The job interview is an ordeal that most people face at some stage in our career. But as video starts to take the place of the face-to-face interview, is it easier or harder now to land your dream job
The job interview as we know it may never have existed if it wasn"t for Thomas Edison. Frustrated with hiring college graduates who lacked the right knowledge, Edison devised the first employment questionnaire to narrow down his applicant pool. The survey was thought to be so difficult that in 1921 the New York Times nicknamed it as "Tom Foolery test" and claimed only a "walking encyclopedia" could succeed. Questions included: "What is the weight of air in a room 20ft x 30ft x 10ft" But today the trick to making a good impression at interview may be less about what you know and more about how you come across on camera.
Looking in the wrong place is just one of the common pitfalls of video interviews, says New York based career coach and blogger Megan Broussard. "It"s tempting to watch yourself in that little box to make sure your hair isn"t in your face or that you"re not making weird facial expressions. But the truth is that it is very distracting to the other party and can come across as shy and even insincere—two qualities both employers and new hires want to avoid. "
The UK company, Webrecruit, reports a steady increase in the use of automated video interviewing over the past few years. Employers can view recorded responses from candidates in their own time. "Clients will input their questions, and then the candidate receives an automated email inviting them to sit the interview," explains Webrecruit"s Leona Matson. "The interviewee can then sit the interview within an allocated time frame, the answers are recorded, and then the client can view it at a time that suits them."
In 2012 employers in the UK spent an average of 10 working days interviewing, 16% of the working week travelling to meet candidates and ￡3,286 reimbursing candidates" travel expenses, according to a survey carried out by Cammio—a Dutch company specialising in online video services.
For large firms with international graduate schemes, the savings can be significant. Sellafield"s graduate scheme cited cost savings of ￡14,000 using video technology to screen interview candidates. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (EONR) also report cutting recruitment costs by 20% using automated video assessments for first-round interviews. Which of the following is NOT true about job interview