Inevitably we find quotes that read something like this:

”Unlike HireVue, we do not record video interviews. We want to steer clear of that — we don’t want anything leaked on YouTube.”

This is a classic sales technique, spreading FUD – fear, uncertainty and doubt – that is used by companies when their offering doesn’t stack up to the competition. The unfortunate result is that companies who could really benefit from video interviewing end up making decisions based on misinformation or spend unnecessary time and money cutting through the FUD. It’s no wonder video interviewing has taken so long to come into the mainstream – if I were championing the idea inside a company and had this to contend with, I might drop it too. Not worth the effort. I’d like to set the record straight so you can avoid all of that.

The fact is video interviewing without a candidate record (i.e., a recording of the interview) is nothing new – it’s called videoconferencing. If that’s all you need use Skype, it’s free. But you also lose the value of a record that can be used to make a smarter, faster hiring decision that’s EEOC and OFCCP compliant if done within a secure, proprietary environment. A recorded video interview can be reviewed, shared, socialized and most importantly it personalizes the hiring process in a way no other HR tool can today.

So why do some video interview providers pour on this particular brand of FUD? In sports, it’s called misdirection. By getting you to bite on the fake play, the hope is you won’t pay attention to the real one. For example, some of our competitors don’t own their own technology and therefore cannot offer secure recording from within the tool even if they wanted to. Others don’t have the collaboration tools needed to bring value to recording and therefore must play it down. Many take a risky tack by saying on the one hand video interviewing without recording is risk-free but then implying that recording video interviews is not EEOC or OFCCP compliant. Still others prey on companies’ fears that recording the interview will only expose them to undue liability.

To better understand the FUD let’s break each of these objections down.

1. The provider can’t record the interview or they say it’s not secure. Technically, it is possible to record a video interview using external software  if you want to download a 400mb – or larger recording to your desktop.  But that’s not very conducive to sharing and who knows where that file could end up – no wonder they’re concerned about it showing up on YouTube. Oh, and try getting IT or Security to authorize that – if they really understood the security holes inherent in such a solution, no IT or security team would give it a second thought.

With HireVue – none of this is an issue. Our system records automatically to our own servers, streams in, streams out, and has extremely low bandwidth requirements. And as for the security of the recorded HireVue interview:

• It’s encrypted using SSL as well as a few other tricks (proprietary).
• It only plays inside of HireVue and is only accessible to viewers with the proper permissions.
• Standard video ripping services like RealPlayer can’t rip HireVue. Guess what though? They can rip the others without any indication that they’re being recorded. So it’s a very real possibility any candidate with a little tech savvy could record some of our competitor’s interviews while in progress and post the recording before anyone inside the hiring company knows what happened.

2. The provider doesn’t have the tools to bring value to recording. Even if a provider can securely record and play back the interview, forcing HR professionals to jump through hoops to use it in a hiring decision means it probably won’t get used. It’s not the recording that brings value to the hiring process, it’s what you can do with it on the back-end to make better hiring decisions that makes the difference. I would downplay recording too if that were all I had to offer.

3. The provider says it’s not EEOC or OFCCP Compliant. This has nothing to do with recording but everything to do with your processes. Both the EEOC and OFCCP have already debunked this objection saying a recording is just like any other candidate record. You can see the EEOC’s opinion on the subject here. The truth of the matter is that seeing someone’s ethnicity via unrecorded video interview is no different than seeing it on a recording. Just as with any other candidate record, if you improperly use video interviewing in either form during the hiring process, you can get stung. To put it simply, follow the rules and treat the recording like a resume, assessment or any other record you might use to make a hiring decision and it won’t be a problem. In fact, by having recordings of every candidate available to compare against your hiring records, it’s easier to prove that you’re following the rules.

4. The provider says it opens companies up to liability. I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at this. Basically what they’re saying is “You know you haven’t trained your managers well enough to do the right thing, and even if you have, there’s always that one that just keeps breaking the rules. You don’t want a recording of that.” Let’s assume they’re right and you do have some rogue managers that aren’t following the rules. Don’t record the interview and they’re still going to break the rules. Recording the interview doesn’t stop that, in fact it might help to deter it if managers know they’re being recorded. Furthermore, if their indiscretion leads to litigation, by recording the interview you’ve got a record that shows what actually happened. It can either be the evidence you need to show the situation was blown out of proportion or be used in conjunction with other internal records and processes to show that your company conducted the proper training and followed the rules. That way if a manager doesn’t follow the rules then the recording might actually be the silver bullet you need to show where the blame should truly rest. HireVue is designed to offer a standardized and consistent approach to video interviewing as the EEOC recommends (see “Video Recordings: Just Another Employment Record”). We can even consult with you to design and implement the internal processes needed to take full advantage of these checks and balances.

The bottom line is this: We wouldn’t be in business for 5+ years now if we did not protect our customers; period. That’s why companies like Taleo are willing to put their reputation on the line by partnering with us and it’s unlikely a reputable publication like Human Resources Executive Magazine ® would have named us HR Product of the Year for our category if they thought HireVue put customers at risk. Here’s more information to compare video job interview providers.

Recorded interviews are an important part of the HireVue offering by design. They’re secure, they can’t be ripped and they’re compliant. But more importantly, paired with the right workflow and collaboration tools they can make the whole interview management and hiring process easier, less costly and in the end far more productive.

Mark Newman, HireVue CEO

mnewman@hirevue.com

“… This is in response to your recent correspondence sent through the Department of Labor requesting that the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provide guidance on the recordkeeping responsibilities of an employer considering electronic resumes with video clips.

… There are two EEOC rules that involve recordkeeping: the Title VII and ADA recordkeeping rule (29 C.F.R. Part 1602); and the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) (29 C.F.R. Part 1607). …

… Under Title VII, it is not illegal for an employer to learn the race, gender or ethnicity of an individual prior to an interview. Of course, Title VII requires that all individuals be provided equal, nondiscriminatory treatment throughout the hiring process. If an employer representative observes a job seeker in a video clip, and either learns or surmises the person’s gender, race, or ethnicity, such knowledge could increase the risk of discrimination or the appearance of discrimination. Employers need to take care in training hiring officials and human resources staff about the appropriate responses when gender, race, or ethnicity are disclosed during recruitment. Video clips might be analogized to information on a resume that clearly tells an individual’s race, such as, “President, Black Law Students Association.” In this situation, as with the video clip, the employer needs to focus on the person’s qualifications for the job.

… If you learn or suspect that an individual has a disability after seeing his/her video clip, you have not violated the inquiry prohibition of the ADA, but you must not use that information to discriminate in hiring…

… an individual would not be an “applicant” simply because a potential employer viewed his video, listened to his audio, or reviewed his resume on the Internet. The individual only would become an “applicant” after he appropriately expressed an interest in a particular position that the employer had acted to fill….”

Read the full letter: EEOC www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/foia/letters/2004/titlevii_ada_recordkeeping_video.html

Keeping the video recording can make some people squirm because people are concerned about keeping a picture of someone who has been screened out of their company’s hiring process, there is sometimes an added fear of litigation.

“Still, that’s not a good-enough reason,” says Miaskoff. “If you have good documentation in place as to what your process was, you will be able to show you gave everyone fair and equal consideration.”

To read the full post, go here.

Over the last three years we have been vetted, screened and asked questions by our customers both very big and very small about how we work within EEOC and OFCCP compliance. When those words come into play there is always the HR shiver of worry. After going through the rounds with numerous customers, we have found that there are main things that HireVue offers in helping our clients with their compliance:

1) Standardized Interviews – A HireVue is completely standardized across your position as all candidates are asked the same questions. Clients build the interviews themselves so it is very easy for HR to have a hand in helping create the right HireVue with the right questions and eliminate the variability found with most interviewing scenarios.

2) Elimination of the sports team and fishing trip talk – Whether you are friend, a salesman or in our case a candidate, everyone has gone into someone’s office seen a picture on a wall from a vacation, a trophy, a sports team shrine, something that starts a conversation. The “Oh wow that’s quite the fish, where did you catch that” conversation is the first thing many people do when going into an interview. As a recruiter looking for feedback, after spending 30 minutes with a candidate your manager comes up to you and says “they were great, bring them in for round 2″ when you ask about their skills the manager says “oh yeah, they have them” when in reality all they talked about was the Broncos, fishing in Key West, vacationing in Mexico or their favorite animal (me when I worked at my zoo job in college).

3) Proactivity in your compliance – What happens when you get audited by legal or you get a letter from the great EEOC or OFCCP notifying you of a complaint? What are you to do? What happens when a certain manager is singled out for being inappropriate or for not hiring the right people? Usually that means a lot of sifting through old records and files trying to piece together everything going on, determine who is right in the “he said, she said” war and trying to go back through time to figure everything out. What if on a regular basis, you could go into your interviews and see what the manager’s all see? What if you could compare and evaluate candidates on the same level as your managers by being able to readily compare and contrast candidates against each other? We have found that when you are able to evaluate candidates through a dashboard like the HireVue Evaluator, you can easily determine (even without specific knowledge of function) who the best candidate is for the position. Does a certain manager always advance people based on certain discriminatory characteristics? What if you could catch that quickly, easily and before there’s a problem and have discussion with your colleague? What’s that worth to your organization?

A number of legal related bloggers have weighed in on the topic -

George’s Employment Blawg

HR Tests

And always reliable ERE Discussion groups here and here (login may be required)

A company can get sued for anything. If someone blatantly discriminates, it will happen with paper resumes, video resumes, video interviews, video conferencing, in person interviews, anywhere. The key is being able to be proactive in fighting discrimination, incorporate safeguards into your process to try to limit discrimination and promote a corporate culture that is intolerant of discrimination.

HireVue helps.