Tip to Ace your Virtual Interview

Tip to ace your virtual interview - interview preparation

Vir­tu­al inter­views were first con­ceived rough­ly 15 years ago and are cur­rent­ly sweep­ing the human resource sec­tor. A vast major­i­ty of tech com­pa­nies now uti­lize vir­tu­al inter­views as a stan­dard to screen their poten­tial can­di­dates. This is pos­si­ble through the advent of video con­fer­enc­ing tech­nol­o­gy ini­tial­ly adopt­ed by the likes of Mon­tage and Hire­Vue. The use of virtu­al inter­view in recruit­ment is now more pop­u­lar, as firms seek ways to inter­view job appli­cants remote­ly. It is imper­a­tive we dis­cuss tips on acing vir­tu­al interviews.

Forms of virtual interview 

There are two main types, and these include:

  • Live video inter­views: They are done using a video chat net­work like Zoom. They are relat­ed to face-to-face inter­views since they occur in real-time.
  • Record­ed video inter­views: Com­pa­nies would pro­vide a link to a plat­form where you would record respons­es to pre-arranged inquiries. You would not be inter­act­ing with a recruiter; rather, your replies would be reviewed by the hir­ing staff at a lat­er date.

Preparation for your virtual interview 

Prepar­ing for a vir­tu­al inter­view is crit­i­cal, sim­i­lar to how you would for an on-site inter­view. You have to first under­stand the inter­view for­mat. Ask whether you will be under­go­ing a record­ed or live inter­view. For both, you would have to pro­vide suc­cinct respons­es to any ques­tions thrown at you. How­ev­er, the record­ed inter­view is usu­al­ly timed, which makes it a lit­tle bit chal­leng­ing. You may observe the clock tick­ing away. There­fore, it would be per­ti­nent to check out com­mon ques­tions in order to pro­vide suc­cinct answers and not waste time.

It is crit­i­cal to car­ry out your research on the orga­ni­za­tion, read the job descrip­tion, and be pre­pared to defend your qual­i­fi­ca­tions and high­light your expe­ri­ence. Pre­pare to dis­cuss the rea­sons you chose to work for the orga­ni­za­tion, the way its mis­sion res­onates with your goals, and the qual­i­ties you would bring to the role. Be ready to answer some com­mon ques­tions and have your ques­tions com­piled too.

Stick to time 

Keep­ing the recruiter(s) wait­ing is not a great idea. Most vir­tu­al inter­views are timed since the recruiter(s) will be on sched­ule for oth­er job appli­cants. It is ide­al if you log into the link of the inter­view some fif­teen min­utes before the start time.

Check out our blog for oth­er help­ful tips on inter­view prepa­ra­tion. Also, sub­scribe to our ser­vices to access a wide range of inter­view prepa­ra­tion resources. Speak with our agent at Elite careers today. 

video interview

Inspect the technology 

Ensure that your inter­net con­nec­tiv­i­ty is sta­ble to han­dle a vir­tu­al call. Test your device and net­work speed pri­or to the begin­ning of the inter­view to pre­vent any poten­tial tech­ni­cal issues. Close any oth­er pro­grams or appli­ca­tions on your sys­tem that may inter­fere with the video and cause it to lag. It is crit­i­cal that you do not give the hir­ing man­ag­er any rea­son to doubt your tech­ni­cal knowledge.

Consider the background 

Using a neu­tral back­ground is essen­tial. Why? The inter­view focus should be on you and not on what is going on at your back. It is also impor­tant that you are in a sur­round­ing which is well lit.

Noise is anoth­er aspect of your back­ground. Ensure that your sur­round­ing is devoid of sounds from pets, noisy room­mates, con­struc­tion noise, or any oth­er type of noise.

Exude professionalism

Dress pro­fes­sion­al­ly for the vir­tu­al inter­view. Ensure that your attire is clean and neat­ly pressed. Wear­ing stripes or com­pli­cat­ed pat­terns, which pro­duce strange opti­cal allu­sions on a video cam­era, is not a great idea.

Ensure a pro­fes­sion­al appear­ance by using a great pos­ture when on cam­era. Sit up on your seat and main­tain eye con­tact. When­ev­er you speak, focus on your cam­era and not your recruiter. This will ensure a bet­ter sense of eye contact.

Anoth­er fac­tor to con­sid­er when con­duct­ing a vir­tu­al inter­view is cam­era posi­tion­ing. Rather than hav­ing your cam­era point­ed up at your chin, place it at or just above eye level.

Other types of distractions should be avoided 

You must devote 100% of your focus to the inter­view. While the inter­view goes on, avoid eat­ing any­thing and do not talk to any­one else. It is also cru­cial that you do not take any oth­er calls or use your phone unless it per­tains to the interview.

Being on time is just as impor­tant in a vir­tu­al inter­view as it is for an on-site type. Before any sched­uled inter­view, make sure all your equip­ment is tested.

Since almost every vir­tu­al inter­view is timed, make every response brief and straight­for­ward. Ensure a pro­fes­sion­al demeanour in both your attire and con­duct. Avoid dis­trac­tions from noise, food, and phone.

Final­ly, when the inter­view begins, inquire about the recruiter’s phone num­ber. This is because you may run into any tech­ni­cal dif­fi­cul­ties. Even with prepa­ra­tion, things can go wrong, and you can call and request a resched­ul­ing at anoth­er time or on anoth­er video-con­fer­enc­ing appli­ca­tion. And when the inter­view con­cludes, do not for­get to fol­low up. 

Check out our blog for oth­er help­ful tips on inter­view prepa­ra­tion. Also, sub­scribe to our ser­vices to access a wide range of inter­view prepa­ra­tion resources. Speak with our agent at Elite careers today.

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