Like them or loathe them, video interviews are becoming a more popular choice for recruitment, especially if your job may be a remote working one!
We’ve popped together a few handy tips to think about if it’s the next stage in the process for you.
Always "enable video" - this might seem obvious, but not everyone does!
Find a quiet, neutral spot for the interview, and give yourself a little bit of time to sit and prepare so you're not hurrying to dial in at the last minute.
Be upfront if you have little ones in the house!
Turn your mobile on to silent. You wouldn’t have your phone sitting next to you and on in a face to face, so don’t do it on a video interview.
Consider creating a new Skype profile for professional calls if your personal one has an unprofessional name. ‘Wiggle79’ doesn’t scream professionalism!
Dress appropriately! Pjs (even on the bottom half) is not such a good look if you need to jump up for the dog or doorbell!
Think about the background in your house which they will be able to see. Not everyone has a clean house (we don’t) but we wouldn’t want a potential employer to necessarily see this too.
Make sure your equipment is ready to go i.e. is your Wi-fi working and is everything fully charged etc….?
Prepare as you would for any other interview - so, practise some example questions, have some good examples ready of when and how you’ve demonstrated a particular skill/attribute and have some notes to hand (out of shot!) to prompt you if nerves get the better of you.
Why not have a practice run with a friend? They can check out what you look and sound like on the other end (they can also point out stuff you might not have noticed behind you)!
Eliminate background noise completely so that it doesn’t interfere with the actual audio on your microphone. You’d be surprised at what it can pick up!