By David Bradford
Jan. 26, 2012
The job interview has essentially remained unchanged over the last century despite being expensive, inefficient, unstructured and inconvenient. As competition for top talent grows more challenging, an efficient, effective interview grows increasingly important and elusive. With jobs numbers improving and companies gearing up for 2012 hiring, now is the time to reevaluate and transform interview practices to identify best-fit candidates before competitors do.
Now digital interviewing technology combines video- and Web-based solutions with interviewing best practices to redefine the experience for job seekers, hiring managers and HR professionals. This technology offers standardization, interview guides, comparative and collaborative review features, and on demand interviews. With digital interviewing, employers are empowered to deliver a better interview, improve productivity, and identify the best talent faster, easier and cheaper.
How Digital Interviewing Works
Most digital interview platforms are SaaS-based, and the most comprehensive solutions help manage interviews of all types, whether on demand, by video, in-person or by phone. Some offer a range of features – including drag-and-drop question libraries, online interview guides and probes, decision support tools and closed loop reporting – and allow interviewers to compare candidate responses, collaborate and share with other reviewers, and capture structured ratings and feedback electronically. Regardless of the interview type, digital interviewing guides employers through a step-by-step approach to providing a perfect interview experience. Since all feedback is captured electronically, recruiters and managers maintain a closed-loop feedback process, keeping everyone on the same page.
A few components of digital interviewing include live video and on demand interviews. Both connect employers and candidates anytime, anywhere via webcam and broadband Internet connection. Live video interviews support real-time meetings between employer and candidate, whereas on demand interviews provide question prompts to which candidates record their responses.