5 Tips to Get Through Your Video Interview With Ease
by Kelsey Arrington on May 17, 2022 Video interviews are commonplace in our current society. With technological advances reaching new heights and remote work opportunities increasing daily, surely this doesn’t come as a surprise. But, have you ever participated in a video interview? It can be a bit intimidating. The good news is that we’re here to help! In this post, you’ll find 5 tips that’ll help you get through your next video interview with ease!
Key Points:
- Video interviews are just as serious as in-person interviews, so dress appropriately.
- It’s important to confirm the time zone of your interviewer.
- Always test your internet connection before your video interview and plan to arrive a few minutes early.
Keep These 5 Video Interview Tips in Mind
1. Before the Video Interview, Confirm the Date and Time Zone
This may seem like an unnecessary tip but it can come in handy if you are applying for a job with a company that has an international presence. Remote work is often spread across geographic time and space. Simply put, your interviewer just may be located in a different time zone. For instance, 4:00 pm might be really 1:00 pm, in your time and it’d be awful for you to miss an opportunity because of a simple oversight. So, review all information available and confirm that you know the exact date and time zone in which your video interview is scheduled to take place.
2. Dress Professionally As You Would for an In-Person Interview
Some remote jobs have very lenient dress codes. For instance, for a designer, developer, or creative professional, it might be okay to wear a t-shirt and baseball cap to a remote work meeting. In those cases, the company’s culture completely supports it. However, you should stray away from that type of behavior when interviewing for the role.
Instead, treat your video interview like it is an in-person interview. Think about it for a moment. Before you join the team, you simply don’t know the company culture well enough to dress so casually. Our best advice is to dress professionally so that your personality and experience can shine through the computer screen.
3. Think About Your Workspace and Technological Needs Beforehand
Do you have a home office? Are you planning to take your video interview at a cafe or coworking facility? Depending on the workspace that you have available, you’ll have varying technological needs and face different technical difficulties. So, think about your workspace before the video interview takes place.
To make the best impression, you’ll need to consider conducting video interviews in a quiet space.
4. Test Your Connection
If you’re a remote worker or anyone who has used a video conferencing platform, you know that technical difficulties happen from time to time.
However, there is a way to cut down on that! And one surefire way to do so is to test your connection ahead of time. The last thing that you want to do is lose connection while your prospective employer is talking or while you are screen sharing an interview presentation.
5. Maintain Eye Contact
Eye contact is extremely important when it comes to human connection and verbal communication – especially when meeting for virtual interviews. To show your boss-to-be that you mean business, you’ll need to stay engaged through eye contact.
It can be a rather difficult thing to do while using video conferencing software – primarily because you can see yourself talking. However, it’s important to practice looking pleasantly into the camera and simulating the eye contact two people have when conducting a face-to-face meeting.
5 Popular Video Conferencing Platforms to Familiarize Yourself With
Your prospective employer may use a myriad of software to conduct business. So, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest and most popular video conferencing software on the market. Below is a shortlist of 5 popular video conferencing platforms:
- Zoom
- Google Meet
- Microsoft Teams
- GoToMeeting
- EzTalks