During these unprecedented times, we are finding new ways to interact with our future candidates. Ways we are trying to keep our social distance is through cutting all face to face contact, when it comes to interviews, body language and the way a person presents themselves is important to us, we can feel more of a connection by seeing the person. One way we have continued to make this work is through video interviews.
So here are some of Building Staff Solutions’ top tips.
Find The Perfect Spot
Your first thought should be where you are going to have your interview? There are a number of factors to consider when choosing, for example, Sound, is this a space that will be quiet for the duration of the interview, as any distractions or interruptions can make you uneasy. Lighting, you should make sure you are clearly visible, avoid sitting with a window behind you as this can create a shadow silhouette of you. Think about what the interviewer will see behind you try to keep as plain as possible, you need to be their main focus. Make sure it’s a space where you can close the door to close out household noise and to avoid family, friends, pets coming in. (Consider making a sign to put on the door)
Setting Up
Talk to the person that will be doing the interview, ask them which software or video platform they will be using. Be sure you then have it installed on your phone or computer and you know how to use it.
Put It To The Test
Have a test run.Ask family or friends if you can try it out on them, set it up at the same time as the interview,, this will allow you to be able to ensure your background and lighting will look good. It will ensure that the camera and microphone both work and you have the chance to play around with them. Run through some basic interview questions and ask for any feedback on how you can improve for the real thing.
Practice Practice Practice
If you are not familiar with video chatting it can be very daunting the first few times, you need to be sure you are comfortable talking and putting yourself across correctly – It’ll probably feel strange talking to yourself and watching yourself speak but recording yourself and listening back can be a great way to know how to tweak it to be better, you can check your body language, your tone of voice and volume that you need to use to make sure you’re not shouting at the interviewer. You don’t want to become aware of these issues during the interview and spend the whole time trying to tweak it.
Make Notes
The interviewer can only see what you show – so we suggest that you have a cv printed off and ready and have answer ideas written down so you feel more at ease, but remember it won’t look good if you spend all your time glancing down – we suggest getting a stand beside the screen and standing or clipping the paper on it for you to glance over at.
On The Day…..
Get An Early Start
Be in position and have everything set up at least 10 minutes before the interview is due to start. The last thing you want to do is keep the interviewer waiting, so be ready and waiting for when they dial in or join.
Dress Up
Just like a normal interview you want to look presentable, many people look past this step because they are in the comfort of their own home but getting dressed up makes it feel more professional for yourself and gets you in that interview mindset. We suggest not just dressing the top half just in case you need to stand up for any reason.
Interview Time
You have everything in place, you have tested it out, you are prepared so just relax, answer the questions accordingly. Although you are talking to a screen, remember to react to your interviewer as you would in person, body language and reaction is just as important over video, seem interested and engaged in the conversion but keep it natural it can be easy to overdo facial expressions etc.
Stay Calm
With modern technology anything can go wrong no matter how much you are prepared – dodgy internet connection, video issues, unexpected background noise, etc but if something does go wrong try and stay calm, your interviewer will understand and be forgiving in these circumstances. This is a great example to show the interviewer how you deal with stressful situations and how you deal under pressure so try to stay calm, your reaction to the situation could be the thing that gets you the job. Always have a back up like phone number or email so you can contact them another way.
Follow Up
After the interview, send a quick email to the employer or recruiter depending on how you obtained the interview to say thank you, that all went well and that you were very excited about the role and enjoyed hearing about it and you look forward to hearing from them. This sets you up nicely for the next conversation.
Video interviews can be daunting for everyone but once you are prepared they can be just as good as a face to face interview.
Remember BSS wants to help you in everyway possible if you need any further career advice give us a call on 01-7071012.
