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 (also called asynchronous interviews or virtual interviews) 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 most convenient for them. On-demand interviews can be done with recorded videos or recorded audio. While asynchronous audio and video interview methods are similar, they do have distinct differences.
To figure out which interview method is most efficient, employers first have to consider their time-to-hire and which steps take the longest. Employers can then prioritize which steps they need to speed up. Where are the biggest bottlenecks? Do you need a faster review time? Do you need a hiring tool made for high-volume recruiting?
Recruiters today are constantly assessing what interview method works best for their team and keeps candidates engaged. About 51% of Hiring Managers have found that interview scheduling software provides a faster time-to-hire, according to Zippia. Zippia also found that 26% of Hiring Managers are considering using scheduling interview software.
If you are on the fence between virtual video or phone interviews, it's crucial to evaluate how each one can impact your hiring process.
⏰ Assess Your Time-to-Hire
When you are trying to decide between introducing virtual video interviews or virtual 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 more time hiring, and reduced overall productivity. This is exactly why it’s crucial for recruiting teams to 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 7 times faster.
Read more about the difference between video interviews and phone interviews:
- Video vs. Phone Interviews: Accessibility & Eliminating Bias
- Video vs. Phone Interviews: Which Has a Better Candidate Experience?
🗣 Fastest Review Time
As you are comparing platform options, you may wonder how a virtual video interview differs from a virtual 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 its a podcast and simultaneously complete other tasks while candidates complete interviews 24/7. Even while you're asleep!
If a Recruiter has to sit down and watch recorded interviews, it isn’t much different than a recruiter conducting in-person or synchronous phone interviews. Audio interviews help Recruiter review candidates quicker and communicate faster internally to get top talent on board.
A faster review time also means a candidate will hear back from a Recruiter sooner, improving the candidate experience. Harvard Business Review found that onboarding is crucial to the employee experience, and can impact the entire employment term at your company. 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.
How do candidates want to interview? Which has a better candidate experience — phone interviews or video interviews?
💥 High-Volume Hiring
In high-volume recruiting, companies are recruiting mass amounts of candidates at once. This requires an efficient process of sourcing, communicating, and especially interviewing. Asynchronous interviews are virtual interviews, 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%.
Recruiters not only review more candidates with on-demand interviews, but they also attract more candidates. Many candidates today are disinterested in a traditional interview process. A virtual 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 applying to the job or showing up for their interview. A candidate may be more intrigued with an audio-based interview and will respond faster than a video interview. When you send out bulk invites to a virtual phone interview, you will see an average response rate of 1 day.
The right hiring tools can greatly impact your response rate as a high-volume Recruiter. 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.
🥇 The Results: Do Phone or Video Interviews Help Recruiters Hire Faster?
When it comes to phone vs. video interviews, the answer is clear on which tool will help your team hire faster, asynchronous phone interviews. 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!