Testing Language Skills with Recorded Video Interviews

“Aimez-vous Ziggeo?"

This might be a question posed by a video interviewer trying to test an applicant’s proficiency in French.  Obviously, video pre-screening offers huge advantages for employers wishing to assess, first-hand, an applicant’s competency in a foreign tongue.

Candidates can write “conversational” or “semi-fluent” or “fluent” on a resume, but what does it really mean? In America, where anyone who has taken a high school Spanish class can cheerfully inflate his or her linguistic abilities on paper, it may not mean much. Moreover, it’s easy to buy a fake language certificate testifying erroneously to one’s abilities or to find other ways to fake it, especially assuming that the interviewers themselves won’t be able to test language abilities on the spot.

Video interviewing to the rescue! It lets employers judge language competency by posing questions in foreign languages.  Since recorded video interviews let employers share candidate responses with colleagues and others involved in the recruitment decision-making process, native speakers can review the recordings to confirm a candidate’s proficiency (or lack of it).

Of course, with a pre-recorded video, candidates can simply memorize answers in a foreign language and spew them back on camera.  Interestingly, however, even in these cases a truly fluent or native speaker will usually come off as such – perhaps because of the ease of speaking or perfect accent, for example -- whether or not he or she had time to rehearse.

One legal tip (and it’s an important one): employers should never use language ability or the existence of a foreign accent to discriminate against potential applicants based on national origin. It’s acceptable to ask about, and test for, foreign language ability only if it is genuinely necessary for the job, but not as a means of discrimination.

From the candidate’s point of view, video interviewing can be a wonderful way to make the point that he or she is truly proficient or fluent or native. Too often, language ability is buried in a resume under a heading such as “Other” (note to applicants: put language ability front and center!), as if the 20 years they spent slaving away in Mandarin class was about as significant as playing marbles. If you have the language goods, video interviewing lets you shine.

So, for the record, what IS the correct response to: “Aimez-vous Ziggeo?”

The answer is easy: “Oui. J’ADORE Ziggeo!”

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Ziggeo lets you quickly and easily pre-screen candidates by watching their videos. Candidates simply record short videos of themselves for your own private viewing.