To find out how to improve candidate experience using Recruitment Automation, we also have a great eBook on candidate experience.
What is a Chat Interview?
A chat interview is a modern, tech-savvy approach to the traditional job interview. Instead of sitting across from an interviewer in a formal setting, you communicate with your potential employer through a chat-based platform. It’s like having a conversation with a friend, only this friend is interested in your qualifications and skills.
The Rise of Chat-Based Interviews
Why are AI-enhanced chat-based interviews gaining traction in the job market? The answer lies in the changing dynamics of communication and the evolving expectations of job seekers and employers, influenced by AI interview software.
Traditionally, interviews were conducted face-to-face or over the phone, but with the advent of technology, communication methods have evolved. People now prefer the convenience of text-based conversations. This shift has led to the rise of chat-based interviews, facilitated by AI for interviews, which align better with our modern, fast-paced lives.
Benefits of Chat-Based Interviews
So, why should job seekers and employers embrace chat-based interviews? Let’s explore some of the key benefits:
- Convenience: You can participate in a chat interview from anywhere, eliminating the need for travel and saving time.
- Reduced Pressure: Chat interviews are less intimidating, creating a more relaxed environment for candidates to showcase their true selves.
- Efficient Screening: Employers can quickly assess a candidate’s suitability through chat interviews, reducing the time and resources needed for the hiring process.
- Access to a Diverse Talent Pool: Chat interviews make it easier for international candidates to participate in the hiring process, promoting diversity.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Sapia interviews provide data-backed insights, helping employers make more informed hiring decisions.
Chat-Based vs. Text-Based Interviews
It’s essential to distinguish between chat-based and text-based interviews. While both involve written communication, they serve different purposes in the hiring process.
- Chat-Based Interviews: These are interactive conversations, often in real-time, with an interviewer or chatbot. They assess both hard and soft skills.
- Text-Based Interviews: Text-based interviews typically involve answering pre-written questions at your convenience. They focus primarily on hard skills and qualifications.
The choice between the two depends on the company’s hiring strategy and the role being filled.
A major study has validated the ability of AI-powered, chat-based interviews to assess personality traits and job fit.
The analysis of Sapia’s model, which uses text-based communication to interview candidates, has been published in peer-reviewed journal IEEE Access.
The researchers used data from more than 46,000 job applicants who completed an online chat interview and a questionnaire based on the six-factor HEXACO personality model. The HEXACO traits are honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.
Personality models such as the Big Five and HEXACO are based on the ‘lexical hypothesis’. That is personality characteristics are encoded in language, showing the foundational impact of language in defining identifiable personality traits, the researchers say.
After the applicants’ personality traits were assessed they were asked to provide feedback on the accuracy of how they were described. Also, the researchers found 87.8% of the participants agreed with the description given for each of the six traits.
Behavioural questions
Sapia CEO Barbara Hyman tells Shortlist that in the Sapia interview question, they aim to avoid focusing on hypothetical scenarios that create the potential for candidates to give similar answers to others. Additionally, the interviews are oriented towards behavioral, not situational questions.
Candidates can likely work out what trait is being assessed by each question. However, they can’t “game” their responses with pre-rehearsed scenarios, she says.
Examples of the questions used in the interviews include:
- Which of our values do you really connect with, and why?
- Explain to us the one thing you really want to learn from someone else that you work with and why?
- What is a goal that you’ve set for yourself and what did you learn from achieving it (or not)?
- Sometimes things don’t always go to plan. Describe a time when you failed to meet a deadline or personal commitment. What did you do? How did that make you feel?
- What motivates you? What are you passionate about?
- Not everyone agrees all the time. Have you had a peer, teammate or friend disagree with you? What did you do?
- In sales, thinking fast is critical. What qualifies you for this? Provide an example.
- Would you rather win, or be happy? Explain your answer.
- Tell us about a time when you went above and beyond to do something for someone; how did that make you feel?
Sapia: Making recruitment easy!
Candidates respond to the assessment questions with a noticeable sense of intimacy and authenticity, even including emojis in their answers. “The same way they would respond to a friend”, says Hyman.
Finally, she adds that a text-based approach leaves less room for recruiter partiality compared to CVs, psychometric assessments, and video interviews.
Predicting personality using answers to open-ended interview questions, IEEE, June 2020
Source: Shortlist.net.au | Wednesday 15 July 2020 9:21am
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