What’s with these pre recorded interviews for entry level positions?

Posted by MovieMelodic5730@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 40 comments

I was invited for one at a big company, I set up everything perfectly even had a mic but was thrown off from the start.

how am I suppose to talk to a computer? it felt so fake.

i had the usual answers in my head for general questions but the first one threw me off. I only get around a min to reply before it starts recording. I ended up clicking off it and not bothering.

has anyone else had one of these? what did you think about this process?

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LtLfTp12@reddit

I understand why they exist… but I just cannot do them. They make me very uncomfortable.

Buy oh well… means its a lot more harder for me to get a job…

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Crimson__Fox@reddit

I refuse to complete them. If they can’t take the time to actually have a conversion with me, then I don’t want to work for them.

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jackgrafter@reddit

I guess it helps filter out people who aren’t that bothered about the job. If you really wanted the job you’d just get on with it.

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Sburns85@reddit

Nah it just shows the company isn’t worth working for

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lewis56500@reddit

I mean I had to do one for my grad job at TfL. I’d hardly say they aren’t worth working for. Sometimes you’ve just got to do it, especially for entry-level.

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pajamakitten@reddit

If you really wanted the job you’d just get on with it.

Interviewers should just get on with their job.

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MovieMelodic5730@reddit (OP)

The irony is that it works both ways. If a company can’t be bothered to run a fair, respectful interview that tells me everything I need to know. It filtered them out for me.

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YQB123@reddit

I imagine this is Step 1 to filter out the absolute sloppy candidates.

Then the next round is probably a proper interview.

I interviewed for the Civil Service and it was 9 rounds. The first stage was a video interview like this.

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Sburns85@reddit

Never heard of that. Especially my friend who works for the courts

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I had a civil service interview. The first part was recorded and it was very difficult because I couldn't ask any clarifying questions and building rapport with recorded messages was an entirely new experience for me. I can't remember if I got through to the next round or not but I didn't get the job.

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Superb_Imagination64@reddit

This sounds like complete BS I work in the Civil Service and have been involved in a lot of recruitment campaigns and nothing has come close to 9 rounds. Director General and Permanent Secretary roles might come close but they wouldn't involve a video interview.

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DefinitelyNotEmu@reddit

Yeah! That will teach them a lesson!

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Puzzleheaded-Web1519@reddit

Well said.

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Comfortable-Fall1419@reddit

This. 👏👏

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Superb_Imagination64@reddit

I do hate these from a candidate perspective they are unnatural and lose the 2 way interactions of interviews.

That being said after seeing them from the other side they can save a lot of time.

With face to face interviews you might be able to conduct 6 a day (45 minutes given for interview slot, time for panel discussions, buffers, breaks, etc.)

With pre-recorded interviews you can have fixed maximum times for questions, e.g 6 questions at 5 mins each, you are going to have a maximum of 30 mins of interview to watch. You can easily get through twice as many candidates in the same day.

There are other benefits such as being more flexible for the assessors and the candidates which can make the length of recruitment significantly shorter as there are less scheduling issues. You can rewatch the footage if needed for moderation or tiebraker purposes.

I can see why it is becoming popular, in recent recruitments we have had 500-1000 applicants for single positions. Still I am generally against them, I think a big part of interviews is being able to ask the applicant follow up questions and probe them on stuff, you can read their body language and try to help them relax and get the best out of them.

I think the term "pre-recorded interview" is silly because it's not an interview, it should just be called "video screening questions" or somthing like that.

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Puzzleheaded-Web1519@reddit

Robotic and dehumanising comes to mind.

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Tricky-Reporter-5246@reddit

They are horrible and just reduce the requirement for paid human labour.

How can anyone NOT see where this is heading?? Massive lack of paid opportunities simply to concentrate wealth even further.

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Comfortable-Fall1419@reddit

Wait what country is this in - UK?

GDPR & DSAR their arse. Ask to see their risk assessments, retention period, data transfer agreements, sub processor list and everything else for this processing activity. Also ask how if it complies with automated processing requirements under GDPR and the EU AI act. You may not be a EU national or resident but I bet some of their candidates would be.

Most reputable company’s would not touch this stuff with a barge pole.

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topheavyhookjaws@reddit

How does this shit get upvoted? So far removed from reality honestly

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magincourts@reddit

This has been common for over a decade with big UK companies, trying to claim lack of compliance won’t work

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Daniel_1001@reddit

False , the majority of grad schemes now will have pre-recorded interviews you have to complete before you get the chance of getting a real interview

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Comfortable-Fall1419@reddit

That’s depressing.

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No-Tone-6853@reddit

This is a fairly common thing now I done one for a bank job years ago.

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Bifanarama@reddit

Did they ask about your getaway car driving skills?

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No-Tone-6853@reddit

Not got a licence so I was on crowd control.

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ambadawn@reddit

NATO uses them.

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Superb_Imagination64@reddit

Common practice in the Civil Service

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YQB123@reddit

I literally did this for the Civil Service about 6 years ago.

It's just screening before a 'real' interview.

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Monkeyboogaloo@reddit

I’ve used them when recruiting.

Rather than call 5 people for a face I invite 15 people to a video interview step. It gives people who dont come across as well on paper to be included.

I put the stages of the interview process in the job ad sonits clear before people apply.

If people dont want to do them then fine but they just wont get selected.

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worldworn@reddit

Sounds awful, and I hate giving interviews.

The people who don't turn up, who rearrange at short notice, the people who have done exactly zero preparation and it turns into a complete waste of time.

I still don't see this as a good solution.
Maybe if we had 50 or so vacancies, but then it would have limited use.

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xian0@reddit

People argue about the point of spending all the effort to be ready for skilled positions and usually it's about salaries, but one of the biggest perks is having people from companies talk to you as a human instead of this kind of lottery/hoop stuff.

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Sir_Madfly@reddit

Usually these online interviews and assessments are just to make sure you're a real person and you are capable of following basic instructions. Job listings these days are getting so many applications, employers have no choice but to filter it down somehow. Once you pass that, you'll almost certainly have an in-person interview.

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Specialist_-Berry@reddit

Immediate no from me

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drs_12345@reddit

Had an interview for Aldi a few years ago and it was a very similar thing

I did it, but I ran out of time for the first couple of questions and then I started speaking faster and crumbling on my own words afterwards after that, which is probably why I didn't get the job

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DoctorWhofan789eywim@reddit

It makes the company's work easier and the position will still be filled regardless.

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