How to ace your next Video Job interview / recruitment drive
The motivation for this article comes from having conducted several video interviews.I did not want this article to be targeting just freshers . But everyone who is either an Interviewer or Interviewee or a HR coordinator.
I’m not surprised to see the gaps in the whole process given the fact the world is still evolving to the new norms of recruiting in the post COVID world. But could it be a better experience for all the parties ? Definitely .
Golden rules for both interviewer and interviewee
- Respect Schedule. The most important thing is that you respect the schedule for interview. Mostly your interview is scheduled days in advance and therefore you have enough time to prepare. If you cannot make it , inform well in advance and I mean at least one working day ahead. Don’t give that excuse of that unavoidable “thing” that led you to skip the schedule.Your reason for skipping the schedule mostly reveals whether it is genuine or not .
- Be punctual. Respect the time of each other . If you have to join the call at 10:00 AM , it’s a good idea to join the room at least 5 — 7 minutes earlier. This will give you time to test your audio / video apparatus and ensure that you not fiddling around with your settings after the call has started.
- Be clear and audible. Most of us have heard the following phrases such as “I cant hear you” , “Am I audible” , “Can you please repeat that”. Right ? These issues can happen due to a few reasons . But the regular culprit would be a bad headphone / laptop mic . So, test your apparatus well ahead of the interview . Do a few tests and be convinced that you are audible to other members
- Be patient. It is a virtue. How many times you have faced a situation where all the participants suddenly started talking and there was utter chaos ? . Especially if you are a candidate it is a good idea to listen to the question before you answer.
5. Have a good internet connection. If at all possible have a secondary wifi connection by using your phone as a hot-spot . Just in case if there’s a fluctuation in your main home router your laptop can switch to your backup connection and with minimal interruption you can continue further.
Rules to follow if you are a interviewee
- Get some privacy if possible. If you are at home , try to get a room where you can attend the interview without any interruption . We all know about Professor Robert Kelly. For him its cool for he’s an international policy expert. For an interviewee may be not.
2. Background filters. Not everyone will have the luxury of a private room or a nice looking room. Thank God for the Back Ground filters. If you can learn one important skill to ace a video interview , it is to learn how to setup a nice background filter to cover you just in case if you have a faux pas moment during the interview.
Here are some resources .
See the magic yourself .
Personally having used all of the above , I stick to Background Blur in comparison to Virtual Background . But if you prefer to use a virtual background make sure you use something that’s nice and clean.
A reasonable Background image that you can use
A not so cool background image that you should not use for an interview call.
3. Keep your CV and ID handy. You never know. It’s a common practice in proctored certification exams to have your ID shown on the camera for a verification that you are indeed who you claim to be. Applying the same technique an interviewer may ask you to do this for verification . So be ready .Your CV can help you go through what you mentioned at a quick glance and enable to you answer questions clearly.I have interviewed.
4. Don’t Google for answers. In a Data Science interview I saw the screen of the candidate where a frantic google search was happening on the call having forgotten that the screen was being shared already for a project walk through. If you don’t know its fine . No one is expected to know everything. By attempting do such things you put yourself in poor light. Not cool.
5. Ask questions about the workplace you are being interviewed for. It shows your earnestness , curiosity to learn about the new workplace.
Rules to follow if you are a interviewer
With great power comes great responsibility
- Show empathy. I happened to be in the panel once on a Fresher interview where a junior colleague started asking questions from his favourite Electrical Engineering concepts to the student . At one point it felt as if the interviewer was showing of his skills to other panelists. Remember that you are here to assess the candidate’s skill and not to show of yours.Stick to questions that are relevant to the job role that you are interviewing.
- Ask open-ended specific questions.
Ask : What are the steps you’ll take to ensure minimal downtime during a migration ?
Dont Ask: Can you do a migration with minimal downtime ?
3. Go through the CV of the candidate / other documents of the fresher.
If you had a chance , take a look ahead of the call. Or at least in the first 2 minutes take a look after informing the candidate . That way you show that you care to know what the candidate has to offer and secondly you can frame better questions to test the candidate.
4. Do not discuss salary. Unless you are in a position to influence the salary decision.
5. Remember to record a feedback to HR not to the candidate. You have to submit a feedback / assessment decision of whether to go ahead with the candidate to your HR Coordinator and not to the candidate themselves.
Rules to follow if you are a HR Coordinator
- Have acceptance / confirmation on the schedules from both interviewer and interviewee. Use technology . Set smart notifications / reminders for both the parties to ensure a smooth experience.
- Ensure that meeting details are accurate. Take caution to not commit a faux pas of sending the wrong details .
- Channelise Candidate Feedback template. If you can create an online form for this then great. You’ll save time later spent in compiling this information. Or at the least share a standard template so that you have less issues later.
- Act on Interviewer Feedback. Sometimes interviewers find things that were not found at a CV scanning stage. These are very valuable insights. Act on them so that the next time you don’t end up having the same mistake again.
If you came this far, I’m glad and hope you found a few things useful.
