Technological advances are so interesting to watch as they integrate into our daily lives.  Live online video communication is one of these advances.  Although live video interviewing technology can be used by any company, it will likely be embraced by technology driven companies most readily.  Webcams are available now on many laptops, and as well, an external good quality webcam is very affordable and can be plugged right into your PC’s USB port.

In my career as an electrical engineer, I’ve interviewed many candidates for board, ASIC and design verification positions.  Although it’s good to be asked to be a part of an interview team and important to your company, you have your own tasks to complete and schedules to meet.  This can make scheduling interviews a challenge and sometimes admittedly annoying.  If you’re part of a technical interviewing team that doesn’t use online live video for interviews yet, take a look at the following top 10 reasons to do so, and talk to your manager about it.

1. Free to employers (and prospective employees), live online video scheduling and interviewing is available today.  (through www.inovahire.com which also includes prospective employee searches and other organizational features –all 100% free).
2. Good quality webcams are very affordable today, and are typically easy to install.  In some cases external webcams can plug and play.
3. An online live video web solution is out there that works even behind a company firewall.  (Inovahire.com)
4. It’s a green solution that’s economical.  Your company reduces fuel consumption and saves money by not having to fly the candidate out.  As well, the candidates don’t have to spend fuel or time driving in.
5. Engineers have flexibility in scheduling an interview.  It’s no longer required for all members of the interviewing team to be available in a single time slot on one day.  You don’t have to exclude an interview if one of the engineers is unavailable that day, or if an engineer needs to work from home that day, they can still interview the candidate.
6. You don’t have to take the candidate out to lunch.
7. Live interviews still give you that face-to-face interaction and spontaneity.  I would avoid pre-recorded videos that can be contrived.
8. You know who you’re hiring, since you see their face.
9. If you find early on that the candidate doesn’t meet your needs, you can respectfully end the interview, vs. sitting with them for your full time slot waiting for the next engineer to show up at their scheduled interview time.
10. You can pre-screen with this technology, where communication is vastly better than a phone interview where you can’t see the potential candidate’s facial expressions.

By: Laura Parrish

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