The hiring process for just one job opening in your organization can consume a lot of your hiring managers’ time. Using video as a tool to conduct candidate job interviews (especially in the early stages) can help decrease the overall amount of time your HR and hiring teams spend in the hiring process–thus saving money.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article titled, Video Job Interviews: Hiring for the Selfie Age, “First-round job interviews are the latest part of the hiring process to undergo digitization as companies use video interviews to cut recruiting costs and times…the method has grown in recent years as nearly everyone has access to a laptop or smartphone with a front-facing camera, and companies say it is an efficient, fair and inexpensive way to process hundreds of applicants.”

There are many positive reasons for using video in the interview process; there are also some negatives. Your company should decide whether or not the trade-offs are beneficial. Here are some of the pros and cons you may want to consider when it comes to using video interviews in your company’s hiring process.

PROS:

#1 – Saves Time and Money:

Using video can move the pace of the hiring process along more quickly due to its convenience–especially during the early screening stage as an alternative to the traditional phone interview.
Video decreases the amount of time hiring managers spend interviewing candidates and instead allows them more time to work on tasks that produce and contribute to the company’s bottom line.

Video also saves your company costs for any interview-related travel expenses. It’s much easier and cost effective to schedule a video interview and move on.

# 2 – Expands Your Company’s Reach/Candidate Pool:

Video interviews are a great alternative when it comes to reaching high caliber candidates that might not be available in your local area. This gives your company a wider reach and expands your candidate pool to include more competitive talent.

#3 – Effectiveness and Convenience:

Video interviews can be more effective than phone screening in the early stages of the interview process since interviewers can get a better idea of who the candidate is through evaluating body language, speech, visual traits, etc.

Video interviews are also advantageous because hiring managers can have candidates record answers to questions and the videos can be forwarded to other hiring managers to view at their convenience, or they can revisit them to refresh their memory when trying to select final candidates. Additionally, video interviews allow for bringing a panel or group of interviewers together to interview a candidate.

CONS:

#1 – Loss of Fairness to Prejudice

: When using video to screen candidates, it is possible to more easily judge a candidate by his or her appearance and eliminate him or her prematurely since you miss that personal connection and the “real” eye contact that can happen during an in-person interview.

#2 – Stress Using Technology

: Video interviews can be very stressful for some candidates who are not comfortable with using technology and/or being on camera and feeling self-conscious. Candidates may not feel as though they are getting a fair chance because the video acts as a barrier that keeps their real personality from coming through.

#3 – No Direct Interaction

: Do you miss something without the direct interaction with candidates? One of the drawbacks of using recorded video interviews is that there is NO one-on-one conversation so it’s not as easy to evaluate a job candidate’s personality traits as it is in a traditional interview.

The LIVE streaming video option is a little better, because even though it’s not an in-person situation, you can establish somewhat of a rapport and get a better sense of a job candidate’s personality, etc.

It’s worth evaluating different video interviewing platforms to help your company accelerate the screening and feedback processes.

Revisiting videos at your convenience can be advantageous so that you can compare job candidates and move the hiring process forward with top-notch talent that leads to your company’s overall success.