Comparison of VR-interviews to Online Video Conferencing Software and its Impact on User Experience : Studying the experience of VR-interviews compared to generic online video conferencing software like Zoom and MS Teams and its impact on the Interviewer

Abstract: With the recent advancement of computer technology, having an immersive experience has become more accessible. A technology that offers that is the one of virtual reality, or VR, for short, which immerses the user in another reality that is artificially constructed. It is natural to argue if there is even a need to switch from the general Online Video Conferencing software to VR-interviews.  The proposed research looks to dive into the user experience in this area to answer this question. This problem is important from the perspective of business owners, companies, and employees trying to have the best experience to recruit new employees or get recruited as a new employee, having the best possible experience. This research has three questions, where the first question examines how the user experience of an interview is different in VR compared to video conferencing software. The second and third question examines the user experience "job candidate's and recruiter's perspectives", in comparison to video conferencing software. For RQ1 a mixture of a small experiment followed by a think-aloud session with the participants was done. To gather the data for RQ 2 & 3, a total of three methods were chosen (experiment, interview, and survey), where these methods were both quantitative and qualitative to allow for triangulation.   The conclusions from the gathered data and the analysis of this research were that the user experience of virtual reality was preferable than that of the video conferencing software for both the recruiter and the candidate.