Approaches to recruitment interviewing have evolved over time and in recent years it has become fairly common for initial screening interviews to be conducted by telephone or Skype. Over the last two years we have seen yet another development – the video questionnaire interview. Although this is a relatively recent innovation, it’s an approach which seems to be growing in popularity. The UK Association of Graduate Recruiters have recently reported that 20% of their members are now using video interviews.
With video questionnaire interviews all candidates are asked the same set of questions. These questions are usually viewed as text on the screen, rather than via a live connection with an interviewer. This will take place either at a company office or off-site location with a webcam and microphone setup.
You are usually be given around 30 seconds to read each question and one to two minutes to record your answer. Before you complete the video interview, you may be given the opportunity to practise online until you feel comfortable with the process. This can really help as it can take a bit of time to get used to talking without getting any of the feedback which you would normally receive in a face-to-face interview. You can also make use of ‘Interview Simulator’, a Careers Service resource which lets you practise interview questions and learn what employers are hoping to hear. You can access it this through MyCareerHub:
What are the benefits of this approach?
- Video interviews are seen as a particularly fair approach to selection. Every candidate will have exactly the same interview experience and this reduces this chance of any assessor bias.
- Video recordings can be viewed by a number of assessors including those based in different geographic locations.
- Video Interviews are quick and easy to set up. There is no need to schedule interview days taking pressure off both companies and applicants.
If you would like to find out more have a look at the Careers Service web pages on video interviewing:.
