Employers like the flexibility and cost savings of video screening platforms. But experts say the technology is evolving faster than our comfort level with it.
Government departments and big employers are increasingly embracing a new form of candidate screening for jobs. (Source: Getty/MyInterview)
A NSW public servantapplying for a new jobwas left taken aback by a surprise requirement of the hiring process, leaving her caught off guard and completely flunking the interview. It'sa growing trend in the hiring processamong large corporations and governments, but industry experts worry that most people aren't emotionally or psychologically prepared for it.
The worker, who is on a fixed term contract due to expire and wished to remain anonymous, recently applied for a job in a different state government department. She soon opened an email which directed her to a video platform where she had three days to complete an interview task for the job.
You get two attempts and I stuffed up the first attempt. And the second attempt I was mid sentence and I ran out of time, she toldYahoo Finance.
I wasn't expecting full, proper interview questions. I wasn't prepared for that.
The woman was asked to answer a handful of questions as they popped up on a screen before it began to record and she delivered her spiel to the camera on her computer.
You have like a minute or a minute and a half to digest the question and then it starts recording, she explained.
I was a bit caught off guard. I tried to prepare but I didn't realise it was going to be, like, a full interview.
Rather than in-depth questions about her capabilities, so early in the process she was expecting more cursory initial questions about why she was interested in the role.
Days after the video task she received an email telling her she wouldn't be going any further in the process.
I failed, she toldYahoo Finance.
The video interview platform used by the NSW government in this particular case was a company called MyInterview. The software provider promises to screen candidates at scale and optimise your recruitment journey.
Once applicants clicked the link provided in the email from the Talent Acquisition Team, a video from the company includes a woman describing the process as simple, quick and fun.
Candidates get a couple bites at the cherry when recording their responses. (Source: MyInterview)
It's unclear if candidates applying for NSW public service jobs are assessed to fail the screening task without human input from the department. But MyInterview promotes the use of AI to automatically screen and score candidate videos, saving you valuable time.
Yahoo Financecontacted the NSW government for comment.
The worker is currently employed by Transport for NSW but was applying for a job at the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure. The former iscurrently undergoing a restructuring with nearly 1,000 white collar jobs to goas well as 300 senior roles to be axed.
After speaking to a colleague, the woman said she has learned how heavily the various departments are embracing the AI-enabled platforms inthe hiring process.
It's all video interviews. So you need to prepare and practice your answers, she was told.
I've just been advised to practice for videos, like it's all going to be videos, the job hopeful toldYahoo Finance.
It's just going to be the new way of working.
It's not entirely new, however, as she did recall doing similar video tasks when joining her current department a few years ago.
My boss was saying when she was recruiting for a role last year, there were like 30 videos, and they just get different people to look at them, she added.
Job seekers need to adjust to new 'psychological landscape' of hiring process
Recruiting expert Roxanne Calder says the video interviewing technology has become increasingly embraced by large employers and governments to cope with the volume of applicants. But the anecdotes and research she has seen makes her believe most job candidates aren't ready for the new reality. It's moving faster than people's emotional comfort level with it.
It changes the psychological landscape of that early stage hiring, she toldYahoo Finance.
When I've done some research, people describe it as cold, stressful, dystopian. Some people say they froze up. They feel judged before they even started. They get caught off guard, and when people are like that, you're not getting the best from them.
Typically, questions pop up on the screen before a countdown appears to the moment of recording.
That’s the part that catches people off guard. People feel a bit rushed and find it cold, Calder said.
It's definitely high pressure. There's no body language cues. There's no warm up, there's no ability to regulate your nerves because there's no other human read on that.
The Managing Director at EST10 recruitment said it's a necessary tool for many large employers due to the nature of online job applications meaning some roles attract a huge number of applicants, especially in times of high unemployment.
As a result, employers are embracing the third party platforms for the flexibility and cost savings they provide around the early-stage hiring process.
Because a job is online, everyone and their dog applies for it, Calder said. So companies are forced into a situation where they have to get some efficiencies and productivity around how they do their hiring selection at the initial stages.
But the question is; is the video the right level? Does it need tweaking, which I think it does, she said.
It's moving faster than peoples' emotional comfort level with it.
She also raised concerns that it ultimately rewards people who can appear confident on camera, which reshapes who makes it through to the hiring stage.
The official line is that there's no AI deciding the outcomes but what the AI does is assist with key word detection, the tone and mood, and confidence markers, she explained.
For workers in the job market, her advice is to think about what questions you might get asked when facing such video tasks and practice answering them in a specific timeframe in front of a camera.
