We are elated to announce the launch of our new feature, Video Interview. Instead of Team Equip sharing why they chose to build the feature and how it will benefit users, we thought we would let Video Interview answer for itself! This is an interview of Video Interview. So meta, no?
Here's how we imagine how the Interview would go:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi! I'm Video Interview: one of Equip's many amazing features!
I was created to make the lives of recruiters and candidates easier. Interviews have a bad reputation as a harrowing experience. I am here to show you how pleasant and convenient a remote interview process can be.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
The word interview originates from the French word entrevue, meaning to see one another or meet.
It is believed that one of the earliest job interviews was conducted by Thomas Edison in 1921. Unlike interviews as we know them today, it was a written test. For the curious minds, here is a snippet of the questions Edison asked potential recruits.
Source: The New York Times
From peculiar questions on arcane subjects to evaluating job readiness with skill-based questions, interviews have come a long way. Speaking of long, interviews are now conducted across multiple rounds with no end in sight. Look what happened with poor Mike!
Even Google used to conduct over 12 interviews to hire a single candidate. Their staffing team re-designed the process to conduct a single interview with four panellists. It resulted in the same hiring decision for 94% of the cases while saving time and reducing candidates' stress.
Can you tell us about your current role? What do you do exactly?
I empower recruiters to conduct interviews asynchronously. Recruiters can create a Video Interview on Equip by uploading questions in the form of text and videos. The recruiter sends the interview link to the candidate and the candidate can record their answers and complete the entire process remotely!
What are your greatest strengths?
With me:
- You can conduct multiple interviews simultaneously without scheduling them
- Candidates have the liberty to re-record their answers
- A recruiter can standardize the interview experience for all candidates by standardizing the time to think and answer every question
Are you a team player?
Of course! Used with Equip, multiple members of the team can create the interview, and see the results. Or, different members can ask different questions so that the candidate can answer all of them at once.
How do you add value to teams that are hiring?
While teams need to assess skills during hiring, a candidate's personality and outlook is critical too. The response to even a mundane question like, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" can be very illuminating.
As hiring moves online and job postings start to attract multiple applicants, getting on a call to assess every single candidate becomes very difficult. Also, for candidates applying to multiple jobs, scheduling calls with each recruiter, and maybe even multiple teams, becomes stressful.
With me, candidates can take the interview at their convenience. Also, they may feel less stressed about 'facing the camera' if they know that they can rerecord the video, if the option is enabled. Recruiters too can look at multiple responses at once, and make notes directly on the video. This makes the whole process very efficient.
Aren't you a bit impersonal? Doesn't it feel weird to record a video to a question?
Not at all! In fact, the questions can be asked via videos too. As a recruiter, you can record your own video and the candidate first sees the video and then answers the question via a recorded video. So, the whole experience will feel like a conversation for the candidate.
In fact, I encourage recruiters to record their questions as videos because it puts the candidates at ease.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Sipping a mimosa in Hawaii. No, seriously! Fine, fine. I will answer to the point.
As jobs move remote, and there is less in-person interaction, I do think that people's "soft skills" will become more important. The best way to measure people's soft skills online is via a video. I think more teams will use me to get to know their candidates better.
I don't claim that teams will completely do away with a two-way video interview. But, they will definitely use me to know which of the candidates they want to engage with for the next round.
Where can I meet you?
You can see my, er, performance by visiting this link. If you want to work with me, you can get onboarded on Equip and you will see me on your dashboard!
