Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Recruiters Dilemma: Video Interviewing VS. Skype

You know the recruiters’ dilemma: you want to connect with a great candidate, and you want to do so quickly. Thankfully, your company is one of the six in ten employers currently utilizing video interviewing for recruitment success. Unfortunately, you’re just not sure what video interviewing platform to use. After all, isn’t it just easier to boot up Skype?

There are huge differences between using a video interview platform like Spark Hire and performing interviews over Skype. They might both utilize the webcam to help employers and job seekers connect, but that’s where the similarities end. Not every online video platform is created equal and there are certainly benefits to using platforms entirely dedicated to online video interviewing.

So it’s time to pit video interviews in a battle royale with online phone and webcam chat platform Skype. Two shall enter, but only one will be crowned winner when it comes to helping recruiters and employers find the best and brightest.

Connecting In Real-Time

Truthfully, both Skype and online video interviewing platforms can help you connect in real-time with great candidates. These live video interviews are great when it comes to connecting with far-away candidates.

These interviews proceed exactly as if the candidate was on the other side of your desk instead of the other side of the webcam. You can ask questions and receive answers in real-time, and evaluate personality and nonverbal cues.

So what’s the difference between live video interviews and an interview performed over Skype? The biggest difference, which is actually key in a recruitment setting, is the automatic recording of live video interviews. While you need a third-party application to even record on Skype, Spark Hire’s video interviewing platform will start recording automatically. There’s no need to download any additional programs or add any work to your process. Unlike Skype or some other video interviewing platforms, as soon as you start talking to a great candidate in real-time Spark Hire will record the interview for playback later.

Even just to connect over Skype you and the candidate will both need to download the program. Not so with Spark Hire, where everything takes place easily and seamlessly in the cloud. This makes it simple for every candidate to jump on for a quick interview, without all the installation hassle.

Easing Collaboration

Since you can record a live video interview, collaboration with your whole recruitment team becomes much easier. With Skype, you don’t have this automatic recording function, meaning collaboration is far less intuitive.

Video interviewing platforms like Spark Hire also allow your team to take notes and share interviews via custom link. Team members don’t even need to create an account in order to view your best candidates because they can just follow the link. Team members who do create an account, however, can leave notes and compare ratings on a candidate. This makes it easy to weed through the wrong people to find your perfect future employee.

The One-Way Video Interview

The big difference between Skype and video interviewing, however, probably lies earlier in the recruitment process. It’s no secret phone screens are a huge pain in your hiring process. They’re time-consuming and ultimately inefficient. But how do you replace the phone screen and still get a personal connection at the same time?

The one-way video interview is the answer. In a one-way video interview, candidates answer questions on video posed by employers or recruiters. These answers can then be viewed at any time, freeing up your hiring process and continuing to improve team collaboration.

If someone seems like they won’t be a good fit for your organization, you can easily move on to the next candidate without wasting 30 minutes or more on a phone screen. While Spark Hire’s video interviewing platform offers employers the option to utilize and share these time-saving one-way video interviews, they just don’t exist on the Skype platform.

Better Employer Branding

Having a strong employer brand is an essential way to look attractive and professional to great candidates. Candidate experience within the hiring process is important, and too many companies skimp on this essential aspect of the recruiting process.

Unlike Skype, Spark Hire can become a branded extension of your recruitment process. With Spark Hire, you can upload your company logo and apply a color scheme to the video interviewing interface, so your candidates get a completely branded experience from start to finish.

Connecting With Passive Candidates

One-way video interviewing also makes it much easier for passive candidates to find a moment to record a one-way answer. Since one-way video interviews are asynchronous in time, even the busiest passive candidate can take a few minutes out of the daily grind to answer questions on video. They can even record these answers from their favorite mobile device! One-way video interviews are a major reason to skip out on Skype and use a dedicated video interviewing platform instead.

And The Winner Is…

Two video interviewing platforms entered the hiring thunderdome, but only one can be crowned winner. While Skype is a great platform when it comes to keeping in touch with friends and family, its use in a recruitment setting is less impressive.

Dedicated video interviewing platforms like Spark Hire allow recruiters and employers to fire up their webcam and form a more personal connection. It allows you to save time, save money, improve your employer brand, and even increase team collaboration. It’s the clear winner when it comes to helping you find the top talent you need for your company.

 

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