Decathlon: HR departments put the video interview to use in their stores
Large numbers of suitable job candidates can turn into a real headache for HR-managers in reputable companies. Thus, video interview offer a convenient and effective way to select the new people. However, like any approach, it is not practicable in every situation. A business partner of Decathlon HR department is sharing her professional expertise.
| CASES
Mar 29, 2019
According to the recent statistics, 5 out of 150 applicants are hired. Obviously, there is a huge difference between reading about the passion for football on the candidate's CV and seeing this soccer fan in real life with his eyes shining and him talking about his favorite team. That is why a personal meeting with someone often leaves a more accurate impression than looking through his or her portfolio. Nonetheless, it is obvious that such company as Decathlon has so many applicants that spending hours on face-to-face and telephone interviews is simply inefficient.
Hence, asking applicants to submit their video resumes via email appeared to be an optimal solution. However, the experience has shown that such videos did not provide the chance to evaluate the key competences.
Hence, asking applicants to submit their video resumes via email appeared to be an optimal solution. However, the experience has shown that such videos did not provide the chance to evaluate the key competences.
The process of hiring with VCV
Decathlon provides two options while hiring employees: the short one (posting the vacancy on recruitment websites; holding a video interview or an interview with the manager) and the extended one, which includes group interviews of 20-30 people for a better acquaintance with the company, business games and sports, between the video recording and the interview with manager.
Our colleague from ABC Consulting suggested to try out the new digital technology - video interview. After conducting a market research, the choice fell on the HR tech tool called VCV. This platform allows recording videos as answers to the questions preselected and discussed within the company. Testing of the service began in August, and in October 2016. The new technique was included into the compulsory selection process for all job vacancies in the 49 Decathlon chain stores.
If a candidate turns down taking the video interview, it is important to understand his or her reasons. If the person is shy or unable to act in front of the camera, it is necessary to determine whether these personal traits are important for your company.
If the applicant does not have time for recording the video, probably one is not interested enough in this position. If the candidate does not have the right technical equipment for it, it is possible to skip this step and to move on to the next one.
Our colleague from ABC Consulting suggested to try out the new digital technology - video interview. After conducting a market research, the choice fell on the HR tech tool called VCV. This platform allows recording videos as answers to the questions preselected and discussed within the company. Testing of the service began in August, and in October 2016. The new technique was included into the compulsory selection process for all job vacancies in the 49 Decathlon chain stores.
If a candidate turns down taking the video interview, it is important to understand his or her reasons. If the person is shy or unable to act in front of the camera, it is necessary to determine whether these personal traits are important for your company.
If the applicant does not have time for recording the video, probably one is not interested enough in this position. If the candidate does not have the right technical equipment for it, it is possible to skip this step and to move on to the next one.
Results
The implementation of VCV allowed to decrease the amount of time spent on each applicant significantly - in 2 months about 12 working days or 24 hours could be saved. There is also a psychological drop out at the recording stage - the percentage of applicants who are willing to make an effort by producing the video, increases.
An important advantage of using video interviews is finding balance between phone or e-mail communication with candidates and personal meetings with them.
In the end, the behavior and appearance of an applicant are almost the same as those recorded on the video. Another benefit of a digital interview is that it can be taken anywhere and anytime: during lunch, in traffic jams, on the way to work or home.
An important advantage of using video interviews is finding balance between phone or e-mail communication with candidates and personal meetings with them.
In the end, the behavior and appearance of an applicant are almost the same as those recorded on the video. Another benefit of a digital interview is that it can be taken anywhere and anytime: during lunch, in traffic jams, on the way to work or home.
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