Interview Innovation.

The application and candidate pre-selection process has undergone massive change but the classic interview method has remained static for many years. All my recent interview experiences are initiated with a phone call, scheduling of a face-to-face meeting, driving on the predetermined date and time, meeting with the key stakeholder, answering a series of questions, and then the long wait.
Today was the first form of interview innovation that I have seen an organization adopt. Granted, there is still a lot to be done, but it is encouraging to see the very first attempts being made. I was still subject to the phone call, appointment making, and long painful drive to arrive at the location at the appropriate time. Once at the facility, I was seated in front of a PC with a webcam. The facilitator logged in and set up the web portal for the session. She then excused herself from the room and I was left to complete the process independently. I went through all the electronic documentation required to ensure I accepted the terms and conditions of the session and proceeded to answer the interview questions while the webcam captured my responses. I could re-record any answers I was not pleased with, and then send the response once sufficiently satisfied. After approving my responses the video uploaded and I was on my way.
A natural next step to this would be to eliminate the appointment and driving. Why bother when all this can easily be done from home? Perhaps this will be the new “CV”, a video capture of specific questions employers really want to ask? I don’t for a minute believe that we will ever drop the face-to-face interview, but perhaps the pre-screening process is enhanced by video-answers before meeting with the candidate. There is a risk in adding this new element to the interview process, and that is a built-in bias propagated by making judgments on a person based on physical appearance. But if such a bias exists it is by no means worsened through introducing the video answer. Intriguing..

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