Busy
Britons want to see ‘speed-interviewing’ when looking for work – reflecting
their high-pace lives.
Almost
90 per cent of UK jobseekers said they would like to see widespread
introduction of the speed-interview – a 15-minute session for candidates and
employers to get the measure of each other before proceeding to a longer
interview.
The
research, commissioned by recruitment fair totaljobs live, shows that
jobseekers feel their time is wasted at interviews for jobs they can see aren’t
right for them from the moment they walk through the door.
In
traditional interviews, 76 per cent of candidates make up their minds about a
company within 15 minutes, with a highly decisive quarter of these ready to
walk or work within five minutes.
Despite
this, politeness prevails as the majority of jobseekers persevere with hopeless
interviews as they are too embarrassed to terminate the session.
The
research also shows that a quarter of candidates have turned down an interview
because they simply couldn’t find time to squeeze it in.
A
further 61 per cent claimed that making time to attend interviews is a problem
when trying to juggle work, family and social life.
Keith
Robinson, website director for totaljobs.com, said: "As we have seen with
the recent speed-dating phenomenon, we don’t even have time for proper dinner
dates any more, so it’s not surprising that people are looking to apply the
same hard and fast rules elsewhere.
"Recruitment
is a serious business, and the speed-interview is not a substitute for a
formal, in-depth interview – it is simply a way of helping candidates decide
which companies they would like to concentrate their time and efforts on.
"Yet
while jobseekers may be ready for the new interview style, our own anecdotal
evidence suggests that employers still view the concept with caution. The
traditional interview is seen by recruiters as a low-risk, tried and tested way
of hiring, and I predict that it will be some time yet before the
speed-interview becomes a standard part of business practice."
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