One of the trends that emerged through the 120+ #hrwins briefings was the emergence of so many video interviewing solutions. Three years ago there were 2 or 3 vendors to speak of. Today there are at least 10 firms providing video interviewing capabilities to the marketplace. New ones are still popping up on our radar.
The emergence of video as a relevant tool in the hiring process started as a cost saving measure. The ability to interact with someone, live or recorded, and make an initial screening assessment before incurring the time, or travel cost, for an in person interview is compelling. The market has evolved to offer the ability drive more standardized interviews and assessments. Impacting the quality of the hires made, not just the efficiency of the process.
Video is everywhere on the web. Candidates are more comfortable talking to their web-cams. People are more accepting of lesser quality video experiences. Bandwidth continues to increase. The quality of the video capturing tools is increasing. Video, live or otherwise, is realistic on mobile devices and tablets. The market, on the surface, seems ripe for a rush of new video vendors. However, providing a tool that doesn’t do much more than replace Skype, Google, Webex, or GoToMeeting seems like recipe for a short-lived run as a vendor. There has to be more value provided than just the administration of the video interview.
Video as the fundamental cornerstone of a complete hiring process is interesting. Look for the vendors that succeed in this market to take a bigger picture look at Talent Management and the Hiring Process, and then offer extensions of the video technology that really impact quality of hire.
Elsewhere, you can expect video to be embedded in most ATS or Talent Management systems in the next year or two. Stand alone video interview administrators will see prices plummet as their value proposition gets harder and harder to establish in contrast to free video conferencing services, embedded solutions, or those video platforms that are going well beyond pure video interview admin/capture.