Tired of Spam Resumes? Use Video Interviews to Find Real Talent Quickly

While artificial intelligence has been a boon to recruiters in many ways and can, in fact, greatly accelerate the speed at which they run through rote and repetitive tasks, it also comes with some pitfalls. Many of those are internal to an organization using AI-enabled recruiting tools: being mindful of bias, retaining plenty of human decision-making throughout the process, and so forth.

But one pain point that’s come out of AI-powered job-hunting tools has arrived from outside of recruiters’ own organizations. An increasing number of candidates now use generative AI to tailor their resumes and other application materials for each job, and even use bots to submit those applications at scale.

What difficulties does this practice pose for recruiters, and how can they confront them with both efficiency and confidence?

Rising Trend of AI Bot Resume Submissions

According to iHire’s 2024 State of Online Recruiting Report, just over 17% of job seekers admitted to using AI to craft their resumes or cover letters in 2023—up from less than 3% in 2022. That’s a more than five-fold increase, and many recruiters wouldn’t be surprised if 2024’s numbers are even more dramatic.

Although applicants should feel just as empowered to use AI to accelerate their searches as recruiters, the reality is that some uses of these tools lead to low-quality or under-qualified applications for many open roles. The flood of unhireable applicants can make it even harder for recruiters to find the best fits in a competitive job market, and the data overload can, unfortunately, make it easier to miss the best people as you sift through everyone else.

How can recruiters sort through this added noise to uncover the best candidates for each role? Video interviews can help.

How Video Interviews Can Safeguard Your Hiring Process Against Spam

Historically, resumes and cover letters have presented helpful information for recruiters and given a sense of each candidate’s personality, experience, and skills. However, as more applicants use AI to generate and submit these materials, it becomes much harder to distinguish the human element of each application.

One-way video interviewing is an excellent method of candidate screening that doesn’t require an extra step for recruiters, and enables the most passionate candidates to move quickly through the early stages of your hiring process.

With these on demand interviews, recruiters can pose a standard list of screening questions for candidates, who then record their responses on video—and on their own schedule. There’s no need to find mutual time on everyone’s calendars or slow things down with a game of phone tag; candidates receive an invitation to complete the video interviews when it’s convenient for them.

Because it’s a self-service option, recruiters can invite candidates to add this material to their applications right from the start. Those who complete it (and respond favorably) can rise to the top of your pool of applicants, while spam resumes and incomplete bot applications filter to the bottom.

Faster Time-to-Hire with Deeper Insights

On Demand/One-way video interviews can help you move through the early screening phase of an open role quickly but also gather more genuine, helpful information from your candidates right from the start.

This is especially useful to separate exceptional, authentic candidates from spam and bots because:

• Video interviews require active participation from candidates, blocking spammers and AI bots from proceeding through your hiring process.
• Motivated candidates can accomplish this screening step quickly, whereas those using bots to submit resumes far and wide are unlikely to engage.
• Applicants can present themselves authentically via video interviewing, allowing them to showcase their personality, communication skills, and enthusiasm in ways resumes just can’t replicate.

Additionally, the availability of these recorded video interviews enables you to work alongside hiring managers more effectively. Instead of sharing your impressions of each candidate secondhand, you can invite key stakeholders to review the videos for themselves and play a greater role in moving top candidates to the next stage.

Key Benefits of Video Interviewing Software for Hiring Teams

Moving fast isn’t the only benefit, either. With one-way video interviews and on-demand screening, recruiters can expect:

• Early, genuine insights into candidate capabilities—in the candidates’ own words.
• Reduced time spent in the interview process, facilitating more efficient communications and a better candidate experience.
• Improved hiring efficiency enabled by focusing on real, qualified candidates from the start, and more effectively sorting out the “noise” of bots and unengaged applicants.
• Faster decision-making for hiring teams, thanks to early involvement from hiring managers without the extra calendar invites.

Improving the candidate experience can’t be overlooked. When your most enthusiastic candidates are invited to complete a screening on their terms, and to express themselves authentically amidst increased competition from AI-generated applications, they’ll be excited to engage quickly and honestly.

At interviewstream, our clients use one-way video interviewing software to see demonstrable benefits like:

• 58% reduction in time-to-hire
• 81% decrease in time spent on each interview
• 95% satisfaction with the quality of first impressions enabled by video screening

It’s a no-brainer for recruiters who need to find the needle in each haystack of applications as quickly as possible.

The Power of Video Interviewing + AI Interview Summaries

As an added benefit of using a one-way video interviewing platform, you can leverage your own AI tools to accelerate your search for the best candidate.

With interviewstream’s AI Interview Summary, key insights from candidate responses to interview questions will be automatically generated for you. This means that, in addition to using on-demand screening interviews to quickly identify engaged, qualified candidates and authentically get to know them and their qualifications, you’ll have immediate, scannable insights into their interviews without the need to take notes yourself. This means you can fully devote your attention to the videos themselves, share concise insights and flag potential concerns with hiring managers, and keep an easy-to-review list of candidates on hand as you move toward the next stage of your search.

If you’re ready to see how one-way video interviewing software and your own AI toolbox can help you combat against a deluge of bot-written and submitted applications for your open roles, let us know! The interviewstream team is ready to walk you through our platform and help you identify the best ways it can help you accelerate your workflows and decrease your organization’s time to hire.

About The Author

Monique Mahler is the CEO of interviewstream. She is an avid researcher of facts, a self proclaimed marketing geek, and an equestrian in her spare time.