Understanding Applicants' Reactions to Asynchronous Video Interviews Through Self-reports and Nonverbal Cues

Abstract

Asynchronous video interviews (AVIs) are increasingly used by organizations in their hiring process. In this mode of interviewing, the applicants are asked to record their responses to predefined interview questions using a webcam via an online platform. AVIs have increased usage due to employers' perceived benefits in terms of costs and scale. However, little research has been conducted regarding applicants' reactions to these new interview methods. In this work, we investigate applicants' reactions to an AVI platform using self-reported measures previously validated in psychology literature. We also investigate the connections of these measures with nonverbal behavior displayed during the interviews. We find that participants who found the platform creepy and had concerns about privacy reported lower interview performance compared to participants who did not have such concerns. We also observe weak correlations between nonverbal cues displayed and these self-reported measures. Finally, inference experiments achieve overall low-performance w.r.t. to explaining applicants' reactions. Overall, our results reveal that participants who are not at ease with AVIs (i.e., high creepy ambiguity score) might be unfairly penalized. This has implications for improved hiring practices using AVIs.