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HRO TODAY Oct 2013

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TekTober Yet, digital interviewing solutions providers and consultants say the resistance is easing for two reasons—it helps employers to recruit better talent, and it persuasively directs talented job candidates to choose these companies for employment. "We are at a strong tipping point for video interviewing," says Sarah White, founder and CEO of Accelir, a strategy advisory firm focused on talent acquisition technology. "We are seeing a pronounced shift from early adopters to more mainstream acceptance. In large part, this acceptance is societal and cultural—there's much wider of acceptance of video in the consumer market as a whole, which has increased its desirability in the recruiting space." White's point resonates. Most of us these days carry around in our pockets the power to shoot video and send it to friends, family, and the world at large, if we are so inclined. We are also not immune to the self-gratifying aspects of shooting "selfies," short videos of ourselves doing whatever, and then posting them for others' viewing pleasure. "No longer are people concerned about how to use video or be the subject of video," White explains. "Most video products today are accessible through mobile devices and not just desktop computers. In one hour on YouTube, more video is uploaded than a person can watch in a lifetime." Our xenophobia of video cured, its use in interviewing is an increasingly accepted practice, especially among the younger Millennial job applicants whose skills are in high demand. Now tell this to older recruiters. "Many recruiters and hiring managers who are used to doing things the same way for many years are resistant to change," says Ty Abernathy, chief operating officer of Take The Interview (TTI), an interview management solutions provider. used against them in a lawsuit arguing discriminatory hiring practices. Cost is another impediment, particularly for employers doing in-house recruiting, as opposed to engaging an RPO provider that already incorporates the technology. Chip Luman, chief operating officer of HireVue Inc., which provides video interview solutions to both RPO providers and enterprises, says the issue for HR is not the technology, but the budget. "There is not a line item for this, so you have to take it out of the sourcing budget or the job bid spend," he explains. "The resistance is at the recruiter level, the senior talent acquisition professionals. The folks running operations at the RPOs, on the other hand, understand the efficiency gains." Nevertheless, the observers agree that it is just a matter of time before digital interviewing becomes more commonplace, if not the norm across the business world. "The benefits are too large to ignore," says White. Kalstrup concurs: "It's not a question of if, but when." Making the Case There are two types of video interviewing techniques. One involves the use of pre-recorded questions that the candidate responds to "on camera"—via a mobile device or stationery computer. The questions may be in written form or provided by an actor on screen, in full audio/visual format or just the audio. In both examples, the questions are presented in a consistent manner, e.g., the actor's vocal inflections and facial gestures are the same for all candidates viewing the video. The candidate is given time to respond to the questions at his or her own convenience. The other type of digital interviewing involves all of the above, except the questions are asked live. In other words, the video interview is set for 3:30 p.m. this Wednesday. Be there on time in front of your tablet. "Getting them to change from phone screens, something they're used to and like doing, is a hurdle," he explains. "There are also pockets of resistance [for video interviewing] among the more conservative companies that are concerned about compliance with employment practices laws, such as EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act], and OFCCP [Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs]." Both techniques present advantages over customary phone screens. "It's a much more personal connection," says White. "You're now able to view the candidates' gestures in addition to hearing their responses, which conveys more context. Since the candidates all get asked the same questions with the same tone and inflections, there is no disparate impact. It's not like a hiring manager has a bad day and the applicant suffers the consequences." Such companies are concerned, he says, about the visual record that is preserved in a video interview, which may be The advantages to video interviewing extend both to the employer and the job applicant. Since every candidate is OCTOBER 2013 | www.hrotoday.com [13]

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