Nail your first video job interview
You are looking for the perfect opportunity for yourself, that dream job or internship. You had done your homework: reviewed your Linkedin, updated your cv and applied to the right places and finally… boom!! The email arrives in your inbox inviting you to the interview for your dream job, you can’t believe it! It is amazing… but wait… It is a video interview, you were not prepared for that.
Most people think that a remote interview is less up close and personal and that it gives you fewer possibilities to impress or positively impact the interviewer. I am not so sure that is the case. I would say it has lots of advantages: like you are playing on your home turf, you are not pressured to get anywhere and you can have all your notes on the table, what’s not to like?
So without further ado, let’s get into the 6 tips for nailing it.
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1. Body Language
Just cause I like to live up to people’s expectations, I am going to start with this one, as it is one of the most common questions asked: what is the right angle or position for the interview?
We all can agree that in any type of human contact body language is very important, we have thousands of courses, books and seminars to probe it, things like eye contact, posture or handshake matter.
Now, in a video interview, the only thing that they might see in most cases is part of your body (mostly the face and upper body) which is why it is important to transmit security in another way. In this case, I would recommend:
– If you want to show a positive and upbeat personality, sitting upright on the chair with your shoulders open and relaxed might do the trick.
– During the interview you should give the interviewer your undivided attention and in most cases nodding and smiling as you would do in a normal conversation will show just that.
– Look straight at the camera when you are speaking, you can of course look at the screen when the interviewer is talking, this will help you to align your eyes with your audience and be less nervous as you are not focusing as much on their reactions, however, practice a bit, an intense gaze can be, to say the least, intense and the worse creepy. Relaxed and comfortable are more important than right, which leads me to my second point.
2. Do not look at yourself
I know it feels weird to look into someone’s eyes when they are not in the room with you (camera love, we can call it), but if you are looking at yourself, the interviewer will notice and you will transmit the feeling of nervousness or, what is worse, that you are not paying attention which is not exactly what we are going for here, right?
So again, look at the camera when you are speaking. Sometimes, I even put a post-it nearby to remind myself to do it.
3. Record yourself
As weird as it might sound, that is the best way to practice for those types of interviews. Now, mind you most people feel… how would I say this, strange when they see themselves on camera for the first time, judging yourself doesn’t help and people are used to your voice and face in real life, you are fine, focus on preparing for the interview.
Assess the possible questions and record yourself talking about your experience, abilities and capabilities, then review it. By looking at the recording you will be able to recognize your tics and if you are communicating what you really want to transmit about yourself. This way you will have time to improve the message before the big day.
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4. You can have your notes, but with caution…
Another advantage to having the interview in the comfort of your home is that you can have your notes in front of you.
Now, this is a double-edged sword, they can be an aid if they are going to calm your nerves about things that you are scared that you will forget. But they can also make you look distracted and absent if you are looking at them all the time. And here comes the know yourself part. If you know, you can’t help looking at your notes, leave them in another room and keep some keywords and that is all.
It is more important to be present and confident than right about all the stuff you want to say.
5. Control your environment
You play on your home territory and that can really work to your advantage. You can choose the place where you feel comfortable and relaxed, which in exchange increases the confidence in your communication (fact baked by science, I think …)
So, what is needed for a great experience in a video interview? Sound, light and internet connection. Besides feeling comfortable wherever you are, make sure that part of your home has an appropriate internet connection, nothing can make you more nervous than broken questions in the middle of the interview. Try the lighting on the location the previous around the time of the interview. It is important that they see your face so if you need to add extra light you can sort it in advance.
Also, the acoustics in the room are important, that is why I will reiterate again the importance of having a small recording session before the event.
6. Dress to impress
Finally, we are going to have a small note on the dress code not only for yourself but also for your location. When it comes to you, dress as if you were going to the actual interview. The fact that you are at home is not an excuse to wear pyjamas or sloppy joggers! I know that they are only going to see a part of you, but I would recommend that you are fully dressed. This will increase your confidence and what can I say sometimes accidents happen and you wouldn’t like them to see your leggings, right?
In regards to your home, make sure that there is no mess behind you, other people passing by or things that would make you conscious when the interview is going on. You can be as intentional as you want with the environment. This means that you can control your surroundings to your advantage e.g. if you are applying for a creative role. You might want to have your back wall express that creative trait about your profile through colourful paintings.
If you implement the advice in this post, I am sure you got this! Would it be perfect to find your dream job from the comfort of your own home? And if this one is not your dream job here at the Hub we have hundreds of jobs for you so you can have your pick and we also do home delivery, directly to your inbox.
Good luck!
