First impressions may not count

WEXFORD-BASED Sonru has published new research on why and how its clients use video interviews which show that sometimes first impressions don’t count.

Key findings include how over three quarters of respondents have changed their opinion of a candidate after seeing a video interview.

‘ The Recruiter Experience of Video Interviewing’ white paper presents the findings from over 60 Sonru client companies who together have managed almost 2,000 interview campaigns with over 35,000 candidates. Commenting on the white paper’s publication, Maiken O’Byrne, Head of Client Success at Sonru said:

‘A few years ago, we analysed the data of 12,000 interview campaigns completed on the Sonru system and published our ‘Client Knows Best’ white paper which answered the WHO, the WHAT and the WHEN of Video Interviewing best practice.

‘Now, we’ve taken our analysis a step further by inviting clients to participate in a study to answer the WHY, the HOW and the IMPACT of Interviewing on their recruitment processes. The Why? This white paper shows that the reasons clients enjoy video interviewing can be quite different to the reasons they adopted video interviewing in the first place. The ‘ hidden’ or unforeseen aspects such as candidate selection, team buy-in, and the candidate experience end up being the reasons they’re hooked on video interviewing.

The How? Contrary to the science of first impressions, over three quarters of clients surveyed have changed their opinion of a candidate after seeing the video interview, but it works both ways - to both select and reject applications. Sonru clients don’t judge a book by the cover as the candidates’ appearance and/or the recording environment was found to be the last aspect Sonru clients evaluated.