Videos for Interview Purposes
For several decades, employers have been utilizing video conferencing in order to communicate with their internal staff or clients without having to fly people around the country. This new phrase “interview videos” is simply a newly packaged application of video technology. No longer do we need to spend $1000/hour at Kinko’s or some corporate video conferencing facility in order to see another person through our computer screen. Most webcams come with simple video chatting capability downloaded in 10 minutes from the CD in the box. Every generation is using video now – talking to grandchildren, keeping tabs on parents or college students traveling in Europe, or pre-screening a potential dating partner before committing to a real meet.
These are all instances of “live” video or “real-time” video – coming to you as it happens.
There are several vendors in the employment market jumping into this product/service category, basically repackaging a video conferencing tool like Webex or copying the newer Skype tool: LiveHire, CareerCam, GreenJobInterview, to name a few. You can use these services over your computer to talk with a remote person and/or see them on your screen with the use of a webcam in realtime.
By now, most everyone in the employment marketplace has heard the phrase “interview videos” or “video interviews”. These are canned videos (or stored videos) that contain a job interview, wherein a candidate is usually answering questions they received earlier from an employer, and then the employer can go watch them anytime via online password. These videos are available to view (securely) at any time since they are stored on a server that is available 24 hours a day. A job seeker simply needs access to a computer with a webcam on it (or plugged into it). Usually the built-in microphone on any computer will suffice for audio quality, but many people plug in a stand-alone microphone to enhance the sound when they are recording their videos for their interview.
In some instances, the potential employer will send their preferred interview questions to candidates via email ahead of time, or they will post their questions on their employment website. In these cases, the job seeker simply uses his/her own computer/webcam to videotape themselves answering these questions, and then “uploads” their video clips to YouTube or to a place on the employers website, so the employer can watch it later. Job seekers have to know a bit about technology to do this all themselves.
There are other sites, like our own InterviewStudio.com site, which walk job seekers through this “videos for interview” process in an easy step-by-step tutorial. Candidates get to choose their own interview questions from a list of 20 that are appropriate for their job function. When each question is answered, that video clip gets uploaded automatically to our site where all clips are stored securely behind passwords. Job candidates who choose to do their video interviews this way are being proactive, and have a “marketing tool” to then email out to any employer or recruiter of their choice. In this case, the job seeker owns his/her own showcase including the video interview, and can choose who can view it. Candidates obtain a URL address for their InterviewStudio “showcase” from their account online and they can type this into an email they are sending or can even upload this URL into an applicant tracking system text field to be stored along with their other candidate information.
Videos for interview purposes are becoming more popular with employers, since it saves them several days or even weeks in the screening process. The key is to make sure the videos they are viewing are professional, and useful as a compliant screening tool—meaning that videos for interview purposes will soon have rules and governing guidelines for both job seekers and employers to conform to – whether the video interviews are live or canned for viewing later.
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