62% of Americans Would Prefer an In-Person Interview

Majority of Americans Want to be Interviewed Face-to-Face, Citing Personal Connection, The Risk of Technical Issues and More

PHILADELPHIA, PA – According to a new survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Yoh, a leading international talent and outsourcing company and part of Day & Zimmermann, 62% of Americans would prefer to be interviewed for a job in-person rather than virtually if given the choice.

Among Americans who say they would prefer an in-person interview, reasons include:

• In-person interviews would be the only way to truly judge a new job opportunity (59%)
• Virtual interviews would limit the connection with the interviewer (37%)
• Virtual job interviews would offer too many opportunities for technical difficulties (17%)
• Other reason (16%)

However, there is still a portion of Americans who would rather a virtual interview. Results show that 38% of Americans say they would prefer a virtual job interview over an in-person job interview, with almost one-quarter of Americans (22%) saying it would allow them to feel more relaxed than an in-person interview.

“In this technological era, companies are consistently finding faster, better ways to streamline the recruitment process and open the door to a wider range of hiring opportunities,” said Emmett McGrath, President of Yoh. “But Americans’ skepticism of virtual interviews highlights the need for human interaction throughout the recruitment and hiring process. While virtual interviews can offer a wider reach and can often be quicker to schedule, they should not be replacements for face-to-face interaction and the personal connection provided by highly skilled recruiters.”

Additional findings include:

• American baby boomers (ages 55-64) and millennials (ages 18-34) are almost equally as concerned about technical difficulties during a virtual interview. Results showed that 13% of Americans ages 55-64 would prefer an in-person interview to avoid potential technical problems. This is compared to 12% for Americans aged between 18-34 and 65+. Americans aged between 35-44 and 45-54 are slightly less concerned at 8% and 9%, respectively.

• College grads are less likely to be amenable to virtual interviews than Americans without a college degree. More than two thirds of college graduates (68%) say they would prefer an in-person interview over a virtual interview, in comparison to 57% of those with a high school diploma or below and 61% of those with some college but no degree.

• Americans with a household income (HHI) of more than 100K per year are more likely to prefer in-person interviews than those with lower annual household incomes. Results show that more than two thirds of Americans with a HHI of more than $100,000 per year (69%) prefer an in-person interview over virtual compared to less than 3 in 5 of those with a HHI of less than $75,000 per year (57%). They are also more likely to say they prefer in-person interviews to truly judge the job opportunity at hand, than those earning under $50,000 (43% vs. 30%).

SURVEY METHODOLOGY
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Braithwaite from July 30 – August 1st, 2019 among 2,015 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Joe McIntyre at joe@gobraithwaite.com.