“Hear Me Out!”: Recording Conversations Makes Recruiting Better for Everyone

Much has been said about how it is a “candidate’s market” today because of all the choices and hiring sprees anticipated in 2020. However, it is still true that hiring managers and recruiters have the ability to add (and extract) value to and from the candidate experience via their business processes and technologies.

In developing recruiting technology, there are three stakeholders for whom to build: hiring managers, recruiters, and the candidates themselves. One phase of recruiting that affects and influences all three of these stakeholders is interviewing. According to HR.com, 62 percent of businesses with 1,000 or more workers conducted video interviews in 2018. It is the most effective step to understanding the motivations and capabilities of both hiring managers and candidates. Yet, it is also a significant undertaking that requires trust, patience, and coordination. How is technology currently playing a role in the interview process and how can it further its impact in the future?

The easy answer: the proliferation of audio and video components in the screening process will undoubtedly change the way companies recruit in the future.

The case for recording interviews between candidates and hiring managers or recruiters is strong, but is met with some skepticism and criticism mainly due to efficacy and privacy concerns. There are definitely better ways to implement such a practice and key factors to be aware of before moving forward. Before getting into the risks, let’s discuss the positive implications of bringing more rich media into what might be, for many, an outdated screening process.

Rich Data.

Capturing video and audio components during a conversation allows for two big data capture moments: transcriptions in text and audio formats and subsequent categorization of that data. With the right eye, this creates actionable insights to search within a database. Transcripts from audio and video inputs provide a lot more data than simple, bulleted notes from a human. In addition, today’s transcription software has a lot of functionality, specifically around NLP (natural language processing). This would allow teams to categorize specific parts of a conversation, recognize predetermined descriptors, and flag it for the user, which would automatically drive insights directly from the conversation. More data like this would also equip potential collaborators (data scientists/engineers) with the ammunition to better categorize and predict the insights within your database.

Bias Reduction.

The resume has become a static, shallow document. It now serves as fodder for an ATS A.I. to filter out candidates and an administrative prerequisite to make a candidate eligible to hire. Tremendous bias exists based on the assumptions made from a written resume, even with all of the tools used to analyze them. Name, gender, experience, etc. can all be blockers within an ATS or a recruiter’s selection criteria.

By infusing more data around the screening process, we can further reduce bias in the hiring process. Candidate conversations are the most intimate look at how a candidate communicates, how they carry themselves, and what they are looking for next. A recorded video call can serve as a much more effective screen that allows hiring managers and recruiters to spend more time assessing a candidate on the basis of their merits and personality, rather than just what they are on paper.

Faster Insights.

Much of the time, an external headhunter will conduct the initial outreach and screening of candidate before sending over directly to the hiring manager, who would then proceed to screen the candidate again, asking them pretty much the same questions that the recruiter asked them in the first place. This is not only an incredibly frustrating candidate experience, but also wastes time and money for both the recruiter and the client.

Sending snippets and highlights of a 30-minute screening call can eliminate wasted time and resources. With audio and visual feedback, hiring managers can simulate their own first screens earlier in the process. If a hiring manager can instead watch 5–10 minutes of a candidate’s screening time with a recruiter, they would forego wasted time to schedule a separate screen and can move directly into the in-person interview process. As video/audio components increase in candidate profiles, hiring managers and recruiters will need to spend less time on the vetting procedures that typically happen at the top of the funnel.

Better Planning.

Data-driven insights about candidates interviewing for the organization will pay dividends for years down the road. Equipped with such information, Talent leaders will be able to make increasingly informed decisions about talent sourcing, acquisition, and hiring practices. With more data infused into candidacies, one can easily track the successful hires over time. Specific attributes will then arise as keys to success in a particular role that may not have been captured with just a traditional phone screening process in which data is not captured effectively.

Now, the specific ways candidates have impacted their previous organizations, the confidence they exhibit in their phone/video interviews, and other subjective factors that are now tracked as part of the candidate experience are now important levers for future recruiting

Risks

Privacy is always going to be a part of the conversation when it comes to…well, our conversations. With the stories associated with our data being used for ulterior motives, the hesitancy to voluntarily allow screening conversations to be recorded is completely valid. In order to make sure we are being completely transparent, secure, and fair in this endeavor, a few things must happen to mitigate the risks and minimize discomfort.

Give Data Control to Talent. Candidates need to feel comfortable in knowing that they have control over the data that is extracted from their conversations. So, in utilizing these components within a screening process, it is imperative that candidates are (1) notified, (2) given the option to opt-out, and (3) have subsequent understanding of the use of said screening data.

Prioritize Security. As with any technology platform, reducing the risk of infiltration or compromised data is simply table-stakes now. Making sure the necessary security architecture is utilized and checkpoints in data security are met will be an important conversation that must happen between engineering leaders. Features like two-factor authentication, SSL secure communication, role-based access control, and others should all be seriously under consideration.

Be Transparent. Open and honest communication is always the foundational key to any relationship, especially with candidates. They should be consistently made aware of the privacy, control, and security measures that are put in place in relation to data related to their profile. As long as this is the case, the feedback loops will be consistent and open as well so that technologists can continuously iterate on improving the candidate experience.

About Careerlist

Careerlist is on a mission to make recruiting better for everyone.

Careerlist is building the first modern talent platform, pairing the industry’s top recruiters with technology that transforms the job search experience for candidates. The company provides software to recruiters to eliminate busy work and help them become more efficient. Meanwhile for talent, Careerlist opens the doors to thousands of hiring managers around the world directly for the vetted candidates they represent through their software.

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