10 Live Video Interview Challenges (+ Solutions)

When a job is posted online, it attracts on average 250 resumes, out of which only 4-6 candidates are called for interview. But, that was when things were ‘Normal’ — when candidates can easily travel to participate in interviews anywhere around the globe.

In the new normal, the hiring and interviewing processes have dropped 60-64% due to the compliance of lockdown. Alone in India, post lockdown, more than 100 million jobs are at risk, and new job openings are nil due to the problem of conducting job interviews. 

Things are looking pretty bad right now, but if recruiters start conducting the live video interview,  they can revive the economy can once again and get things back on track. Unfortunately, right now, not many people have advanced knowledge and adequate tools to host live video interviews. But, we can assure you one thing after reading this complete post, you can understand the meaning of video interviewing and how to overcome challenges tagged along with it. 

What is a Live Video Interview?

If you have invited candidates for a job role, but due to circumstantial conditions, you aren’t able to schedule interviews quickly, candidates are going to drop out of your process. As per CareerBuilder, two-thirds of candidates dropouts in less than two weeks if they don’t get follow-up interview calls. Furthermore, if companies try to eliminate the interview process to fasten up the recruitment process, the Harvard Business Review states that 80% of retention problems can arise with a bad hire. 

So, what to do?

Video Interview! It is the perfect solution for companies to reduce hiring time without compromising quality. Video job interviews are becoming one of the prominent parts of hiring. With the help of video communication tools, recruiters can schedule virtual interviews with potential candidates. In this setup, recruiters and candidates don’t have to physically go anywhere – they can commute through a screen over the internet. 

Video job interviews can be conducted in two ways – pre-recorded and live video interviews. In pre-recorded interviews, candidates just have to record a small demo of their work and personal information and share it with the recruiter. Now, in this style, the recruiter can’t ask spontaneous questions, judge body language, or analyze the candidates’ professional appearance. Thus, a pre-recorded interview isn’t a feasible option. 

To eliminate shortcomings of pre-recorded video interviews, live video interviews are conducted where candidates join with recruiters through platforms like Skype, Google Hangouts, XoForms, or other video conference software. Once both parties are connected, they can speak face to face like physical interviewing. 

This video interview has received a warm welcome from the candidates as 84% of candidates schedule their video within 24 hours, which means hiring time can be reduced drastically. Apart from the swiftness, the live video interviewing sends a positive message about the recruiters among the candidates. When candidates see that an organization is adopting new technologies to facilitate them, it will automatically boost the company’s reputation – 98% of candidates interviewed via video said that the employer was innovative.

The Past and Present Live Video Interviewing Trends

Currently, we are living in two consecutive worlds – before and after COVID-19. This pandemic of the century has shifted the gears of work culture completely. How? One simple statistical comparison can show that – 

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics, merely 7% of U.S. employees worked from home before COVID-19. On the other hand, a study of 30 European nations states that Danes (23%), Dutch (21%), and Swedes (18%) worked from home. 

In the present dynamic, 64% of U.S. employees are working from home. That’s not it, 54% of office workers are planning to quit their office jobs and go remotely working full-time. 

It is clear from the current statistics that employees are motivated toward remote working more today than ever before. Thus, when employees want to work remotely, surely they don’t want to get out of their homes to participate in physical interviews. However, companies need to change recruitment strategies for post-COVID-19 employees. 

Let’s study a small scene between the past and present candidates’ behavior – 

Before January 2020, a potential candidate from New York is willing to travel all the way to San Francisco to participate in a job interview. But today, when crossing one boundary means a series of medical check-ups and 14 days of quarantine, no candidate wants to go through all this hassle to participate in a job interview. Candidates respond more to live video interviews than written ones because they don’t have to go through the hassle of participating in the interviews. It is quite fair to predict that live video interviews will be the future of recruitment. 

Live Video Interview Challenges with Simple Solutions

Change is unavoidable, but the entire acceptance process that comes with a change – often gave birth to numerous challenges. The introduction of live video interviews might have brought a pandora’s box of new challenges and struggles for some people, especially older people who don’t have a good relationship with technology. 

Apart from the technical knowledge, there are plenty of different challenges that live video interviews have thrown ahead of recruiters. However, if there’s a problem, surely somewhere there its solution is also present. And, today we are going to discuss emerging live video interviewing challenges with simple solutions. 

Challenge 1. Unstructured Interview Process 

When you plan to conduct live video interviewing, you have to acquire the right tools and technologies to implement it. From proper communication to skill testing, you need a plethora of tools to commence the interview successfully. For instance, you need Skype to communicate, Zoom to record sessions, GoToMeeting to share screens, and so much more. 

While juggling between all the different platforms, you might lose the interest of your candidates according to CareerBuilder, 81% of candidates desire smooth communication solutions. Thus, it is a challenge to give a proper structure to the video interviews. 

Solution

To conduct a structured online video interview, you need a comprehensive platform where you can host video interviews perfectly. You require a platform where you can see candidates in real-time and assess their skills – something like Xobin. 

For example, if you are missing out on the golden days of whiteboard coding interviews, you are going to appreciate the code pairing and video interview feature. You have access to the vast coding library to test your potential candidates’ coding skills and effortlessly record, schedule, and conduct video interviews. Thus, you have to get the right live video interviewing tool to give a structural note to your recruitment process. 

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Challenge 2. Satisfying your Candidates 

One LinkedIn study has shown that 75% of candidates research the company’s reputation before applying for a job opening. It means if you don’t provide a satisfactory experience to your candidates, they are not going to share good words about your recruitment process. These will eventually reduce your chances of hiring good candidates. 

As we have already mentioned, when candidates have to download numerous new software to complete an interview process, with each complication layer, your business’s reputation goes down. Inefficient live video interviewing can badly influence your company’s reputation. 

Solution

When you use a customized platform to conduct video interviews and test the skills of professionals, you can offer ease to your candidates. By satisfying your candidates, you can challenge the Software Advice report, which concluded that 63% of job seekers reject job proposals. This happens if they didn’t receive satisfactory candidate experience. 

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Challenge 3. Maintaining Consistency 

Online interviewing comes with a pitfall of inconsistency. Under the physical style of interviewing, an interviewer has a complete list of the questions in front of him or her. So, they can ask the same questions to all the candidates and gag reactions from them. The benefit of consistent interviewing is that recruiters can judge candidates without the involvement of personal bias. 

But, in video interviewing, interview takers can’t maintain consistency because they have been screened in front of them plus the duration of video interviews is shorter than the physical interviews. Thus, interviewer takers can forget some questions and make the interview process easier for one person and difficult for another. It could be bad for the reputation of the company too. Now, what? 

Solution

A question library could be a great solution here. When you can add a variety of challenges and questions into the live video interview conducting tool after consulting your team, you can easily ask the relevant questions from the candidates during a live session. Moreover, if you don’t have the right questions with you, using the vast question bank – you can effortlessly find the best interview questions. 

Today, 74% of professionals are using structured interviewing techniques, and you can be part of that elite group by simply creating a list of relevant questions. So, what are you waiting for people?

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Challenge 4. Immense Scheduling Burden 

When you have to conduct one-on-one interviews with 20 job applicants, scheduling becomes a hindrance. You have to check the schedules of different candidates and the interviewing panel, which takes a couple of days or even months due to time differences. It is a pain for 52% of candidates who haven’t received any follow-up within one or two months. And, around 90% of applicants have received monotone and impersonal e-mails. 

Scheduling job video interviews despite all the time zones, availability, and other issues could be a monstrous challenge for recruiters. The latency in the interview scheduling means that the job position will be vacant for a longer period, which isn’t good for the productivity of your business organization. In a way, scheduling is a much more complex activity than recruiters are giving it credit for. 

Solution

Once again, technology can come to your rescue. You can effortlessly schedule live video interviews with your shortlisted candidates from a dedicated tool and allot a particular schedule to each person. This way, you can cut all the interruptions and urgent last-minute tasks. With an adequate scheduling system, you can smoothly conduct video interviews without delaying the process – which will benefit both the company and the candidates. Additionally, integrating a reliable CDN for video streaming ensures optimal video quality and a seamless experience for both you and the interviewee.

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Challenge 5. Honest and Fair Assessment 

According to a report, 81% of people lie during their job interviews. In this, we are talking about a physical interview where candidates and interview takers are face to face. Now, when there’s a screen barrier between interview conductors and participants, how much a person can lie in the live video interview session – is a common worry of recruiters and companies. 

It doesn’t mean that job applicants tell any major lies, but still, lying about their work experience, proficiency level, and other small things can create a problem of a bad hire. One bad roughly costs $15000 to a company; thus, recruiters have to find a method to create a fair and honest online assessment. 

Solution

AI-enabled live interview tools are the perfect way to create an honest online assessment ecosystem. AI tools check the job candidates in two manners – webcam-based proctoring and browser monitoring. 

In webcam proctoring, candidates are requested to keep their webcam switched on during the interview so that the AI-powered proctor can monitor eye movements and other behavior traits to determine the amount of cheating. Under browser monitoring, AI ensures that whether a candidate has opened a web browser during the test or interview. When the recruiter gets a comprehensive report regarding the candidate’s minute activities, indeed, a fair live video interviewing can be conducted. 

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Challenge 6. Complexed Scoring System 

In the physical interviews, candidates have to generally cross through a series of tests and panelists before getting the job. Recruiters compile records of all the tests systematically on a paper sheet so that well-informed decisions can be formulated. 

But, in live video interviews, it becomes trouble for recruiters to keep scores of the individual candidate’s performance. Sometimes, the interviewer has to get input from the seniors, which isn’t possible during live video interviews. On the top, recruiters can’t check the score of the test and analyze the behavior of candidates. Meanwhile, also maintain a proper record. This isn’t possible in the video interview session where candidates just have thirty seconds to two minutes for an answer. 

Solution

When recruiters can’t maintain the proper score, they can’t hire the right candidate – it’s a big problem. So when you can record interviews, it isn’t a problem. Yep, you can record the entire live video interview session and watch it later for a calculative analysis. Furthermore, you can show interviews with your team and seniors to get their feedback too. 

However, before recording the interview session, get confirmation from the candidates because recording without permission is a violation of privacy. Once you have candidates on board with the recording, you can easily make data-driven and analytical hiring decisions. 

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Challenge 7. Analyzing Technical Skills

When you are hiring a candidate for a technical job role, taking the technical test becomes essential. Especially in today’s work environment, where 67% of job seekers want to work in diverse workplaces. It means Indian candidates are intruded to work in New York to get a cultural diversity kick. 

For employers and employees, gaining leverage from job diversity could be highly beneficial. But, while conducting the live interviews, how can a recruiter talk to and evaluate the skills of candidates at the same time? Mostly, screen-sharing tools like Google Docs don’t come with a calling facility, and Skype-like communication platforms don’t support screen-sharing. Now, how come a recruiter can test the technical skills of a candidate during live interviews?

Solution

With a dedicated live video interviewing platform like Xobin. With Xobin, you can conduct a video interview, share screen, and record the entire process on a platform. Additionally, you have a vast coding library available to ask technical questions from the candidates. Using the code editor, you can integrate the testing process while editing, compiling, and running the code. 

For instance, if you want to bring cultural diversity into your web developers team, you can easily hire a remote developer by virtually testing his or her codes. You can enjoy all the benefits of a whiteboard interview where the developer is writing codes live. Also, you can ask questions at the same time, but virtually. In a way, the technical knowledge of a candidate is easier through video interviews as compared to physical testing. 

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Challenge 8. Impersonal Touch 

Today, the majority of job applicants are millennials, or we can say job-hopping generation. If millennials don’t find the job hiring process personalized, they might outrageously reject the job proposal. This could be a great loss of time and resources for the company. Thus, if you don’t want to lose the interest of your millennial applicants, you have to provide them with a personalized job recruitment experience. 

With the personalized interview experience, you can show candidates how much you have analyzed their resumes and made efforts to customize the interview. This way, candidates can work in your company’s culture also. 

Solution

It is pretty simple to create a personalized live video interview experience with the right toolkit. You can make a candidate log where you can access all the relevant information related to your candidates so that you can create a personalized environment. Furthermore, when you have a piece of basic information regarding the candidates, you can skip the introduction part and directly start with the interview process. 

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Challenge 9. Beating the Preparation

Today, if you go online and search for “Job Interview Preparation Tips or Questions”. You will find hundreds of websites revealing the crucial interview questions. Furthermore, 62% of job seekers are evaluating social media to understand the ins and outs of hiring companies, and how can you judge candidates based on their raw talent. 

In the physical interviews, recruiters still have a chance to alter the questions based on candidates’ answers. On the other hand, in live interviews, they can’t ask for counter-questions. The problem here is that when candidates are fully prepared, you can’t access how they will perform under pressure. These could lead to bad hiring.  

Solution

With proficient recruitment software, you get a vast question bank that hasn’t been touched by any online platform. Additionally, questions are designed in a systematic manner so that you can easily put candidates under the spotlight and give a run to their preparation. When you caught candidates off guard, you can access how can they adjust to unfavorable conditions. This will show a lot about impromptu business decisions making abilities. 

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Challenge 10. Secured Environment 

Digital security has been a dark threat for companies and candidates. With the advancement of online commercial activities, it is a big feast for hackers and malware attacks. In this, if you share confidential data of your company over third-party video calling and screen-sharing apps, you have to rely upon the security system provided by the app. It means you have no control over the second, which could be highly dangerous for your business. 

On the other hand, some candidates are also reluctant to share their screens with recruiters. Thus, dark clouds of security are damaging advantageous live video interviews. 

Solution 

Security is a major problem, which can be solved pretty easily. You can add custom fields to gather specific information from your candidates while inviting them. Candidates have to complete a small pre-authentication process, including OTP verification, to start the interview. This way, you can confirm the authenticity of the candidates. 

Similarly, when candidates see that you have a dedicated platform to conduct virtual interviews. So that they will feel safe and won’t hesitate to share a screen with you. With the small authentication test, companies can secure themselves and their interviewers. 

Just Cross the Hurdles 

It’s just a matter of crossing the hurdles, and you will be able to hire the best employees for your organization – remotely. With every new system, some new challenges might come, but there’s no challenge that can’t be conquered. 

Once you have opted for the perfect recruitment software, you can effortlessly cross all the hurdles that come with the live video interview. Over 98% of Fortune 500 companies are using recruitment software to improve their virtual recruitment process. Thus, when you have software to invite, collaborate, compile, schedule, and record live video interviews. In these ways, you can easily conduct flawless interviews.