How to Save Time Recruiting Without Losing the Human Touch

Hiring managers are constantly looking for ways to save time recruiting. Virtual interviews have all helped make recruitment more efficient overall, but are we focusing on the right part of the process? Perhaps the biggest opportunity isn’t replacing face-to-face conversations – it’s reducing the administration that gets in the way of them.

Recent comments from Andy Burnham, reported by HR Grapevine in their article “Doesn’t seem right | Andy Burnham urges employers to rethink virtual interviews & AI screening”, have sparked an interesting debate about the future of recruitment. You can read the original article on HR Grapevine

Burnham questioned whether interviewing candidates via Zoom or Teams has become too commonplace, suggesting that younger candidates, in particular, may struggle to demonstrate their personality, enthusiasm and potential through a screen. He also raised concerns about relying too heavily on AI to screen applications.

It’s an important conversation – and one that’s likely to resonate with many hiring managers.

At Spider, we see both sides.

Virtual interviews have clear benefits. AI can reduce administration. But Burnham’s comments raise a bigger question.

Are we trying to save time recruiting in the right part of the process?

The interview isn’t usually the biggest challenge

The truth is, for most hiring managers, recruitment isn’t their full-time role.

They’re leading teams, managing projects, supporting customers and keeping businesses moving. Recruitment is often something they fit around everything else.

It’s no surprise that technology has become an important part of modern hiring.

A Teams interview saves travelling across the country.

Online booking tools eliminate endless email chains.

These are all positive developments.

But from our experience here at Spider whilst supporting employers across the UK, interviews themselves are rarely described as the biggest challenge.

In fact, many hiring managers tell us the interview is the part they enjoy most.

It’s the opportunity to understand someone’s personality, motivation and potential in a way that no CV can ever fully capture.

The real challenge is getting to interview stage

What often consumes the most time happens before an interview is ever arranged.

• Writing job adverts.
• Advertising vacancies.
• Reviewing applications.
• Filtering out unsuitable CVs.
• Responding to candidates.
• Managing diaries.
• Creating a shortlist.

Recent reports suggest that some vacancies are attracting hundreds of applications. While that’s positive from a talent perspective, it also creates a significant challenge for busy hiring managers trying to identify the right people.

This is where many employers tell us they lose the most time.

Not interviewing candidates.

Getting to the interview stage in the first place.

Virtual interviews still have an important place

We don’t believe this is an argument for or against virtual interviews.

Far from it.

For first-stage interviews, particularly where candidates are travelling long distances or taking time away from work, virtual meetings offer flexibility and convenience for everyone involved.

They allow both employer and candidate to decide whether there’s a good fit before investing more time.

But we also understand Andy Burnham’s point.

Meeting someone face-to-face often gives both parties a better opportunity to build rapport, understand personality and assess whether the role and the organisation feel like the right match.

The strongest recruitment processes don’t see virtual and face-to-face interviews as competing options.

They use each where it adds the greatest value.

Technology should support people – not replace them

The same principle applies to AI.

Technology can help organise applications, automate repetitive administration and make recruitment more efficient.

Those are all positive developments.

But recruitment decisions should always remain human.

Potential doesn’t always fit neatly into keywords.

Neither do attitude, curiosity or cultural fit.

Technology should help hiring managers spend more time with people – not less.

So, where can employers really save time recruiting?

Perhaps the biggest opportunity isn’t making interviews shorter.

It’s making everything before the interview simpler.

From speaking with hiring managers, the biggest frustrations are remarkably consistent:

• Spending hours reviewing unsuitable applications.
• Managing candidate communication.
• Coordinating interviews around busy schedules.
• Finding enough time to focus on the candidates who genuinely stand out.

When those parts of the process become more efficient, something important happens.

Hiring managers don’t necessarily conduct fewer interviews.

They conduct better ones.

Because they’re spending their time meeting candidates who have already been carefully identified as strong potential fits for the role

Keeping the human element at the heart of recruitment

Andy Burnham’s comments remind us that recruitment is, and always will be, about people.

Technology should make recruitment easier… support it!

It should reduce administration.

It should improve efficiency.

But it should never replace the conversations that help employers recognise potential, personality and cultural fit.

Perhaps the real question isn’t whether virtual interviews save time.

It’s whether we’re saving time in the right part of the recruitment process.

Because the best recruitment processes don’t remove the human element.

They create more time for it.

At Spider, that’s exactly what we see every day. The employers who recruit most successfully aren’t simply looking to make interviews quicker – they’re looking to spend less time on recruitment administration and more time having meaningful conversations with the right candidates.

And that’s something technology, used in the right way, can genuinely help achieve.