6 Reasons Why Pre-Recorded Video Interviews Beat Live Video Interviews

In one of our blog posts, we explained the differences between the uses of pre-recorded and live video interviews. In short, typically, pre-recorded video interviews are used for applicant screening, and live interviews are used as an alternative to face-to-face interviews. You can use live interviews for applicant screening as well, but pre-recorded interviews would be more effective for this purpose, and here are our 6 reasons why: 

1. Pre-recorded video interviews are more time-efficient

The way pre-recorded video interviews work is very simple—you record several video questions and invite your candidates to the interview; candidates then record their video answers for you to screen with your recruiting team.

Pre-recorded interviews allow you to ask all your candidates the most important questions at once, helping you identify the top candidates early on in your recruitment and saving you time. Live interviews, however, require you to have individual interviews with each of your candidates to ask them the same main questions and spending a lot of time and energy on it.

2. No need for scheduling

Scheduling can be a nightmare, but with pre-recorded interviews, you don’t have to worry about that. You can record the questions and send out the invitations when it suits you. Same applies to the candidates: they answer the questions when it fits their schedule. For example, if your applicants are already employed, scheduling a live video interview could be difficult (unless you want to steal their lunch break).

3. You can interview more candidates

In pre-recorded interviews, inviting one more candidate to the interview doesn’t mean organizing one more personal interview, but merely spending a couple of minutes reviewing someone’s video answers. This means you can invite more people to the interview without stressing about time constraints. By inviting more candidates to the interview, you’re getting to know more people and increasing your chances of finding the right talent.

4. Introducing candidates to your colleagues is simple

Conducting a live interview with several interviews can get messy and reporting about the candidates to your colleagues verbally or in writing can be exhaustive. However, with pre-recorded interviews, the candidates’ answers are all saved on the platform and can be easily shared with your colleagues. 

Your colleagues can contribute by assessing the candidates based on the videos leaving their comments on the platform. There’s no need for scheduling here either, so your teammates can review the candidates when the time is convenient for them.

5. Invite only the best candidates to personal interviews

Pre-recorded video interviews allow you to get an idea of your candidates’ attitude, personality, motivation, and energy level in a matter of minutes. Based on the video answers from your candidates, you can easily spot the right people for the position. Plus, if you share the videos with your colleagues, you’ll invite more people to voice their opinions about the candidates and challenge each other’s biases. Hiring collaboratively helps you ensure that you’re inviting the most suitable candidates to the next stage. 

If you use live interviews for candidate screening, you run the risk of wasting everyone’s time on unnecessary discussions with wrong-fit candidates. What do you do when you’re talking with your candidate and only a couple of minutes into the discussion, you realize that this candidate is not the right one for you? You can’t just end the interview right there, can you? With recorded video interviews you’ll be able to quickly identify these cases and only personally interview the best fits. 

6. Pre-recorded interviews improve candidate experience

When arranging an interview takes too long, candidates will get frustrated and might look for a job opportunity elsewhere. In pre-recorded interviews, candidates can record their answers and participate in the interview whenever and wherever it’s convenient for them, and they get to express themselves in a video and show themselves beyond the CVs. Plus, candidates can learn about your company and company culture through your video questions and introduction videos, helping you promote your employer branding. 

These are the reasons why according to our 2020 candidate survey, 84% of respondents would recommend video interviews as a recruitment method from the candidate’s point of view. 

All in all, pre-recorded video interviews are a better fit for applicant screening than live interviews—pre-recorded interviews save everyone time, don’t require scheduling, allow you to involve your team in the recruitment process, and provide a positive candidate experience. 

If you’d like to learn more about pre-recorded video interviews, check out our ultimate (ungated) guide covering nearly everything you need to know about the subject.