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Video interviewing may not be ideal, according to study

Posted on July 30th, 2013 Read time: 1 minutes

According to a study published in the journal Management Decisions, video interviewing is bad for everyone involved. Not only did recruiters have a worse impression of candidates when they conducted trial interviews over videoconferencing software, but candidates also thought much less of those interviewing them. These findings are significant to recruiters and the human resources management community at large.

In recruiting talent, whether potential permanent or temporary workers, technology plays an ever-growing role. This is welcome in many instances; sourcing candidates online, for example, exposes every job opening to a larger pool of candidates than ever before. However, as this study demonstrates, it is important to weigh the benefits of technological advances in talent acquisition against their potential risks.

The study authors notably did not recommend that all recruiters cease to use video interviewing. They wrote that it might be better to use for introductory interviews early in the recruitment process, and to depend on face-to-face interaction for final decisions.

Recruiters and hiring managers need to get a sense of who a candidate is as a person, and it may simply be the case that the best way to do so is still through live interaction.

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