5 Big Video Assessment Interviews Red Flags and Why They’re Not Valid

To some, video assessment interviews are like an emerging artist. They can be quite misunderstood.

Paperless recruiting is no longer just a passing trend. It’s here to stay. It’s why we’re seeing more and more companies rushing to use video assessment interviews to identify and secure top talent. Nonetheless, they seem to be a tricky business to some. Especially, since many candidates seem to be on their best behavior (or worst). But, it’s a huge leap to reject candidates straightaway just because they looked to the left (are they lying?), had a dodgy background, or were sitting under unflattering lighting.

The truth is, recruiters don’t need an FBI exam to unravel red flags and get the gist of a candidate’s qualifications.

That’s why we’re here to tell you why these red flags are invalid and uncover the truth about video assessment interviews once and for all.

Not having the “best” background

An online video assessment interview lets recruiters into the candidate’s most personal and private space—their home. There are hundreds of guides and articles online that help candidates prepare for video assessment interviews. Maybe they suggest a certain lighting, a distraction-free zone, a spacious area, or a clutter-free background. Either way, although backgrounds can leave recruiters with a great (or bad) first impression – do they really determine whether a candidate is qualified or not? Hardly.

Just because a candidate is sitting behind a huge library, doesn’t mean they’re well-read. Just because a candidate is surrounded by travel souvenirs, doesn’t mean they’re adventurous.

While we can’t deny that having poor lighting and distracting background noises can be disturbing, it’s not always easy for candidates to entirely mimic the office environment or have the perfect setting for their video assessment interview.

Perhaps these candidates live with several roommates, have a bedroom with no desk, struggle with bad internet connection at home, or have no choice but to do the interview in the car ride back home. In truth, there are multiple reasons why candidates don’t have a perfect environment for their video assessment interviews. These mishaps can’t determine on their own whether candidates are qualified or not.

But…if you’re hiring a video producer, we understand that the way they showcase their video skills in video assessment interviews are evidently essential. Especially when you want to see their knack for innovation, details, creativity, and so forth. But unexpected interruptions such as a pet jumping into the background, or a car honking in the background, shouldn’t be a deal breaker!

Exhibiting poor body language

Body language communicates more than words. Not only useful for FBI agents, but recruiters can also benefit from decoding body language to gain insights on what candidates are feeling or thinking.

But the truth is, not all candidates are fans of videotaping themselves. Nor are all of them able to maintain eye contact with the camera.

Lack of eye contact, fidgeting, bad posture, biting nails and hair twirling are quickly taken as red flags by many HR professionals. Now despite the fact that these body language cues might signify nervousness or unpreparedness, they don’t always prove to be true. Meaning, don’t be in a rush to raise these red flags. Keep in mind that when candidates are put under the spotlight, they tend to get nervous regardless of how qualified or outgoing they are. It’s part of human nature. So don’t wait on a tic to disqualify them.

Now despite the fact that many video assessment interviews allow candidates to retake their responses and check how they look and sound, it’s still not easy to nail the way they exhibit their body language. Instead, we encourage recruiters to help these nervous candidates prior to their video assessment interviews. Perhaps share some useful tips and tricks, send a video assessment sample, or tell them what to expect in advance. For example, with Elevatus’ video assessment interviews recruiters can add an employer video that welcomes candidates and offers a couple of useful tips.

Now, we can’t argue that if you’re hiring a candidate who’ll have to speak to clients through videos or give online demos – video assessment interviews will undeniably give you a glimpse at how well they’ll perform in the future. The only time poor body language might be a true red flag is when it’s taken to an extreme. Such as if a candidate is laying down on the bed, wearing pajamas, or showing excessive signs of tension, or exaggerated behaviors.

Having technical difficulties

Nothing ruins a video assessment interview like a bunch of technical issues that spiral out of control. Commonly, another reason why candidates struggle with video assessment interviews is because they’re not acquainted with the tech requirements, the video interviewing software or hardware setup. Unlike surfing the internet, conducting video assessment interviews requires more capacity. As a tip, try sending candidates simple guidelines ahead of their video assessment interview to prevent such issues in advance.

However, no matter how prepared candidates are and no matter how fast the internet is – technical difficulties are sometimes out of our control.

It doesn’t mean that the candidate is unprepared, unprofessional, or looking for an excuse to opt out. It’s common for the camera or microphone to get disconnected or the PC to restart on its own. The moral of the story is; don’t be quick to judge candidates based on things that are out of their control.

Although, if you’re hiring for tech roles, the way candidates face troubleshooting issues will say a lot about their character and skills. So pay close attention to how they’ll react. If they panic and have a fit about a miniscule technical difficulty – how will they resolve such issues and help others when they face such tech setbacks too? In this case, it’s only reasonable to consider this as a red flag.

Giving poor or inaccurate answers

Resumes don’t always gauge true potential, nor do they fully tell you whether candidates have what it takes to excel at a job. If you’re looking to unravel soft skills from resumes alone, you won’t exactly succeed. Through video assessment interviews you can get to see if your perfect-on-paper candidate is perfect in reality too.

But when candidates give cliché answers, one-worded responses or sound disinterested, it becomes equally hard to gauge their true potential. But before jumping to the decision of disqualifying them, take a moment to truly understand why they responded the way they did.

Bear in mind, that when you ask candidates cliché questions, they tend to give the most basic answer. It’s because they’ve probably heard the same question time and time again, and the response is automatically stored in their memory. So why not try a different approach? You can give candidates a fictional scenario and you can bet that their answer won’t be “cliché”.

And if candidates are giving one-worded answers, it might be because your questions aren’t open-ended or because they haven’t done a video assessment interview before. Maybe the lack of live interaction is the reason they’re falling into a robotic tone. Or the questions are too plain and vague. Either way, opt to drop candidates a phone call or an email prior to the interview to introduce yourself and help them feel more at ease while conducting the video assessment interview.

Nevertheless, if you’re asking the right questions, setting the right tone, and doing everything right, but the candidate still answers poorly, this could indeed be a red flag. Keep in mind that truly motivated and driven candidates will do their homework and take their video assessment interviews fully prepared. They’ll do their best to stand out, rather than stick it out to the end just to get it over with.

Candidate no-shows

A common nuisance in our personal lives is getting stood up. When recruiters get stood up by candidates, it’s no different. Essentially, their first reaction might be to reprimand the candidates or just entirely ignore them. Either way, the recruiter instantly forms a bad first impression about the candidate.

“He’s not too serious”
“She’s evidently not reliable.”
“He should have at least notified me in advance.”

It’s not unusual for recruiters to have these thoughts when candidates fail to show up or send in their video-assessment interviews.

But let’s take a moment to dig deeper. Video interview no-shows indicate that candidates changed their minds for various reasons. And oftentimes, it’s probably not about them.

Think about it this way, when candidates feel like they’re taking part in an impersonal and totally dry hiring process – they’ll lose the drive and passion to give their interviews their all. Especially when recruiters fail to respond back to emails in a timely manner. This is why it’s crucially important to humanize and personalize the hiring process as much as possible.

Another reason why candidates drop out, is because they don’t see the point of being video interviewed when they live in the same country. They might think that by sending them a video assessment interview, you’re not interested in investing time to meet them in person. Therefore, to avoid candidates from developing this perception, tell them in advance the benefits of conducting a video assessment interview and why it’s a vital part of your hiring process.

Either way, it’s hard to crack down why candidates didn’t show up to the interview unless they tell you the reason themselves. But try to look for patterns. If you notice that most candidates don’t show up for a certain interview, it might be because this position is attracting candidates who aren’t too tech-savvy. So try to explain the process to them in more details or send them guidelines and how-to videos.

Bottom line

Without a grain of doubt, video assessment interviews can help you pinpoint and discover the strongest talent fast. All too often, it’s not hard for recruiters to make quick judgements about candidates or pay special attention to “red flags”. But before making conclusions, take some time to evaluate what you might doing wrong and how you can enhance the experience for candidates to avoid losing top talent.

EVA-SSESS is a next generation video interviewing software that enables companies of all sizes to pinpoint top talent fast and build diverse workforces. In essence, EVA-SSESS allows you to spend more time with the right candidates, and less time on manual tasks. Allowing you to relentlessly innovate the hiring process with merit-based, fair, and unbiased video assessment interviews.

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