I recently had my first video interview. These are my recommendations for making sure you’re ready for a video interview.
Test your equipment
Test your camera and microphone to make sure you won’t have any issues when you connect to the call. I’ve had many work calls where someone has trouble connecting their audio while everyone else on the call waits for them. I didn’t want to make that first impression on my interviewers. I rarely make video calls on my personal computer so I made a test call to ensure everything connected and worked as expected.
Prep your interview space
Setup your camera where it will be during the interview and turn it on. How does the background look? How is the lighting?
In my case the background looked fine but the lighting was bad. My home office has a large window on one side of the room. I looked too bright on my left and too dark on my right. I partially closed the shutters to reduce the light from the window and placed a lamp on my right side, out of frame. That evened out the light.
Dress for success
Some clothes look very different on camera than they do in person. I recommend checking how your interview outfit looks on your web cam before the interview.
The shirt I had planned to wear is a standard blue dress shirt but on camera it looked weird. Almost neon. I tried three shirts before I found one that looked okay.
Check your sound
Do a test call and ask the person on the other end how you sound. On my test call with my wife she said she could hear a slight echo. I have high ceilings and hard floors in my office so there is a bit of an echo. I put some blankets on the floor, out of frame, to absorb the sound. We did another test call and the echo was gone.
At that point I felt confident that I would look and sound about the same as I do in person.
Thoughts on video interviews
This was my first video interview and so far, I’m not a fan. They’re okay as a substitute for a phone interview but they’re not a good substitute for an in-person interview. I didn’t feel like I had the same ability to interact and build rapport. Also, I was the only one on video — the interviewers didn’t turn their cameras on. So that felt a little odd knowing they could see me but I couldn’t see them.
I’m sure some of you have had a lot more experience with video interviews than me. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
5-30-2020 Update:
This advice seems quaint after most of us have spent the last few months on zoom during the lock down. But, I think it’s still necessary.
In the last ten months, I’ve participated in roughly 50 video interviews. Four of them as a candidate and the rest on the hiring side. As a candidate, my video interviews improved with practice. The only exception is when I was the only one on video. That happened a couple of times and it was always awkward.
Participating in dozens of interviews on the hiring side reinforced my original advice. Most of the candidates I interviewed weren’t well prepared for a video interview. I encountered a lot of poor audio quality, dark or messy rooms and disheveled candidates.
One candidate pet his dog throughout the interview. One walked around outside with his phone like he was filming a vlog. A few candidates even had someone else feeding them answers.
Bottom line: A little common sense and attention to detail will really help you stand out. And don’t cheat!