iViioo, a new video interviewing site, is hoping to offer advanced and convenient video services to job seekers and recruiters by “cutting costs, not corners.” While other online resume sites exist, such as Zolio and VisualCV, iViioo hopes to offer something more in-depth by using video.
The Idea
The idea for iViioo came about when a teacher, Myra S. White, PhD, and a student, Vanessa Wu, MBA, at Harvard had a discussion about how technology could be optimized to help job candidates.
White, iViioo talent management expert, had experience in behavioral science, while Wu, iViioo co-founder, spread the word and helped get companies involved. Wu previously worked with Google’s video team while it was acquiring YouTube.
Dane Disimino, corporate communication lead and online marketing manager for iViioo, said the site’s video services help lower recruiting costs through technology and make it easier to find global candidates.
“(The site was built) with a goal to better identify, review and select top candidates,” he said. “We actually see a need for more cost-effective recruiting methods.”
Advantages to Job Seekers
The biggest advantage is that services to job seekers are free. iViioo Express offers candidates a chance to provide a video to prospective employers. The videos, which are unrehearsed so that candidates don’t know what questions they’ll be asked, can then be shared with the recruiter’s team for easier collaboration on hiring decisions.
Disimino said while candidates traditionally post resumes on job boards and wait for a response, iViioo allows them to display their best performance and personal quality to employers, as well as “treat themselves as a product on a shelf.”
“As a whole, candidates are getting way more value than being plugged into a database,” Disimino said.
Advantages to Recruiters
The site offers advantages to recruiters as well. Aside from saving money, White said video interviewing allows employers to see a candidate’s non-verbal behavior and also allows job seekers to communicate different ideas, strategies and approaches.
“Sometimes the person will be a great candidate, but they may not have that capacity to really show that in person,” White said. “It’s sort of increasing people’s awareness of how they present themselves and how they can do it better.”
Research
iViioo has been running pilots of its site with two major European banks and found the video interviewing process to be beneficial in that companies are able to screen more candidates than usual as well as save money, because the majority of expenses are used on pre-screening candidates.
The company also has used sites such as LinkedIn to conduct research polls, and has found that more than 90 percent of the site’s users would use video services to find their dream job.
The Future
In the future, the company hopes to create a model for premium candidates and use further behavioral research to evaluate top candidates. iViioo also has received some interest from colleges and universities that would like to use video services to interview potential students. Disimino said iViioo won’t be the only company of its kind in this space for long.
“The market potential combined with the intelligence of the product and just where the industry seems to be leading, it seems to be inevitable that there will be competition in this space,” he said. “That’s a good sign for us and we’re happy to be in it. We’re happy to be something that’s futuristic and has great potential.”
Recruiters who read Cheezhead and are interested in trying out iViioo can extend the usual 30-day free trial to 60 days by entering the code cheezhead.
Popularity: 10% [?]
December 18th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
“Sometimes the person will be a great candidate, but they may not have that capacity to really show that in person”
I’d imagine that people who have trouble in person would show even more apprehension in a video.
And how is it faster for a recruiter? They typically review hundreds of candidates in a day and spend less than 1 minute on a candidate reviewing their resume. How could they possibly watch hundreds of videos and get a full picture of their capabilities in 1 minute?
Video is, if anything, an addition to a resume. Never a substitute.
December 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
That could be the most messed up Web 2.0 logo/company name I’ve ever seen.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Intriguing intersection of Web 2.0 with real business opportunity. Most resume-job interview “cycles” (whether Monster-/ Career-Builder-facilitated or in person) are a real crap shoot, for both employer and candidates. I’m looking forward to hearing news of both more productive hiring, shorter times to fill key jobs, and better quality hires by employers… and more satisfying recruiting experiences – as well as more of them – by candidates, facilitiated by iViioo.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
First, thank you Jen Carpenter and Cheezhead for the great article. It’s been a pleasure and here’s to the future.
Second, I’d like to respond to Kat and Jeremy’s comments because I think they’re both important, while thanking Evan for his insight.
1. Video interviewing is just like an in person interview in that candidates have to do their best in both. Yes, we acknowledge that there are some on-site irreplaceable’s such as a firm handshake, eye contact, and a candidate’s ability to gauge the work environment he/she could potentially enter is important for sure. We just want to make sure that the candidate that is on site is the best candidate possible, and was sent there collaboratively, quickly, and cost efficiently. I should also mention that not all jobs require great inter-personal skills. For example, a senior engineer could be hired because she can solve a tough technical interview question…
2. For recruiters, iViioo is a very flexible tool, and it is evolving as we speak. It was really never designed to replace resume screening in all situations. Rather, it replaces time consuming phone interviews and scheduling efforts for recruiters. It also frees up a hiring team’s valuable time and allows for collaborative decision making by reviewing and sharing scores with each other quickly. Cool, right?
There are actually 2 ways to use iViioo. (And of course everyone can learn more through our site http://www.iviioo.com by reading, watching demos, or using our 30 day free trial – 60 day for Cheezhead users.) When a position is highly selective, we recommend that recruiters go through resume screening. Recruiters in this case will then actually only send an invitation to selected resumes. Once they see the candidates’ videos, they can decide on who to invite for an on-site interview or video conference interview.
In other situations, where very few people apply for a position (i.e. small-medium sized enterprises) recruiters could post/embed a public video interview link so they do not miss any candidates.
And Jeremy – you’re comment made me laugh I must admit. I had trouble myself at first but really it’s simple: iViioo sounds just like ‘I VIEW’. And the lower case i’s represent candidates where the lower case o’s represent a reviewer’s eyeballs and the upper case V for Video. Make sense? haha probably not, right? Well how about this…We’re taking the ‘double o’ strategy – can you think of a few other great brands with two o’s? Oodle and Joost…hmmm, and those smaller guys Google and Yahoo. If they made it – so can we, right? Seriously, we think you’ll get used to it soon ;D
Well, that’s it for me, but everyone can feel free to email me with any other questions – dane.disimino(at)iviioo.com
Thanks again for your comments and to Cheezhead’s time and effort.
Are you ready for recruiting 2.0?
Dane
December 18th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Video recruiting seems like the natural progression for recruiting. Great idea!
December 18th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I think Iviioo is going to be a great tool in the recruiting process. Often, a simple resume is pushed aside because it may not have made an impression that would warrant a personal interview and yet the candidate may have been the best qualified. Additionally, a resume, perhaps written by a professional company, may magnify the candidate’s abilities, strengths, and educational background, and upon appearing for that personal interview, the employer realizes that the resume simply did not fit the candidate nor the needs of the employer. (waste of time) So having the opportunity of viewing the candidate via video could assist (in addition to a resume) the recruiting process and could be advantageous to both parties. Having been on both ends of the ladder, I hope to see more and more of this in the future. I give it a thumbs up.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Excellent work Dane!
December 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am
What an interesting concept. I run an insurance company in the US with 1250 employees in 30 states. Interviewing people is an expensive effort. This would be a much more effective and cost effective way of screening candidates.
December 19th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Great to see founders with lots of energy and an idea to get excited about. OTH I would keep an open mind about deep sixing the name- I think its best if the name somehow speaks to the offer when you are a new entry -sans the kind of acceleration a catagory buster brings to making its own name a verb- which ain’t gonna happen here.
Some commenters are conflating resumes and interviews, and of course they can’t be….as much as we wish they could.
December 20th, 2008 at 4:51 am
As a business owner, I recommend iviioo, since it will save my time and expanse, especially in this critical moment. I also found it is very user-friendly, and I’m very excited to try it.
December 20th, 2008 at 5:08 am
Great article! It is Good tool for us.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Which I thought of this idea ;-). It could definitely be a new way of recruiting. However I don’t think it will replace the so important face-to-face interview with the last couple of candidates, but it will probably be a good start to find the most talented.
December 20th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Simon says this is nice, and so it is … it will save a lot of driving and help companies get more efficient during the downturn. Interviewing live is so expensive.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
This may be the future of recruiting – but what about its impact on diversity?
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Darryl,
That is an important concern and worth further dialogue. We at iViioo would like to personally invite you to a discussion on how we can address diversity concerns you are having. Actually, our team comes from many different countries and appreciates diversity a great deal.
Please feel free to email me dane.disimino(at)iviioo(dot)com.
Thanks! And thanks for everyone’s great responses so far!
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hi Darryl,
Thank you for the great question.
Compared to text-based resume, video interview profiling indeed is not 100% designed for EEO(equal employment opportunity) compliance purpose to begin with. And in some situation, we think employer needs to interview at least a fair percentage of candidates to ensure their video profiles represents enough diversity otherwise it won’t be a best EEO practice.
Bu there is another side of how video interviewing can ensure organizations get the best candidate while comply with EEO guidelines without being forced to hire any non-fit candidate in order to comprise diversity rules.
At iViioo the employer can see candidates answering question on video, and this is a more objective and precise way to provide fact-based skill comparison among different candidates and thus ensure best EEO practice for your organization. In another word, pure subjective phone screening without a video record on file could be a hidden risk for companies.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
Great Dane (no pun)!! Super concept. Good use of tech, especially at the threshold stage of the interview process…. JMP
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Video is the future. So it is an opportunity for career minded professionals to stand out now using video. Video allows people to deliver a complete communication (content, voice, body language) and gives us the opportunity to get to know them. It is the best form of personal branding and it will increase as bandwith grows and tools for creating and posting video increase. 2009 will be the year of using video to build your personal brand.
December 24th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Video as a daily form of communication will happen- has been happening. As more new devices include integrated cams and collaboration software becomes always-on for more users, it may just be expected that inteview calls be cammed- so stand-alone business that trade on that idea may find themselves getting more into job design and assesement or other value-adds beyond the video hookup.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Great idea, I really like the concept although I do agree that this should go alongside a CV and not instead of.
How do you plan on publishing the videos?
Will you be tracking visitors on each video streams to see which candidate gets more hits and longest session duration?
February 16th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Brilliant idea, Dane. Definitely the way of the future, especially as society becomes more mobile and people apply for jobs not just around the country but the planet. I’ve several friends here in China that could have used this the past year. (Name’s a bit tough to remember, though; I guess it will grow on us, like Yoohoo did.
I’ll put a link to you on my Xiamen jobs webpage at http://www.amoymagic.com
Bill