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It’s Time to Humanize the Recruiting Process

Employers

The case for eliminating video interviews

By Jeff Herzog, President of FPC National

If you feel like the recruiting and job interviewing process has become impersonal, cold, and distant, you are not alone. As the rate of video interviewing and electronic applications rose during the pandemic, candidates’ feelings of disengagement and isolation increased as well.

Sure, video interviewing had its shining moment during lockdowns. After all, employers were faced with staffing hurdles, as it became close to impossible to conduct in-person interviews to fill open positions. And candidates were unable to secure new employment, as their job searches couldn’t get past the initial stages. Without videoconferencing, many more jobs would have remained vacant.

But now that lockdowns are in the past and companies can resume in-person meetings, there is no longer a need to rely on video interviews. And yet, many companies are refusing to give up this practice.

Why?

Breaking News: Job Seekers are People

For many people, the job-search process is one of the most stressful experiences they will ever encounter. One of the reasons for this is the lack of a personal touch during the process. Resumes are submitted into faceless databases, responses are autogenerated, and interviews are conducted through a computer screen.

This is no way to treat job candidates. Not only does it demoralize and intimidate the job seeker, but it creates a negative impression of your organization. While video interviews have their place in long-distance meetings and preliminary candidate screenings, they cannot replace the personal touch of in-person conversations.

Authentic Conversations

While a lot can be learned about candidates and recruiters during video interviews, there are many nuances and impressions one gets from in-person interactions that are missing. Recruiters cannot get an adequate read of a person’s true essence via videoconferencing. Subtle mannerisms, expressions, and reactions are lost when speaking through Zoom.

In addition, seeing how candidates interact with others face-to-face tells a lot about their confidence levels, interpersonal skills, and communication styles. Old school executives speak about the importance of a hearty handshake to learn the true character of an individual. While this may not be a valid measurement, there is a lot one can ascertain about someone from sitting directly across from them.

Just as video dating is a poor substitute for in-person dating, so is relying on this technology during the recruiting process. After all, would you be willing to extend a marriage invitation to someone you have never met in person?

Culture is Key

It is clear that in-person interviews provide nuanced insights into the character traits of job seekers and recruiters, but they also have another benefit, which can play a leading role in the hiring process. When prospective employees visit a company’s location, they also get a sense of the organization’s culture. They can see first-hand how people interact with one another, the demeanor and attitude of employees, and the general feel of an organization. This is close to impossible to detect during video interviews.

Companies have the opportunity to use the interview process to showcase their state-of-the-art facilities, office amenities, happy employees, and positive organizational culture. This goes a long way in impressing a job candidate!

There’s a reason that FPC National operates with the motto, “It’s all about the people.” We understand that the recruiting industry plays an important part in bettering the lives of those we serve – both our client companies and job candidates. Our hundreds of recruiters nationwide all understand that applicants are more than their resumes; they are people with goals, fears, hopes, and dreams. For this reason, we believe wholeheartedly that it’s time to humanize the recruiting process!

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