Video Answers allow applicants to provide video answers to written questions asked by the employer in the job application. It is a powerful, and modern, tool to add to your recruiting workflow.
Setting up questions that require video answers
When building a Standard Question Set, you will see a new option in the answer type dropdown for “Video.” Upon selecting that answer type, the applicant will be prompted to provide a video answer to the question provided. You can designate as many questions as Video Answers as desired within a Question Set.
Once you have added Video Answers to Question Sets, you will see a video camera icon next to the Question Set name throughout the application alerting you that the Question Set includes Video Answers. Additionally, hovering over this icon will tell you how many Video Answers are contained in that Question Set.
Please note: you can only add Video Answers to Standard Question Sets, cannot add Video Answers to AutoScore question sets.
The Applicant’s Perspective
When an applicant receives a Question requiring a Video Answer, they see this in each individual question in the application:
Once the applicant clicks the “Start Recording” button from the question’s screen, the video recorder is launched.
- Similar to any software application that uses a device’s camera and microphone, applicants must grant permission for the application to use their device’s microphone and camera to record their answers (applicable to both computers and phones). If they do not grant permission, the applicant cannot provide a video answer and applicants only need to grant permission once (not every question).
- Applicants do not need to download any special software or add-ons to be able to use this feature.
Next, applicants get a pre-recording screen. This screen orients them to the process, displays the question they are answering and lets the applicant see how their camera is setup:
Now the applicant can click “Start Recording” in the video recorder. Doing so gives them a countdown timer on their screen (3…2…1) so they can get ready to record their answer. After the countdown timer hits zero, the recording begins. Here the applicant can:
- Record the desired answer
- Can click the “Start Over” button if they’d like to start over
- Can stop their recording
The applicant has 1:00 to answer each question. The applicant can see both (i) the max time allowed and (ii) how much time is remaining per answer. As a future enhancement, it is planned that employers will be able to set different maximum recording times other than the 1:00 currently in place.
When the applicant is satisfied with the answer, she can click “Done.” Doing so closes the video recorder and returns the applicant to the Question Set screen. Here, after a short “video processing” message, the applicant can:
- See a thumbnail of the video she recorded
- Can watch the video again
- Can remove the video and if so, re-record the answer to this question
Once the applicant has completed all questions (both video and non-video), the application is submitted and the employer can then evaluate the applicant’s file, including the video answers.
Viewing Video Answers in the Applicant File
Video Answers can be viewed directly in the applicant file in the same way you view other answer types. By opening the question set, you will see both the individual question asked as well as the video answer provided by the applicant. You can watch each answer as desired, add comments and notes to the applicant file.
As an additional value, each video answer is automatically transcribed into text so you can read the answers as well as watch the video.
Structuring Job Templates with Video Answers
Some leading job boards, such as Indeed Apply and Zip Recruiter Apply do not have integration built for Video Answers. For that reason, we recommend including any Question Sets that include Video Answers in Part 2 of the job. For a more complete article on this best practice, see this article.