The Top 10 Best Video Interviewing Platforms - 2023

The best video interview platforms allow employers and staffing companies to vet larger numbers of candidates quickly, and spend more time with the best fit applicants.  Recruiting teams and hiring managers alike can use live video interviews or asynchronous video interviews as a pre-employment screen to that will streamline the interview process.  

In addition to saving time, companies can continue to interview and hire top talent in times when it’s harder to meet in person.  This is especially true with the rise of COVID-19.  But, during more normal times in the world, people’s schedules are still busy.  Using virtual interviews to vet candidates can be a great way to quickly move applicants through the hiring process.  Virtual interviews are sure to evolve in the future with the rise of AI and virtual reality.

In our research, we came across two types of video interviews.  First off is what you’d think of as a typical Skype call where two people are talking to each other via video - these are live video interviews.  This is great, but we believe the vast majority of the value to recruiters and hiring managers comes from asynchronous video interviews.  In asynchronous video interviews, a candidate answers pre-defined interview questions on their own time, and then the recordings of these answers are reviewed later on by a recruiter.  

The process that candidates go through can be customized which makes video interview software much more effective than your typical video conferencing solution like Zoom/Skype.  This medium of pre-employment testing ensures that more applicants get a chance to answer interview questions that showcase their skills beyond the resume, but that the interview process doesn’t end up taking more time from talent acquisition team/hiring managers.

A lot of the value is in a recruiter’s ability to vet a candidate by watching a few minutes of video, versus spending 30-45 minutes on the phone with a candidate, plus all the time and effort it takes to schedule and reschedule phone interviews.  So, it makes sense that most human resources teams looking to augment their hiring platform look to add video interview software.  Here are the key benefits that we see to adding video interviewing to your HRTech Stack:

• Video interviews mean that companies can continue to interview despite the COVID-19 pandemic
• Video interview software drastically decreases the amount of time that teams spend screening candidates
• Video screening can be much more effective than a phone screen when evaluating candidates, and lead to more quality in person interviews
• Video interviewing tools can directly integrate with your applicant tracking system which creates a more streamlined recruiting process
• Video interviewing software allows companies to screen more applicants and therefore not pass on candidates due to a lack of time
• Video interviews allow candidates to move through the hiring funnel when their busy schedules don’t allow them to meet in person
• Video interview software can standardize the interview process, and increase collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers
• Standardizing the process means less bias, and better assessments of applicants
• Video interviews mean less time playing phone tag to setup a time to screen candidates, resulting in a better candidate experience
• Screening tools like video interviewing can decrease time to hire as more applicants are let into the talent funnel
• Employers can increase the candidate experience through offering interview tips to job seekers, allowing them to showcase more than just their resumes
• Automated email cadences throughout the hiring process allows employers to showcase their employer brand, and set the right expectations with job seekers
• Artificial intelligence is allowing human resources teams to conduct more in depth assessments in an automated fashion
• As SHRM points out, there are many benefits to the efficiency and consistency of your recruiting process from video interviews

While we are mainly focusing this research on the corporate HR and recruiting use case for video interviewing, the above vendors serve staffing companies as well, and for good reason.  Staffing companies can use video to better understand candidates before presenting them to clients.  They can also use the video to show a more human side of a candidate vs just a resume and some notes.

Video interviewing also allows you to ensure you are asking questions which are relevant to your client.  This means better alignment, as well as information from the candidate that will allow your client to quickly make a decision on whether or not they want to move forward with a candidate.

Most of the value in video interviewing comes from saving time screening candidates and that’s what we focused our ROI model on.  Let’s face it, in most cases you know within the first 5 minutes of a phone screen whether or not you want to move someone forward.  But, the next 25+ minutes will be spent on the phone with this person no matter what. This seems small but can be substaintial!

As you'll see in the below video / spreadsheet, we can save a lot of time and therefore money by using video interview software. Of course, during COVID-19, video interviews can be a necessary tool to continue recruiting despite the challenges and dangers of meeting face to face.

It's worth noting again that while this tool can drive significant cost savings, it's important to keep the candidate experience in mind otherwise the time savings will result in negative Glassdoor comments about your interview process!

Pricing for video interview software can vary depending on the number of seats your company needs, the number of open roles, the number of interviews per month, and the various features/integrations you may need.  With all that in mind, we wanted to share a general guide for you to understand what you may pay. If you're a small business looking to save some money, you might want to check out our best free video interviewing software landscape.

Like any piece of recruiting software, it’s important to pay attention to the unique mechanism that will price the software you are looking at, and how that will change the price you pay over time.  For example, you may pay by seat, but have a few hiring managers that want seats in the future which will drastically increase your price.  Or, you may pay by video interview (like many pre-employment screening companies do), which may be good/bad for your company depending on what percent of interviews convert to hires in your company relative to others.

When you’re looking at many different vendors for a given problem, it’s incredibly hard to remember which vendor had which feature.  Taking notes is a great idea on any demo.  But, we highly recommend going one step further to take notes in a very structured way that doesn’t require a perfect memory when it comes time for decision making on which video interview vendor to move forward with.  

This organizer spreadsheet is designed to provide some sample questions you should think through when looking at video interviewing platforms.  More importantly, it provides a foundation that you can modify to ensure you are collecting all of the right information to make the best possible choice for your business.

I remember when I first heard about video interviewing.  I was working in venture capital, and stumbled upon the category in my search for the next big thing.  I thought it was a great tool to save employers time.  However, 10 years ago it was somewhat abnormal for a job seeker to be asked to do a video interview and I can remember friends complaining about it.

Fast forward to today, and many people have been through a video interview.  It’s no longer foreign.  Beyond interviewing, we are all a lot more comfortable with video through social media, as well as business which seems to get done more and more over video. This is especially true during COVID-19 where coming face to face with people can be dangerous.

The companies that struggle to get value out of video interviews are mostly failing because they don’t think about the candidate experience.  They are sending job applicants links to do video interviews without the appropriate context for the overall process that will unfold for the video interview, as well as the broader hiring timeline.

Here’s a pro tip: use the features within these platforms that allow you to set the right expectations for interviewees, and generally humanize this process.  You should record welcome videos for interviewees, give tips on how to make good videos, include messages from hiring managers, etc. Most vendors have great resources on how to do this right, and your account rep will also have good advice here!

One last point here is the use of AI in video interviewing.  The rise of artificial intelligence will no doubt enable talent acquisition teams to do a lot more.  Yet, given how nascent these systems are, it’s important to make sure you understand how any automated screening is happening, and double check the software’s logic with a human.  This will allow your team to hire the best people, and stay away from any compliance issues.

What is video interviewing software?

Video interview software is a solution for companies to remotely conduct job interviews with potential candidates. 

What are the different types of video interview software?

There are two types of video interviewing software, live video interviewing and asynchronous video interviewing, also called pre-recorded video interviews. 

How does video interviewing software work?

Each type of video interview software works differently. Live video interview platforms act like regular interviewing, but over a video conferencing platform where a candidate and a hiring manager speak in real-time. Asynchronous video interview platforms allow a candidate to answer pre-defined interview questions on their own time that are later reviewed by a recruiter. 

Why use video interviewing software?

You should use video interviewing software because it has many benefits, including:

• Decreased time-to-hire
• More effective than phone screens
• Standardizing of the interview process
• Less biased hiring
• Better candidate experience
• Less time spent screening applicants
• Email automation throughout the interview process
  

Why is asynchronous video interviewing so valuable?

Asynchronous video interviewing is very valuable to both the candidate and the hiring team. It saves time from playing phone tag for screening. It reduces hiring bias by standardizing the process. It allows candidates to interview on their own time. Candidates also can rerecord their video responses, leading to less stress to get everything right the first time. The hiring team can better evaluate candidates because they can rewatch answers whenever they want. Overall, there is much more functionality for hiring teams and ease-of-use for candidates.

Video interviewing can be a very powerful part of your HRTech stack.  This is especially true for high volume roles where you’re spending a tremendous amount of time doing phone screens.  While on demand interviewing can drive ROI from decreased time spent on phone screens, it can also increase your hiring outcomes by allowing you to better understand who a candidate is before making a decision on whether or not to hire them.

However, it’s worth noting that you should have a well defined strategy around how you will introduce the concept of video interviews to your candidates, and set expectations for their experience as well as how this content will be used.  Companies who simply send candidates a link to take a video interview are not going to be successful.

That’s it!  Are we missing something on this page?  Let us know and we’ll research it for you!  Better yet, join our expert council and lend your expertise!  We rely heavily on the thoughts on forward thinking People professionals to help us put together useful and unbiased research.