HireVue – Something Smart For HR

Hirevue - taking the interview higherI’m obviously a proponent of you, as a career manager (you are managing your own career, aren’t you?). I’m also quite interested in this entire broken process of landing a job, from all angles. There are problems with recruiters, there are problems with HR, there are problems with job boards, etc. When I hear new ideas that remedy any of those problems I get pretty excited, with some bleak hope that the idea of supply and demand of talent will be an enjoyable, pleasant thing 🙂

Excited is how I felt when I learned about HireVue. The concept was designed by a hiring manager at HP who couldn’t believe all the inefficiencies in interviewing people – specifically when these people were flying in from all over the place. Compound that with trying to coordinate hiring manager schedules and travel, … it can be a real mess.

Also, doesn’t it suck that we get a few minutes to impress the interviewers but they really don’t have anything to go back to, to see how brilliant our answers really were, or how cool and sophisticated we were in the interview? There are, of course, other problems.

That’s where HireVue enters the picture… and as a candidate (that’s what they call us “job seekers”) I got pretty excited. HireVue contracts with the company, for example, HP, works with hiring managers (or HR) to get the interview questions set up, and then sends out cameras to each of the interviewees. The interviewee then sits at home (or school, or somewhere with a high speed connection) and does an interview online. They do it when it is convenient for them.

Once the interview is done the hiring managers and HR get to watch, comment on, share thoughts about, and compare each of the interviewees. From there they can decide which interviewees to take to the next level (probably an on-site interview).

I can see pros and cons to this process. For me (as a candidate and hiring manager) the pros far outweigh the cons.

I would REALLY like to see more companies move forward with something like this – I think it makes them look more hip and cool, and definitely more efficient. It plays well to the YouTube generation, although I can see techno-phobia people worried – but you can get coached on how to do an excellent video interview.

I think HR is sleeping on the job for not picking up on this more. Doesn’t it make sense for recruiters and outplacement to fit this in also?

Oh, one more thing I know the founder (Ryan Money) and his partner (Mark Newman (mnewman @ hirevue.com)). Ryan just stepped into a Chairman position and Mark is now the CEO. Mark is very, very sharp – I look forward to watching their progress under his command!

What do you think about this type of stuff? Have you done an interview like this (a phone interview is quite different, by the way)? Would you be impressed or intimidated by an interview like this?

5 thoughts on “HireVue – Something Smart For HR”

  1. Who has time to watch all that video? As Scoble recently proved in spades, absoutely nobody. If a hiring manager can’t pick up the phone for 5 minutes, they certainly can’t watch a 30 minute video that doesn’t allow conversation. I’m sorry but I think this video movement is good for the companies creating the video collection and nobody else. Not to mention the potential privacy issues of this content. You could write another book on that topic Jason!

    Hiring managers adn other key decision makers only need to go to a major search engine and find the thought leaders on subjects then contact them directly. In addition to experience as a key player in top companies and a hold of a top 10 MBA, some examples of the concept include that also prove my SEO and blogging skills include:
    https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=DGUS,DGUS:2006-25,DGUS:en&q=mobile+search+marketing
    https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=DGUS%2CDGUS%3A2006-25%2CDGUS%3Aen&q=chicago+marketing+leadership
    https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=DGUS%2CDGUS%3A2006-25%2CDGUS%3Aen&q=san+jose+mba+resume

    The best company I ever worked for did all of it’s sourcing from real people within the departments that actually did the job – not temporary employees that never have! It’s funny how we always could pick out the best people – especially the outstanding candidates that didn’t neatly fit a Dilbert style keyword checklist.

  2. This would be a much better way to conduct a non-hiring interview. For example, this could replace the “phone” interview. It allows the hiring manager to set up the questions for the interview, then have screening done by either HR or the hiring manager. Certainly the “OK” candidates could then be viewed by the hiring manager.

    I wouldn’t use these as a manager to actually make the hiring decision. That still needs to be face to face. The candidate needs to see the a manager and working environment and the manager would have a good check on the video.

    A good find, Jason. And smart work makes for a success for HireVue.

  3. This is a terrible idea. Bad bad bad. It should be killed and bulldozed.

    When does the “put the candidate through the hoops” stop? Pee in a cup. Give us your credit report. Don’t apply unless you’re already employed. Pretend like you live to suck up to the moron who’s going to be your boss…. yadda yadda yadda.

    I would never in a million years work for a company that wanted to “create a record” of my interview. All I can say it will make the lawyers a ton of money.

  4. I think Scot hit it on the head with his comments. This is not the new, revolutionary way things are, or are going. But to fit the current hiring process right now (albeit broken), I think this is a great solution. Why? What if I have a candidate pool of about 30 people that I want to interview, and a few others are involved in whittling the list down? There is no way that we’re going to fly in a bunch of people from across the country (or internationally), and getting my peers to coordinate schedules is a nightmare. I think that’s the simplest example to make a case for Hirevue’s technology/solution.

    David, I agree with you in general but I think you are missing the point. Scot says that this is not technology to use “to actually make the hiring decision,” but it would be something to help get that short list put together.

    Comparing this process of watching interview videos to watching Scoble talk about technology and trends is apples to oranges… as a hiring manager I’d much rather sift through 30 short video interviews to come up with a list of my five fav’s than have to try and coordinate on-site travel, schedules, etc. It’s like e-mail or IM – I can do it when I want, and my peers can fit it into their schedules as appropriate.

    But it is not the final tool for the final decision. That should still be done in person (and with the research that you allude to) – Hirevue is just a tool to help me whittle the list down.

    Private Citizen, the days of respect to an employee or candidate are, I think, long gone. I don’t see a video interview as such a horrible thing… from a hiring manager perspective I welcome something that helps make the process easier and I would jump on this. As a potential interviewee I better start brushing up on my skills so that my interview doesn’t keep me OFF of that short list.

    I’m certainly not saying that “it” is fair (peeing in a cup, giving the credit report, etc.)… but I don’t see this broken system getting better anytime soon.

    Does anyone??

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