you to see a candidate. While one-way phone interviews offer more flexibility and consistency. Audio-based on-demand interviews (which is another name for one-way phone interviews or asynchronous phone interviews) offer immediate flexibility in your interview process by shortening your phone screening time by a week.
Making a fast hire is only a tiny part of crafting a better candidate experience. Understanding what candidates want is crucial to improving your hiring process. Consider each aspect below to assess video and phone interviews.
One-way interviews can feel impersonal to a recruiter who has never used them in their hiring cycle. After all, how can responding to a recording match a two-way conversation? One-way interviews can check the boxes of a two-way interview while creating a better candidate experience.
Most candidates prefer the experience of an asynchronous interview and appreciate the effort recruiters put into their questions. Both one-way video interviews and one-way phone interviews help recruits keep the human touch in high-volume hiring.
In contrast, a one-way phone interview can meet a candidate where they are.
With one-way phone interviews, candidates can focus on their skills, accomplishments, and why they are the best fit for your role without technological or geographical constraints.
Consistency is critical in both the candidate and recruiter experience. In asynchronous video and phone interviews, recruiters use the exact same questions for each candidate. This gives each candidate the same opportunity and improves the candidate experience across the board.
A consistent interview process proactively improves the candidate experience. In synchronous interviews, recruiters are often conducting interviews back-to-back. These interviews inevitably affect the employer's mood, nerves, or stress to complete the interview process. If a candidate can sense a negative attitude, it can damper their experience. A consistent experience prevents these variables from affecting the interview.
The back-and-forth of interview scheduling is quickly becoming less appealing to candidates. More flexibility with on-demand video or phone interviews can significantly improve the candidate's experience. No longer do both parties have to schedule around each other and find a time to meet. Instead, a candidate can conduct their self-guided interview whenever it's convenient for them. A recruiter can listen to their responses when it works best for them.
LinkedIn found that candidate engagement increases by 35% when a job post mentions flexibility. In this stressful job market, job hunters don’t want to go through another strenuous interview process only to find out they didn’t get the job. The flexibility of asynchronous interviews is much more appealing to candidates, improving their experience and widening your candidate pool.
One-way phone interviews are self-guided, making them widely accessible to candidates. One-way phone interviews make the candidate experience more accessible to those with a tight schedule, a disability, neurodivergence, or even interview anxiety. Candidates appreciate an accessible interview process and notice how your company prioritizes a positive candidate experience for everyone.
A flexible interview process not only shows your dedication to accessibility, it also shows that you respect a candidate's life outside of work. Asynchronous interviews demonstrate that you won’t make a candidate block out a chunk of their schedule for you. More and more candidates are prioritizing a healthy work-life balance. They will appreciate your consideration of their personal life and schedule.
For the best candidate experience, you need the best hiring tools. Qualifi will upgrade your hiring process with one-way phone interviews. Recruiters can record questions, and Qualifi invites hundreds of candidates simultaneously. Then candidates can provide their responses.
Qualifi makes it easy for recruiters to record their questions and keep the human touch in an automated hiring process. With Qualifi, candidates have a quality experience, and recruiters can view their candidates objectively.
An automated phone interview with Qualifi can be conducted anytime and anywhere. This allows candidates to have more flexibility while remaining authentic in their interviews. Because Qualifi gets rid of the scheduling process, it immensely shortens your interview timeline.
