Ditch technology: Give an in-person interview if you really want the job

Despite the scale of technological advancements, nothing, even to this day, makes a better first impression than getting interviewed in person, say researchers, suggesting that job seekers should avoid a video-based or other technology-mediated interviews, if they can.

Despite the scale of technological advancements, nothing, even to this day, makes a better first impression than getting interviewed in person, say researchers, suggesting that job seekers should avoid a video-based or other technology-mediated interviews, if they can.

“We live in a world where we increasingly rely on technology, but this study reminds us that personal interactions should never be underestimated,” said study author Nikki Blacksmith, a doctoral candidate at George Washington University.

Read: Want the job? Here’s why you should ditch the professionally-written CV

The study found that in-person interviews yielded better impressions for both the company and the candidate.

“Many times, the candidate does not have a choice in the format of the interview. However, the organization does have a choice and if they are not consistent with the type of interview they use across candidates, it could result in fairness issues and even possibly a lawsuit,” Blacksmith noted.

To compare the effectiveness of in-person and technology-mediated interviews, Ms. Blacksmith and her co-authors examined 12 articles published from 2000-2007 that included interviewer and interviewee ratings, that is, assessment of how the company and the candidate performed during the interview.

The study found that, overall, technology-mediated interviews resulted in lower ratings for both the company and the candidate.

Read: Wearing low-cut dress in job application photo may land you an interview

Within that category, video interviews received the most negative rankings, followed by telephone and computer interviews. Face-to-face interviews received more favourable rankings.

Additionally, the study looked at the effect of time on the ratings, assuming that as people became more accustomed to the technology and it improved or advanced, they would rate it higher.

In fact, the opposite occurred, and ratings became more negative for more recent studies, showed the findings published in the journal Personnel Assessment and Decisions.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.