Let's Talk About HireVue

Though we have spoken briefly about HireVue in class I feel the need to review it more in depth for those of you who might want to know a little more about it.

First off, I have to note that I am in no way an expert on the program - in fact I haven't even used it. I have merely spent a bit of time reading about them on their website as well as a few reviews. From what I've seen, it seems that while they are not for every recruiter, they can be very useful for a lot of them.

HireVue is a SaaS that allows a company to send a USB web cam to an applicant anywhere in the world with in 48 hours. The applicant plugs it into their computer and answers interview questions through their web browser. The program also allows the company to post essay question, short answer questions, true/false and questions that require calculations. As soon as the applicant has completed their interview, it can be viewed from anywhere in the world by whomever the company wants to have access. Recruiters and hiring managers can type comments and rate the candidates. They can review answers to specific questions of each applicant back to back. They can even attach resumes, standardized tests and writing samples to the applicant's file.

From what I can tell, it seems to me that HireVue has two main niches that they are trying to fill within recruiting. One is globally sourcing specialized, expensive talent. The other is hiring lots of cheap local labor. Often times hiring for a specialized position will require a significant investment of time and resources to bring candidates to one location and to meet with many different managers - sometimes then needing to move the candidate to multiple locations for meetings, further increasing costs. The benefit of HireVue in this instance is obvious. It will allow for the recruitment process to proceed one step further before the need to invest significant capital into the candidate.

The second niche that HireVue can help with is with the recruitment of cheap local labor. HireVue can allow recruiters and mangers to review initial interviews exceptionally faster than the time it would take to be present at a large number of interviews. It also allows the user to review and rate the answers, making it easier to decide exactly who needs a more extensive follow up interview.

As I see it, the main downside to HireVue is that it must depend on well written questions. If the interview is not carefully scripted, the recruiters might not gain the rich data about their applicants that they had hoped for.

Of course, HireVue seems to only be useful as a tool for lowering the costs of the initial interviews. For now, companies will still need to invest significant time and capital in the final interviews where the actual hiring decision is made.