Bridging the Technology Gap for SMBs: How Video Interviewing + AI Tools Can Help

Small and midsize businesses have a lot to offer their employees. Often boasting more consistent, personal cultures, unique growth opportunities, and closer communications with leadership, they are an ideal environment for someone looking to give their career a boost.

But SMBs face an uphill battle in finding those ambitious, ready-to-work candidates. Bigger players with more recognizable names tend to splash right to the top of job boards, search results, and even organic conversations between professionals. This challenge isn’t just a feeling; in a recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, 87% of business owners reported having few to no qualified applicants for their open roles. Meanwhile, recruiters with many large companies have resorted to putting application deadlines on their open roles to stem the flood of candidates who come through their inboxes.

So how are SMB teams supposed to stand out and show applicants just how valuable their open opportunities can be? Limited staffing, the pressure put on SMB HR professionals to wear many hats (meaning they can’t devote much time to recruiting!), and tight budgets make this feel impossible. But it doesn’t have to be.

Teaming up with the right technology makes it much easier. Here’s where to start.

Why Video Interviewing Matters for Small and Midsize Businesses

Small and midsize business owners know it better than anyone: time is money. Making wise investments in technology that will save you time on each step in the recruiting process is going to return a ton of value to your organization.

One such low-hanging fruit is in video interviewing software. The ability to interview on demand can yield huge time savings by eliminating the need to compare schedules and exchange emails or phone calls with candidates. Virtual interviewing software can be leveraged at the screening stage to enable tech-forward interview scheduling and one-way interviews with qualified applicants.

One-way interviews enable asynchronous screening, which is particularly useful to small teams with limited time and complicated schedules.

Later in the process, offering candidates the option of remote interviewing means simpler timelines and fewer travel and logistics expenses—plus, the ability to reach candidates from anywhere.

The Role of AI in Enhancing the Hiring Process

While video interviewing software is an affordable, quick win for SMB HR teams looking to upskill their recruiting practices, adding AI into the recruitment process can also accelerate the hiring process in incredible ways. In fact, AI can be a great equalizer for small teams who need to compete with the goliaths in their industries for top talent.

This isn’t because AI can take the place of human teams—instead, it’s because AI can greatly supplement and accelerate what a small team is able to accomplish in limited windows of time.

For example, savvy HR professionals in all sorts of businesses use AI to:

• Write consistent, punchy, and informative job descriptions and postings
• Compose thought-provoking interview questions
• Summarize interviews, resumes, and applications, especially to prevent hiring biases

AI can help your SMB team level the playing field for candidates from many backgrounds, skill sets, and locations, which will ultimately have a positive impact on your business.

It also simplifies rote tasks, like writing up those job descriptions, while ensuring high-quality, consistent, and on-brand messaging that will help you put your best foot forward with applicants and look just as polished as the big players on all the job boards.

Key Benefits of Video Interviewing + AI Tools for SMBs

Small and midsize businesses face an uphill battle when filling open roles in today’s talent landscape. Whether they’re being drowned out by the sheer number of other job postings, struggling to reach candidates from far-flung places, or simply too bogged down by other tasks to focus on moving candidates along in the hiring process, finding the right fit can be seriously troublesome.

Fortunately, savvy SMBs who team up with the right recruiting software will quickly find it gives them an upper hand. Key benefits of video interviewing software and AI tools include:

• Greater efficiency: These recruiting tools will save your HR team a ton of time. By assisting with writing tasks, summarizing interviews and candidates, streamlining scheduling, and shortening the time between steps in the process, video interviewing and AI recruiting software will free up your team to spend more time on the tasks and interactions that matter most.
• Cost savings: While onboarding new software does involve some up-front costs, the fact remains that remote interviewing eliminates travel costs. Plus, the accelerated timelines save SMB employees’ time and make it easier to move qualified candidates along—reducing the risks of wasted time and missed opportunities to bring on incredible teammates.
• A more positive candidate experience: Speaking of incredible teammates, it’s crucial to remember that the recruiting process is as much about them interviewing you as the other way around. By providing a faster, smoother, and more polished recruiting process, you can ensure candidates enjoy a more efficient and professional experience that leaves a positive impression.
• A competitive edge: All of these benefits culminate into more efficient and visible positioning on job boards. You’ll have a much better shot at attracting and holding the attention of top talent for your open roles—despite the big guys trying to gobble up all the best candidates.

Put simply: SMB recruiters can work smarter, not harder, by bringing the right recruiting software to help accelerate and simplify their hiring process.

How to Get Started with Video Interviewing + AI Tools

Getting started with new recruiting software doesn’t have to be complicated, either. Change management can be tricky, but take it one step at a time—and keep your eye on the prize of more productive outcomes.

Step 1: Select the Right Tools for Your Organization

There are a lot of options out there, but don’t get too overwhelmed. Focus on finding a platform, like interviewstream, that delivers on some key factors for SMBs in particular:

• Connectivity to other HR systems. You’ll greatly simplify your tech stack if your software integrates nicely, especially between your interviewing software and your ATS.
• A wide variety of tools and features. For example, interviewstream offers everything from one- and two-way video interviewing to AI assistants, scheduling, reporting, and onboarding. Leveraging a single platform for many use cases will make it easier to make the most of your tech investments.
• Always-available support. If you’re in the middle of an interview and dealing with tech issues, or simply struggling to make sure your small team is using a new piece of software as effectively as possible, you should be able to access friendly, well-informed help right away.

Step 2: Train Your Team

A piece of software can only be useful if it’s used! Rather than subscribing to a new tool, sending login information to your team, and wishing them the best, be prepared to offer hands-on training that will empower them to make the most of their new platform.

Best practices for onboarding new recruiting software include gathering executive buy-in so you have top-down advocacy for new systems, training team managers to create champions within your organization, leveraging documentation, and keeping in close touch with your vendor to ensure you’re getting as much as possible out of your investment.

Step 3: Check-In—and Pivot as Needed

Finally, keep in mind that new software is never a set-it-and-forget-it solution. Thoughtful training and onboarding are essential, but so is checking in to see how your SMB HR team is using their new video interviewing tool and what they think about it so far.

You should plan to get your team together regularly to discuss their current practices, document new workflows and wins that are proving the ROI for your new tech, and brainstorm ways to get creative with the software. Ask, too, if anything isn’t going well.

Make sure you bring all of this information to your account manager or customer success contact with the developer. You can ask for their support in correcting problems, testing new features, and understanding the roadmap of the technology so you’re poised to maximize its value for your small business.

Get Up to Speed with Recruiting Software for Your SMB

Ready to close the gap with big-name competitors by using recruiting software to attract and hire top talent faster? Good! There’s no better time than now.

Give interviewstream a first look as you begin your search. We’d be happy to walk you through the software and show you how our platform can simplify hiring, make your SMB more competitive with the big guys, and free up your HR team to place more of their focus on their most important tasks. Contact us today for a demo.

About The Author

Drew Whitehurst is the Director of Marketing, RevOps, and Product Strategy at interviewstream. He's been with the company since 2014 working in client services and marketing. He is an analytical thinker, coffee enthusiast, and hobbyist at heart.