Year after year, the hiring process has been dominated by resume reviews and face-to-face interviews. Though this time-consuming approach may ultimately end in new hires, the question of whether it is truly the most effective use of company time and resources has arisen time and time again.
With modern technology on your side, there’s little need to passively resort to the same tactics to identify promising new candidates amid the crowded job market. Companies today have better options readily available to them, if only they know where to look.
The latest hiring software makes the entire process easier than ever, offering a streamlined alternative to traditional hiring. Through automated hiring, interviews remain a controlled, consistent and integral part of recruitment, without bogging down hiring managers’ schedules. It’s a new and exciting way of attracting and identifying top candidates. Let’s delve into the details of why the automated online interview is such a leap forward.
What is an Automated Interview?
Also known as an on-demand interview, an automated interview relies on a predetermined set of questions, oftentimes with a video component. The interview leads candidates through a structured experience designed to determine their qualifications and give them a chance to demonstrate the relevant skill set for a given position. Each applicant to a job posting will receive an invitation allowing them access to the interview, and the format of the automated questions then ranges greatly depending on the preferences of those involved.
Adhering to a thorough interview script, video, text and audio questions (including those with a time limit) may all have roles to play at various points, with the end goal of assessing and processing candidates. At their core, automated interviews are a key component of inbound hiring, a new kind of recruitment process making it simpler for companies to decide on the best candidate for a role.
What to Expect
While the details of an automated interview will vary from one position to the next, the process remains largely the same. Applicants are automatically invited to participate in an interview and are provided a link to connect to the system, wherein they are notified of any important details. Once the interview begins, candidates will be greeted by a welcome message (if included) and a test to ensure that video and audio components are properly connected. Then the questions begin with any built-in stipulations regarding timing or other associated limits already in place.
Finally, the full recorded interview is submitted to the employer, and the results are tabulated and ranked based on applicants’ responses. From there, companies are free to reach out to the final few candidates for a more traditional version of the hiring process, if they so desire. But in the meantime, they will have already trimmed weeks or months from their recruitment efforts and consistently asked each candidate the same question, in the same way.
The Results You Want
More often than not, it’s possible that a company’s first impression of a candidate may be grossly inaccurate. Yet, despite that fact, in-person interviews often rely on baseless gut feelings far more than the actual credentials of each applicant. Thankfully, automated interviews provide a sharper focus on the skill set that each candidate brings to the table, rather than solely their resume of past experience. The set of questions in an automated interview provide companies with a clearer understanding of the skills that applicants currently possess, painting a more precise portrait of their ability to handle the role in question.
Because the questions are tailored specifically to each role and remain consistent across every candidate’s interview, this system strips the interview process of any lingering bias. Every single applicant is evaluated for what they can do more than who they are, leveling the playing field for all candidates. This means that the individual who wins the job will not necessarily be the one who charmed his or her way through an interview, but he or she who can fulfill the needs the role requires. In this way, automated interviews yield the results companies have been searching for.
Automate to Be Great
With any luck, the points we’ve detailed above have offered some much-needed insight regarding the benefits of using automated interviews — and hiring software in general — as a modern-day substitute to more traditional means. While résumés and in-person interviews may have worked in the past, there’s no longer any need to devote so much precious time to these methods now that we have such highly sophisticated software systems on our side.
Although it is still a growing sentiment, the prevailing wisdom is that in-person interviews and not only overrated, but an ineffective way to find the best candidates for each role at a given company. Save the time and resources you once spent on the interview process and channel it into upgrading your recruitment strategy going forward. Without a doubt, this trend toward a new kind of hiring is only going to gain steam in the months and years ahead.
[Read more: Online interview guide]
