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People have talked about the end of the resume for years. And here we are again. The growing use of AI by candidates, shifting demand for skills and surging application volumes lead more employers to question the value of documents that look more backward than forward and are easily bulked up by a growing range of products.
Since 2019, the number of employers screening by GPA has steadily declined, from about 73% to less than 40%. At the same time, more than half of candidates (55%) report using AI to create resumes and cover letters, while 53% use the technology to fill out applications and 37% use it to create work samples. Recruiters say they are flooded with applications that look qualified at first glance, but reveal little about readiness for a job. “It has been getting worse every single time I post something,” one recruiter told Business Insider. “It used to be I’d get a robust response, and now I get a tsunami.”
Recruiters want to see evidence of talent and skills, not simply claims and pitches. “For decades, hiring has relied on bullet points to represent real ability,” said Chris Fairley, CEO of the video-based hiring platform Vetano, in a news release. “But resumes often fail to show how someone actually performs on the job.”
One way employers are overcoming this is using video screening early on in the hiring process. If you want to join them, or simply know more about it, here are some factors to consider.
6 Considerations Before Jumping Into Video Screening
Video Screening Is in Transition
While nearly 60% of employers still regard resumes as critical, 40% are moving away from their use, according to the candidate-screening platform Willo. About 15% are looking for options besides CVs, the company stated. Meanwhile, nearly half (47%) have revised their interview approach to learn about skills and background in more depth, while others (68%) lean more heavily on behavioral interviews and live tasks.
Video Screening Offers Reality Checks
Fairley’s job marketplace Vetano recently launched a platform that lets candidates produce simple videos to demonstrate their skills. The “resume-free” approach focuses on customer-facing roles in industries such as retail, hospitality, skilled trades and beauty. They’re not the only ones putting video front and center: companies such as HireVue, VidCruiter and HireFlix provide video interview tools to help learn more about candidates.
These companies say video and skills data are better indicators for performance. That’s led more employers to include video, particularly asynchronous formats such as answers to screening questions, video introductions or skills demonstrations, in their hiring process. In practice, skills assessments range from structured work samples and simulations to technical tests — all of which lend themselves to video. More employers are assessing skills before interviews and even before resume reviews, according to HireVue’s Global Hiring Trends Report. A growing share now use skills assessments as a primary screening tool, the company stated, and some have reduced or eliminated resume screening altogether.
Video also showcases a candidate’s skills in action, so you can evaluate a recorded customer interaction, a sales pitch or an explanation of how a candidate would solve a job-specific problem against a job description’s criteria.
Video Screening Simplifies Interviewing
Video streamlines and speeds hiring, especially in high-volume efforts for retail, hospitality and contact centers. By reviewing brief recorded responses, employers hear from candidates without the headaches of scheduling and, as important, get a sense of how well they grasp concepts, perform tasks or handle realistic scenarios they might encounter on the job.
Skills Assessments Remain Popular
What videos can’t do is predict job performance, which is why more employers are turning to skills-based assessments. Research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows that nearly two-thirds of employers now use skills-based hiring practices to identify candidates.
Keep an Eye on Regulation
Discussions around government regulation of AI tools should also be on your radar. For instance, some experts argue that tools that claim to “read” facial expressions, vocal patterns or nonverbal clues risk injecting bias into recruiting technology. Opaque algorithmic hiring tools, including video-based systems, reproduce human discrimination while evading accountability, warned the warned the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued technical assistance clarifying that algorithmic and automated selection tools must comply with anti-discrimination statutes, regardless of whether they analyze resumes, assessments or video interviews. New York City’s Local Law 144 explicitly covers systems used to screen candidates, including video, and requires bias audits and disclosures to candidates.
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Candidates Aren’t Sold on Video Screening
Finally, be aware of how candidates' attitudes can complicate the picture. One-way video interviews are unpopular among job-seekers, with a third abandoning applications that require them, according to CareerPlug’s Candidate Experience Report.
In a labor market where both sides increasingly rely on AI and automation, employers want methods to show candidates can do the job. Video and skills assessments are emerging as key tools in doing this. They may still be evolving and are certainly imperfect, but they’re increasingly important to how employers decide on candidates.
Are you involved in hiring or recruiting? Here are other factors to keep in mind:
- Is AI Good or Bad for Recruiters? It's Complicated — AI can be of great support to recruiters, but applicants are now also using the technology to improve their chances. Some recruiters say that’s a problem.
- Job Candidates Can Now Spam Employers More Efficiently — The ability to stand out when applying for a job has been thwarted by AI. But a new tool promises job seekers an easier path to recruiters’ inboxes.
- Why AI Hiring Discrimination Lawsuits Are About to Explode — AI is reshaping hiring — and the courtroom. Job seekers are suing over biased screening tools, and experts say a wave of lawsuits is just beginning.
