Recruiter Igor Andreyko asked the IT community whether candidates from Ukraine were ready to record a 5-minute video where the person would talk about the most interesting project for them, the technologies used, the team, responsibilities, etc., as is practiced in the USA.
Recruiter Igor Andreyko asked the IT community whether candidates from Ukraine were ready to record a 5-minute video where the person would talk about the most interesting project for them, the technologies used, the team, responsibilities, etc., as is practiced in the USA.
«This will allow us to better understand the person, their communication skills, language, and so on, at the very beginning of the process,» adds the recruiter to a question from his client in the US, who offers such a scheme for searching for specialists. Igor Andreyko writes that he is not sure whether this will work with Ukrainians. Here is what the IT experts answered him.
So try it, a 10-minute video call would be easier for me. You just start thinking, planning what to say, how. It can take much longer.
Why not? They are looking for this for themselves, their culture, it is better and clearer to them. They do not want employers to introduce this in Ukraine. + They immediately determine the motivation for cooperation. And so it is a casting, because everyone wants not only a good specialist, but also just a «Good guy.»
As for me, I don’t see anything wrong with that. I had an interview with a recruiter from a foreign company, and after I was hired, they asked me to tell more about myself in the form of a presentation on a call with the whole company. It was quite unusual, because we hadn’t practiced this before, but it was a cool experience to speak in front of 50 people, and in English. And here, even more so, just record a video so that the people who hire you can see you presenting yourself and learn more about your experience firsthand. My opinion is that it’s not as scary as it seems.
I drew a parallel in the direction of self-presentation in general. Because it doesn’t matter at what stage it happens. For me, the essence here is one — analysis of soft skills. If we take it specifically at the beginning of the selection, then my answer will not change, I don’t see anything critical here. For the employer, this will slightly complement the picture of the candidate. For the candidate, it will be an interesting experience. And I am also sure that there are people for whom this will bring discomfort. Whether because of the language, or because of the inability to present themselves in video format.
From my point of view, an interview is primarily an equal dialogue. That’s why I believe a short introductory call will be a more effective and comfortable first step to getting to know each other.
I understand that candidates won’t like this, but are you aware that a regular ChatGPT can do video profiling? So from a business perspective, it’s a good idea to automate the process.
I have experience with such a request from a client for hiring a PM/SM on my account. Skilled candidates recorded such videos without any problems and we added them to the candidate’s general profile. BUT, there is a big risk of getting a comment from the client later along the lines of «everything is ok, but I don’t like the personality.» Plus, people can get nervous before the video and show themselves a little worse than they actually work.
I had an interview where every answer was recorded on video for later analysis. It was quite an interesting experience because:
- You are in front of the camera and you don’t see any reaction.
- You have to fit a lot of information into just 10 minutes.
I actually enjoyed it, but I have years of experience speaking both in front of an audience and on camera.
Unfortunately, the company only appeared progressive during the interview process. In reality, it was completely USSR.
There has been such an option on job search platforms for a long time, but whether it will work or not is a rhetorical question. Some people won’t want it, while others will need some kind of presentation skills training.
We can summarize with a quote from .NET developer Andriy, who considers a video presentation acceptable if it is a unique top-level position with appropriate pay, which requires a creative person with a special, «just the right» set of qualities. «And the candidates themselves will understand why it is best to present themselves in this way in such a situation — then OK, there are no rules there, there are dozens of such positions in the whole world,» the developer notes. He also adds that if it is an ordinary position, of which there are dozens in each company, then everyone has the right to reduce the pool of candidates as they know how.
This can also be problematic for recruiters. In particular, as Kseniya Dukova, Lead IT Recruiter, notes from her own example, a similar case of her clients was not agreed upon because:
«We, the recruiters, are there for such things, to analyze the candidate during the first screening, ask all these questions, and give our feedback to the customer,» she adds.
