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It doesn’t matter how amazing your business model is if you don’t have employees to run it. They’re the very core of what makes or breaks a company. Quality employees can differentiate between a profitable business and a failed one. That is why recruitment is so important. Without recruitment, there are no employees. Without employees, there’s no business.
But recruitment itself is no easy task. The importance of finding a quality hire demands effort, careful consideration, and access to the right tools to make it happen. As technology advances, that last item has become particularly essential. Although the traditional recruitment methods of the last half-century still have their place, they’re slowly losing out as the labor market becomes increasingly competitive.
That’s why today we will look at the tools that help recruiters handle the most arduous part of recruitment – interviewing. Interview tools allow recruiters to screen more candidates without sacrificing their quality of hire. If anything, online interview tools help recruiters improve their quality of hire while reducing the time it takes to find that perfect candidate.
However, it’s important to note here that not just any interview tool will do. Recruiters need the right tool that works for their recruitment process. To this end, we will look at one of the most popular interview solutions available today – the automated interview. Along the way, we’ll examine the two types of automated interviews and how they compare.
Automated interviews have been gradually rising in popularity in recent years. This is especially true after the Covid-19 pandemic caused a massive shift to using virtual tools. Although the worst of the pandemic is behind us, we can expect this trend to continue.
In terms of the types of interview methods, automated interviews are rapidly replacing traditional methods. And there’s no wonder. These interviews shorten the hiring cycle by at least a week. No more do recruiters have to struggle with the back-and-forth it takes to schedule a single candidate interview. Rather, recruiters can now send a pre-recorded phone interview to numerous candidates at once, who can, in turn, respond at a time of convenience – eliminating the need for any schedule.
However, many still hesitate to adopt this approach. They fear that automation makes the interview process impersonal. And this concern is warranted. Human connection is important to the candidate's experience. Thankfully, on-demand interview tools can help you keep the voice, tone, and human touch while enjoying automation’s benefits. Although this approach is less human-centric, it maintains its human feel while shifting towards a more candidate-centric model.
When it comes to on-demand interviews, there’s something of a controversy. Which is better, phone or video interviews? Both have their merits, but only one can come out on top. So, to settle the argument, let’s look at key hiring factors: review time, accessibility, and bias mitigation.
Video interviews consistently fail to provide adequate review times to warrant automation. They demand the complete attention of the recruiter throughout the 15-30 minute interview. Contrast this with the phone interview. This format promotes multitasking, allowing the recruiter to listen to reviews like a podcast and complete other important tasks.
Then there’s accessibility. Video interviews principally require candidates to have access to a quality camera, microphone, and broadband internet connection capable of handling the process. That’s not even to mention a comfortable and presentable space to make the recording. That excludes a lot of candidates. Phone interviews, on the other hand, only require access to a phone, and Pew Research has found that 98% of Americans already own some form of a cell phone.
We also see video fall short in terms of preventing biased hiring. By nature, it’s a visual medium. That means there’s no way around unconscious biases based on physical appearance. As phone interviews have no visuals involved, they also naturally win out here.
On-demand phone interviews are a remarkably easy screening tool. Whereas traditional interviews require a recruiter to take several hours to schedule and screen, an on-demand interview can be conducted within 24 hours and screened in minutes.
That’s all there is to it, a quick and easy process. There is little wonder why this format is quickly becoming the standard for interview screening.
Take KHR solutions for example. Before Qualifi, this company’s small recruitment team struggled to interview the 12 to 30 candidates daily to keep up with their hiring demands. After adopting the on-demand model, they were able to cut their applicant screening time by 83%. All of that saved time meant they could dedicate more time focusing on sourcing quality candidates.
Reid Health had a similar story. Their already small team lost a member, and they were feeling that burden. On-demand interviews brought relief. Plus, they reduced their average interview time by 44% without increasing the recruiter headcount. What’s more, along the way they enjoyed improved relationships with their candidates, improving their overall hiring process as a result.
The hiring process takes time, but time is money. According to Zippia, the average vacancy costs employers $98 daily. Considering the average time to fill a position takes 42 days, the total cost is up to $4,129. As such, recruiters are constantly looking to improve their time-to-hire to make their hiring efforts as cost-effective as possible.
But shortening the time-to-hire is a challenge. There’s a lot that goes into the recruitment process, and cutting corners can lead to disastrous results.
It all begins with recognizing the need to fill a position. Once identified, the team needs to create an effective job description and get that in front of potential candidates. This brings us to sourcing; finding the right candidates to apply in the first place. Applicants must then have their resumes screened, followed by an interview screening. That’s followed by the main interview, reference checks, background checks, and sometimes assessments. It can become overwhelming!
Of all of these tasks, the initial interview process takes a lot of time. In fact, research from Yello found that most recruiters reported the interview process took up three-quarters of their overall hiring time. And that’s no wonder. The average interview takes 30 minutes to 2 hours just to schedule per candidate. That’s not even counting the actual 15 to 30-minute interview itself. That’s a massive time sink in a process where time is essential.
Winning that time back means a much faster time-to-hire. That’s where on-demand interviews come in. They eliminate the need to schedule the interview entirely. That’s immediately 30 minutes to 2 hours per candidate saved alone. Then there’s the screening itself. Whereas traditional interviews take 15 to 30 minutes, on-demand phone screenings can be completed in as little as 5 minutes.
