Selecting and implementing a video interview solution

There are many vendors to choose from and every vendor has a slightly different way of doing things.

Selecting a video interviewing partner can be a daunting task. There are many vendors to choose from and every vendor has a slightly different way of doing things. This article is here to help you understand some of the cornerstone features for you to be on the lookout for when evaluating vendors and going through a vendor assessment and selection process.
WebRTC vs. Mobile apps
A major difference from one vendor to another is the way video interviews are made available to candidates through the software. Look for vendors that use WebRTC. This is the real time communication protocol that allows candidates to directly access video interviewing software from their browser without having to download an app from the app store (native app). This web-based application provides significant convenience in comparison to the interruptive experience of having to download an app to respond and will increase your conversion rates on your video interview. You want to take every step to ensure you are delivering a convenient, easy experience for candidates.
Flexible recruiter and candidate settings
This is one of the areas where you will see significant differences between vendors. You want to look for the maximum number of flexible controls and features that will allow you to customize the candidate experience and the way you are able to review candidate responses. These features can include optional audio or video responses, multi-media candidate response options (multiple choice, test, audio, video), video question presentation, brandable landing pages, re-recording attempts, practice options and blind interviewing options..
How video interviews are used in a recruiting workflow
Video interviews are typically used at one of four stages in a recruiting and screening workflow. The first is integrated into or embedded into your application or career site. This is where you add video questions for the applicant to respond to along with submitting their resume.

Next is the screening stage. This is used after a resume screen and usually replaces a phone screen. This can decrease your recruiter screen time by up to 25 minutes per candidate. Video interviews are also used at the third stage by inviting candidates to participate in a behavioral assessment or other competency-based assessment delivered in video format. And finally, the live video interview where you can invite candidates to a scheduled, live, recordable interview where you can have a live, interactive conversation that can be recorded and shared with other team members for review after the interview. Live interviews are often used for panel interviews with multiple interviewers or interviewees.
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Not all AI is created equal
Most video interviewing vendors will now offer AI as a way for you to automate analysis on candidate interview responses. There are things that you should look into related to how the AI is built or deployed. Is this a proprietary system that was built by the vendor? If so, will they share with you the algorithms and detail of the way the machine makes decisions. If it is not proprietary, what is the AI framework that the machine was trained in? For example, IBM Watson, Google AI, Microsoft Azure AI? Does the AI use any visual elements in the decision making like facial expression analysis? If it does you should consider that the use of visual AI is under scrutiny for bias. Opt for systems that only analyze text from the video interview (audio-speech-to-text). Ask what type of AI is used. Is it a generalized, learning model or a pre-trained, custom model based on custom data? Can the vendor create a custom trained machine for you based on your data?
Integration or out-of-the-box
Evaluate how you want to use video interviewing alongside your ATS or system of record. When integrating a video interviewing system into your system of record, you can select which features and associated API’s (or system connections) you are interested in adding. This will depend on how the system will interface with your system of record and what information you want visible from within your system. Creating a single sign on environment allows you to bring the video interviewing features directly into your system of record (ATS) without having to log in to different platforms to send interviews and review responses.

The most common APIs used by companies integrating video interviewing are:
  • Create interview / Select interview template
  • Send interview
  • Interview question database
  • Review interview responses
  • Share interview with reviewer and aggregate reviewer responses
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