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Roberta Schmidt

118

Talent Acquisition in North America

10/05/20 at 12:51PM UTC

Career

Automated interviews

Hello, FGB community! I am interested in hearing your experience with automated interviews - e.g. phone screens where you record responses to questions but do not speak to another person directly, or video interviews where you have a time limit to record your response and then send it to a recruiter. Has anyone received an offer after moving through that type of interview? What is your feedback on its effectiveness in ascertaining your fit for a role? Thanks!

Join the conversation...

Joy Resmovits

10/09/20 at 6:02AM UTC

Hey there, I was baffled when I received a one-way video interview with unlimited takes! To be honest, it made me feel self-conscious, like I was preparing an audition tape. It definitely took me a couple of times to nail the rhythm. What helped me in that situation: once I saw each question, I would pause, think it through, write down some bullet points, and try to speak them through once. I left the bullet points right next to my camera. That helped me solve two problems: When I recorded, it was as though I had cue cards, and I felt less aimless in my answers. And secondly, it got my eyes to focus toward the camera and not think about the weird faces I make when I talk. Hope this helps and lots of luck!

Sacha Seraydarian

131

10/06/20 at 10:44PM UTC

Hello Roberta! I haven't experienced the video recording interview myself during the interview process. As a Recruiting leader I have implemented a video recording interview question as part of the application process for internship roles when we know there will be an extremely high volume of candidates with a small recruiting team. It was a way to learn if the candidate could follow directions and help with candidates who did follow directions stand out from the thousands of candidates who applied. I wonder if companies are implementing this more due to the current volume of candidates who are applying to roles and recruiting teams being short staffed due to lay-offs across recruiting orgs. Because it is a bit new to the recruiting field I believe folks are learning what works and doesn't for video/recording interviews. Are the companies sending you a survey after the interview process has been completed? I would hope companies are sending out surveys to candidates to learn what the felt experience is for candidates in their interview process. I'm a believer in having a human and positive interpersonal experience during the interview process, I think this shines a brighter light on what has been building inside organizations and our society for a number of years w/technology play a not so great and sometimes great part. What I have been seeing is, we haven't learned how to leverage technology as a tool to help and get better at what we do....I believe we are at the start of the learning curve at the moment. I see you are in Talent Acquisition as well...if you(or other folks on this strand) are open to connecting to discuss a better way let me know...I LOVE brainstorming new ideas for recruiting, talent management to create new ways that work!

Roberta Schmidt

118

Talent Acquisition in North America

10/06/20 at 11:50PM UTC

Hello Sacha! I would love to connect about this. I recently went through an automated first round interview for a high level role and found it to be impersonal and didn’t allow me to fully represent my skills or personality. I’d very much appreciate an opportunity to connect and discuss ways we can brainstorm ways to keep candidates engaged while managing a high applicant volume. I’ll look you up on LI.

Teresa

Career & Job Interview Coach

10/06/20 at 9:49PM UTC

AI applications in Recruiting are gaining popularity. I can't help but speculate the voice/video responses are processed via AI engines, something like Speech-to-text and generate a score/ranking to indicate the likelihood of a match between you and the job. Again this is a mere speculation and I don't have concrete evidence to back this up. However if any part of this is true I believe a different strategy is necessary to maximize our chances in this setting.

Anonymous

10/06/20 at 9:13PM UTC

I had one of these "one-way video interviews". I felt awkward. I am a good interviewer...at least that is what everyone is telling me. I can relate to many people. Without that feedback, my responses felt robotic. And in my case, it was "one and done". No chance to re-record. My home office is not set up for video. So the lighting was all off. Initially, I was really interested in the position, but after that experience I wasn't so sure. Needless to say, I didn't get the interview. These types of "interviews" are not geared to introverts or people that are not taking selfies and have to be in front of everyone on social media all the time. I think it is said if this is what the process will be in the future. We are humans and need human interaction -- no matter how much of an introvert we are.

Anonymous

10/06/20 at 1:18PM UTC

I was recently laid off due to COVID and in my subsequent employment search, not only have I experienced this type of interview with one organization, I was also asked by another organization via TEXT to respond to automated questions with multiple choice responses for "screening" purposes. I never spoke to a human either time. It was distinctly off-putting and for me, very uncomfortable. It gave me the sense that I was not important.

Anonymous

10/06/20 at 1:35AM UTC

I don't think automated interviews are really beneficial in the long run. It's a simulated interview environment that doesn't really provide the candidate a good platform to represent themselves. My main argument against it is the timed responses. Some of the questions asked required responses that in a normal setting, would've taken much longer than the timed three minutes the computer gave you to answer. In the end, you end up seemingly unprepared. I understand why a company may do this (saves costs while efficiently screens candidates, can view how candidates handle pressure, etc.) but it benefits the company more than the candidate. An interview should be an equal discussion between company and candidate to see if they can mutually benefit each other, not a stress test.

Maria Molinari

565

Team Lead / Project Coordinator

10/05/20 at 3:22PM UTC

I agree with the previous responses, it's lazy and robot like. How can you know this person is your ideal candidate by them just answering automated messages? I have experience with these types of interviews, both talking to an automated system and the other, recording myself and submitting it. I can say I have received an offer after these interviews however I have made the mistake of accepting one of them. I accepted an offer from me recording myself answering questions via video and sending it through. At first, I didn't see the issue but I later learned my values did not align with the values the company said they had, the company also fell short in a lot of other areas as well. Once I submitted my videos I didn't even get a callback, I got an email (very generic by the way) saying please cal such and such to schedule your second interview. I scheduled my second interview and when the interview ended briefly with only discussing a few things I should have known but I accepted the job anyway. I would highly advise to steer clear of these types of interviews and this type of process!! It shows you a lot about the company, the lackluster attempt to hire the best and can really give you a good idea of what the atmosphere will be once hired. We deserve to be treated with as much time, respect and dedication we put in, do not sell yourself short!

Roberta Schmidt

118

Talent Acquisition in North America

10/05/20 at 4:12PM UTC

Thank you! I agree!

Robyn Wick

736

HiEd Professional/PT Fitness Inst

10/05/20 at 2:32PM UTC

A lot of really large organizations are using this for screening prior to bringing in first round interviews. The university that I work for is doing that. It helped our hiring committee discern between what we saw on paper and actual fit because we had a ton of applicants who met the essential qualifications and even some of our preferred quals. All of the other interviews after were live (or at least on zoom due to covid.)

Anonymous

10/05/20 at 1:29PM UTC (Edited)

I participated in an automated video interview once before. It seemed awkward at first but wasn’t too bad. There was a practice portion that allowed me to record a response or two and replay. That was helpful for me to see how I looked and sounded on screen. I watched my replay a few times for practice, then recorded the actual interview. This was for a tech company and only one part of the interview process. I remember having a non-automated phone screen, taking tech and personality/culture assessments, then having this automated interview. There may have been other steps as well (this was in 2018); ultimately I was offered the role. Being that it was only one part of the process, I don’t see anything wrong with it. I also remember the company being very communicative. However, I do agree with Flossy that, depending on the industry, the role, and overall interview process, this may be a red flag for laziness, high turnover, or a company that cares more about numbers than relationships, amongst a host of other potential concerns.

Flossy

1.98k

Client Solutions Consultant

10/05/20 at 1:07PM UTC

It says a lot about the company’s culture. This is lazy talent acquisition. It is one sided as the candidate gets zero feedback or impression of the company. I can see this for high turnover roles. However, I hired for large staffing projects for health insurance call centers. We didn’t need these to place quantity and quality. Might as well take the human & talent out of the department title. You go with a company that hires like this. You a check mark resource like a desk chair.