Why aren’t you using video interviews for executive recruitment?

Executive recruitment is an odd business. The industry serves some of the most exciting, innovative and technologically advanced companies in the world. And yet headhunters stubbornly refuse to adopt widely available technology that could significantly enhance their service.

There are numerous areas executive recruiters can improve upon, but none have quite the same potential to revolutionize the market as video conferencing.

The best businesses start with the client. How can they make their lives easier? How can they make a service quicker and more flexible? How do they make it more cost-effective?

For executive recruitment, video interviewing answers all of the above.

Online video facilitates a greater number of immersion sessions and interviews; it’s faster, cheaper and more thorough (at the sourcing stage) than face-to-face meetings.

So what’s holding the industry back?

Face-to-face interviews don’t guarantee ROI

There is still too much reliance on face-to-face interviews, among clients and recruiters alike.

It’s not surprising, really. They’re the intuitive option. But it’s easy to fall prey to subjective reasoning, rather than pragmatic decision making.

Successful businesses are accustomed to choosing investments or products that offer the highest return. They do this by limiting emotional factors, assessing the evidence and making rational decisions; is paying the highest price for the perceived ‘best’ product really always the optimal solution? Or can another solution meet your requirements for a fraction of the price?

Video conferencing enables you to ‘look candidates in the eye’ and put them on the spot – offering most of the advantages of face-to-face meetings at a fraction of the cost. This is particularly valuable when managing cross-border placements.

Remote interviews are not necessarily a direct replacement, but a compelling additional tool that can streamline and reinforce the process up until the final round of face-to-face interviews.

Interviews should be supported by a stringent vetting process

Handshakes only recognize deals; they shouldn’t seal them. Charisma can often trump competence and holes can appear when the interview performance is a distant memory.

Video conferencing enables recruiters to assess far more candidates – in greater detail – and for clients to review many more than they would face-to-face in the same time, not least on the same budget.

It also allows candidates to communicate their personalities and experience, while sharing engaging content and thought leadership that can prove their credentials.

Overcoming perception around video conferencing to focus on value

Video interviews allow employers to refine a broad talent pool and progress only the very best potential candidates to the final round. When considered objectively, the only real barrier to widespread implementation is perception; the world of executive recruitment is still fixated on tradition, at the expense of evolution.

Clients and recruiters alike are ready for a change in mindset as well as technology. For all but the highest level, most politically influenced appointments, video meets or exceeds the needs of businesses and candidates and should form a key component of the process.

It’s time to critically assess the objections, realize the opportunity and reap the rewards.