Summary:

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Companies are turning to one-way video interview software such as Wamly to save themselves as much as 80% of the time they would’ve spent on hiring. It allows businesses to send hundreds of potential employees a link where candidates record themselves answering questions before an interview panel reviews the interviews in their own time.

Introduction

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Globally, companies are turning to talent pipeline management software to save themselves as much as 80% of the time they would’ve spent on hiring. This is because hiring has been found to be one of the most time-intensive exercises of any company, with companies taking as much as 37 days to make just one hire.

Quick facts about the current hiring process

Results from Ideal.com

• The manual screening of resumes is the most consuming part of hiring.
• Up to 88% of resumes received for a role are considered unqualified.
• A recruiter spends, on average, 23.5 hours screening resumes for a single hire.

Furthermore, Ideal.com has found that an interview panel would take 23.5 hours just to review candidates before moving towards making a hire. Meanwhile, one-way video interview software such as Wamly promises to cut down companies’ hiring time from three months to just two weeks by giving both the candidate and interview panel flexibility on when to complete an interview and when to review.

What is talent pipeline management software?

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Talent pipeline management software such as Wamly allows businesses and organisations to create questions in an app, send hundreds of potential candidates a link, who would then all complete a one-way video interview (without the employer being present). Once a candidate has completed the interview, the employer will be alerted and will be able to scan through the recorded videos and identify the best of the best for in-person interviews.

What is the difference between one-way and two-way video interviews?

• Two-way video interview software simulates a face-to-face interview whereby the candidates and hiring managers log in at the same time to conduct the interview. This is known as a synchronous interview. Examples of this kind of software include Zoom and Skype.
• One-way interview software is where one role player in the interview is involved in the process at a single time. The technology facilitates the interview by prompting a candidate to respond in a set amount of time, recording it, and allowing the hiring manager to review it in their own time. This is also known as an asynchronous interview.

During one-way video interviews, it is up to the company’s discretion how many questions they would like to ask and how long they would allow a candidate to answer a question. But the typical one-way video interview has five to eight questions, with 30 seconds to one minute to respond to each question. A typical one-way video interview lasts between five and 15 minutes, compared to the hour a panel would typically have spent interviewing candidates out of courtesy. Normally, the hour interview takes place often, even if it is understood early in the interview that the candidate would not be suitable for the position.

Why is one-way video interview software the future of hiring?

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More and more companies are realising the need to reinvent, reimagine and disrupt the way they do things. This is because a number of the typical processes within a company are no longer best suited for the goals a business would like to achieve. One of the key areas where companies have found themselves wasting time is in their hiring process, where they take too long to make a hire, and often hires are found not to be best suited for the organisation’s needs. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated technology adoption within organisations, making companies more willing to adopt technology to improve their processes. One-way video-interview software such as Wamly was designed to facilitate, optimise, and enhance the entire hiring process to save an organisation time and operate more efficiently. Thousands of companies use one-way video interview software as a tool, with Wamly now being the leading provider in the South African market. This proves how one-way video interview software has become a key tool in the hiring process.

How does one-way video interview software work?

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Making use of one-way interview software, such as Wamly, can help an organisation save time on conducting lengthy interviews with candidates who would not be suitable for a position. The typical process for a one-way interview involves:

• The human resources (HR) team creates a vacancy and receives a number of job applications.
• For the vacancy, the HR team creates a digital interview guide with a set of questions and an allocated time limit for each question using one-way video interview software.
• A link is sent to potential candidates via email, where they are prompted to complete a one-way video interview without the HR team being present.
• While the candidate completes the questions, the software records the candidate and uploads the video to the cloud.
• The software gives a candidate a predetermined amount of time to complete a question, and a candidate cannot rerecord an answer to ensure authenticity.
• Once a candidate has completed their interview, the HR team or panel responsible for hiring is alerted.
• The HR team or panel reviews (by rating) the one-way video interview during their own time on the platform when it is convenient and independently from each other.
• The top candidate is either hired, or the top candidates are invited for in-person interviews.
• All the recorded interviews from the candidates not hired remain on the platform, helping companies gain a talent pool from which to make future hires if necessary.

Through Wamly, one-way video interviews can be completed on any device that has a webcam. Furthermore, the software is also specially developed to use less data in the South African environment, compared to a Zoom or Microsoft Teams video interview. The hiring teams can make use of the interview guide and predetermined questions to ask competency-based, functional or culturally related questions, as determined by the particular vacancy. One-way interview software also improves fairness in the hiring process by giving all candidates the same questions, the same amount of time to prepare, and the same amount of time to answer.

Statistics about the success of one-way video interview software

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More than 400 companies in South Africa are now using Wamly. And where Wamly has been implemented, it has been found to cut as much as 80% of the time the company would’ve spent on hiring. Wamly has already expanded to more than 12 countries and is now the fastest-growing one-way video interview software in Africa. It has been found that a manager can review as many as 30 one-way interviews in an hour, around the same time it would’ve taken to complete one two-way interview. Accounting firm The Beancounter went from taking three months to make one hire, to just two weeks. With South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information (POPI) legislation coming into enforcement, Wamly has also proven to keep data safe in the cloud, where it can’t be downloaded by third parties, can’t be shared with third parties and can’t be lost.

What are the benefits of using one-way video interview software?

Benefits for line managers:

From a logistics and scheduling perspective, a line manager does not need to have everyone in the same room and, therefore, can complete the entire interview process much faster. Furthermore, once the candidates have completed the interviews, the line manager can review the interviews in their own time, separately from other members of the interview panel. It has been found that a line manager can review as many as 30 one-way video interviews in an hour, around the same time it would’ve taken to complete just one face-to-face interview. Because a line manager cannot see the ratings other people of the interview panel gave a candidate, they are also not influenced by other members of the interview panel when making a selection.

Benefits for HR teams:

The benefits for HR teams are numerous, but most importantly, they affect the time associated with the hiring process. Firstly, they do not have to schedule a time most convenient for everyone to complete the interview, which furthermore reduces the logistical implications thereof.HR teams are able to standardise the entire process, by allowing future candidates to be asked the very same questions at the very same time. Before interviews go to line managers, HR teams are furthermore able to screen the interviews before selecting a select few that have to go to a line manager. They are able to review several more candidates in the same time it would have taken to complete a Zoom or face-to-face interview. Wamly can also integrate with other technologies, which means that companies do not have to overhaul their entire system when using one-way video interview software, such as Wamly, but can simply integrate the software into their process. An HR team is also able to brand the entire experience by uploading introduction videos for a candidate before the start of an interview to help them get a better feel of the organisation and the requirements of the role.

Benefits for candidates:

Candidates can complete the interview in their own time when it is most convenient for them, without any need to travel. Furthermore, they can decide which environment they want to be in, where it is most convenient for them, and they can choose a device they are most comfortable with. If a candidate feels uncomfortable with their appearance, they are also allowed to blur themselves. The interview process is also fairer, as all candidates are asked the very same questions at the very same time as other candidates. Finally, the process has been found to be enjoyable, with millennials particularly enjoying the ability to complete the interview from their phone.

Case study: How Wamly has helped Momentum hire faster and quickly

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Before insurance company Momentum started making use of Wamly’s one-way video interview software, it completed a company-wide review of its recruitment process. The review found three major themes within the company:

1. Many candidates weren’t always sure what Momentum is or what it does. There wasn’t a story or narrative about the company and what it seeks to achieve.
2. The recruitment process for candidates wasn’t great, with many waiting days to get any response from the company.
3. There was a need to digitise the process for record-keeping and efficiency purposes.

After the review, Momentum changed the entire process they used to hire by firstly making use of a technology portal to get all the applications and CVs. Once the applications were received, instead of phoning candidates or meeting them on Zoom, they started making use of Wamly’s one-way video interview software. The final candidates who came through that process would then be invited for face-to-face interviews and psychometric testing before making a hire. Using Wamly, Momentum was able to brand the entire experience - telling potential employees a story of the company’s culture and values and thereby building brand awareness. Since starting to make use of Wamly’s technology, Momentum has completed over 1000 interviews through Wamly, saving itself more than 70% of the time it would’ve typically spent on hiring. This has dramatically reduced the time spent filling a vacancy.

How one-way video interview software compares to the traditional recruitment process

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Traditional face-to-face one-way video interview software

Traditionally, candidates are required to travel to an interview, which makes the process far more time-consuming than the 10 minutes typically allocated per interview. In fact, a face-to-face interview often takes ten times longer. On top of that, there are additional expenses such as travel costs, venue arrangements, and refreshments.

With one-way video interviews, the data usage is minimal—around 400 MB per session—and no special technical setup is required. Any webcam-enabled device, including a smartphone, is sufficient. Since nearly half of South Africans own smartphones, and with Wamly supporting even older models, the process is highly accessible.

The Review Process

‍In traditional hiring, the timeline includes the interview itself, panel deliberations, shortlisting, offers, and finally onboarding. This can stretch out to around 60 days.

With Wamly, the interview panel can review recorded interviews at their own convenience, rating candidates individually. Up to 30 one-way video interviews can be reviewed in a single hour. The top-rated candidates are then invited for a final round before hiring, cutting the overall process down to just 20 days.

The Results

‍More and more companies are turning to one-way video interview software to reduce hiring time by as much as 80%. Considering that traditional hiring can take an average of 37 days to make just one hire, Wamly helps businesses shrink the process from three months to as little as two weeks.

This flexibility benefits both candidates and hiring teams: candidates can complete interviews in their own time, while panels can review and rate at their convenience. With the ability to send interview links to hundreds of candidates at once, companies save both time and money—reviewing multiple interviews in the time it would have taken to conduct just one face-to-face.

Visit wamly.io today and experience one-way video interviews for free.