Research conducted by specialist recruiter Cititec, has shown that candidates are nearly 70% more likely to get a job if they have a face to face interview rather than one via video conferencing, such as skype.
Stephen Grant, MD of Cititec commented “the global nature of work, cost savings and environmental considerations are all reasons why many companies are adopting this technology, especially in the contract market or for first interviews. In fact the number of skype interviews our clients now run is 700% more than 4 years ago and 50% more than this time last year. It is a technology that is not going anywhere.” Because of this Grant explains that they looked into why candidates were 68% less likely to succeed on a video interview.
Having ruled out differences in skill, demographics and similar factors, it was clear that it boiled down to one thing; “technique” explains Grant. “People have developed interview techniques and are savvy when it comes to these environments. Only small numbers regularly use things like Skype, and of those, very few people use it in a professional capacity. It means that people are somewhat underprepared. Whilst this applies to both candidate and client, it seems that it is mainly an issue for the candidate.”
Cititec have prepared a ‘10 tips for the perfect Skype interview’ guide (http://www.cititec.com/candidates/skype-interview-tips/) and Grant says that it is already proving positive. “Just by making a few small changes, we are already seeing an increase in the number of people being successful for roles over skype. It just shows that people can make the technology work for them if they think about it, but fail to respect the technology and you could be at a disadvantage”.