Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Previous research has shown that job candidates are rated significantly higher if evaluators are allowed to listen to theirpitches rather than just reading the transcript (Schroeder & Epley, 2015). That research did not find any additional benefitfrom seeing the candidate on video, but did not examine whether watching a video interview was different from watchingan interview in-person. Our experiment had 50 participants watch a mock interview in-person while 50 other participantswatched the same interviews ostensibly through a live video feed in another room. Those who watched through video ratedthe job applicant significantly lower on all measured dimensions including agency, hireability, and intellect. These findingsindicate that job applicants who are interviewed through a video-conference service or whose interviews are recorded andwatched later are at a significant disadvantage to those who can be observed live. Potential causes and ameliorations ofthese effects are discussed.