Job interviews that lack interviewers, a product of pandemic

Somuch of ourwork lives has moved online during the pandemic: group meetings, chats with the boss — even interviewing for a new job. The pandemic has also led companies to conduct “interviews” without an interviewer. Job applicants arebeing askedtovideo record answers to set questions about their experience, skills and personal qualities, rather than speaking with a recruiter by phone or video chat.

So-called case questions that pose a business problem andwould typically lead into a 30-minute conversation with a hiring manager may nowrequire solely written responses. Online tests in the form of games aim to measure job-seekers’ cognitive and personal traits.

The newsystems are used most often for high-turnoverhourly jobs like fast-food worker, phonerepresentative orwarehouseemployee, said Madeline Laurano, founder of Aptitude Research, a firm based in Boston that studies business hiring practices. But the systems are beginning to be used more often for professional jobs, too, especially in the financial, consulting, technology and health industries, she said.

Recruiters who use the systems no longer have to spend large parts of their days in the back and forth of scheduling interviews — the software handles that. The company can evaluate more applicantsbyreviewingmore videos, writtenresponsesand game results, less encumberedby interviewers’ schedule restrictions.

Hiring bias, too, can be reduced using the new technology, since each applicant is asked the same questions in the sameway, making performances easier to compare objectively. NickyHancock, amanagingdirector for Alexander Mann Solutions, which helps financial institutionsworldwide do their hiring, said that recording candidates’ answers to a set of standardquestionswasfairer.

“The face-to-face interviews don’t really work that well because there is unconscious bias, and some peoplemay not knowhowto do an interviewwell,” she said.

Some of the new systems can contact references, answer questions about benefits using chatbots and send along training modules to newly hired employees. Some offer interviewtips to candidates before they start the process, Laurano said.

Job seekers can complete the interview tasks when it is convenient, rather than work around the recruiter’s schedule. That’s a popular feature, said Kevin Parker, chief executiveandchairman of HireVue, a firm based in Utah thatmakes online interview tools.

Sixty percent of the nearly 5 million interviews conducted so far this year using his company’s video recording softwarewere completed after work hours, Parker said, and 40% of thosewere recorded on Sundays. Unlike the experience of an in-person meeting, applicants can try again if they don’t like the way they answered a question (by rerecording a video).

Hancock’s team uses recorded interviews and assessments for hourly and early career professional candidates and is beginning to expand their use for higher level and specialty positions. The specialty jobs may have their own online assessments, Hancock said. Codility andHackerRank are two tools, for example, that might beused to test the programming acumen of softwareengineers. Hourlyworkers might be asked to write or record answers to situational questions like, “If a customer came to you with a complaint you couldn’t resolve, whatwouldyoudo?”

There are challenges. Ajob seeker who starts off shakily but pulls together and finishes strong may not have their whole video watched by the recruiter. Technical snafus still happen. It can also be harder for applicants to knowwhom to contact to checktheirapplicationstatus.

Sofia Tobón, a college junior, has applied for 15 banking internships thisyear, and most required her to do a recorded interview, which was evaluatedtodetermine if shewouldmake it to the next round of interviews, with people. “It feelsweird,” she said of the lack of feedback.

Still, the more recordings she did, the more comfortable she became.

Tobón said the recorded processalsorequiredanadditional level of preparation. Like many job applicants, Tobón has put together a stable of stories to answer typical queries like, “Give an example of your creativity,” or, “Tellmeabout a challenge you faced.” Those stories vary in length, but in the case of the recorded interview, a specific time limit is set, so Tobón had to deliver her answers within that parameter.