As a result of the pandemic, there has been an increase in the number of people seeking remote, work-from-home jobs. In conjunction with this, there has been a proliferation of virtual interviews to screen people for employment while they are in remote locations.
Even with jobs that require you to be there in person, the interview is still likely to be done remotely. Professional norms are rapidly changing, and online meetings are here to stay. Consequently, there are more and more people wondering: how do I prepare for a virtual interview?
What is a virtual interview?
A virtual interview takes place using digital means such as a phone call or video conferencing tools. Instead of meeting in person, your employer will set up a meeting with you remotely.
If you want to land a job, you need a good interview. Here is a list of 13 tips to ace your virtual interview:
Dress nicely.
Dressing well is an essential part of making a strong, positive impression. You may be at home, but your interviewers can still see you, and they want to get a sense of who you are. Consequently, you must put your best foot forward and present yourself professionally. You can’t afford to dress however you like.
The type of clothes you wear will depend on the company and role you’re applying for, but a general rule of thumb is to prioritize looking neat. Get a sense of what people in the company wear and try to dress a little better than they do.
Wear a clean button-up shirt with a nice blazer or cardigan. Your hair should be neat. Put on some neat slacks or dark jeans, and have your shirt tucked in. You may be filming yourself from the waist up, but you should have professional trousers anyway.
Wouldn’t you feel embarrassed if you got up and your interviewer could see your boxers or pyjama trousers or an untucked shirt? This outcome is entirely avoidable.
Make sure your clothes fit you properly and wear a neutral colour palette. If you want to wear jewellery, keep it minimal. Restrict yourself to a watch and simple earrings for ladies.
Professional attire is the bedrock of looking put together. Take your interview seriously and commit to looking professional and clean.
Don’t forget the interview details.
Before your interview, your potential employers will send you an email or phone call detailing the time of the interview, the software needed and required passwords. They may even send you questions they want you to answer during the interview and the interviewers names. Make sure to keep this information stored securely and update your calendar.
Invest in a good webcam.
Do you want an interview where you’re showing a grainy, bad-quality image? Your laptop’s embedded camera may not have the best image quality, and you have limited control over its positioning. Alternatively, you may be using a desktop computer, which typically do not have their own webcams.
As a result, you should invest in a good quality external webcam. To look crisp, aim for an image resolution of 720p or 1080p. If you can afford a higher price, you can get a 4k resolution webcam, but this is excessive for most video meetings.
For a smooth video, look for a webcam with a frame rate of at least 30fps. You can get a good webcam from Amazon or other electronic stores.
Make sure you are visible.
Neglecting to position yourself well communicates a lack of care and a disregard for rudimentary details. Have you ever attended a video meeting where all you could see was somebody’s forehead because they were sitting too close to the camera? How did you feel about that person? Did you respect and take them seriously? Or did you spend the meeting wishing they could back up a bit?
Avoid being comically close to your webcam. Similarly, you don’t need to be far enough that the interviewers can see your whole body.
Position yourself such that your head and shoulders are visible, and you can make eye contact with the interviewers by looking directly at the camera. It may take some time to experiment and find the best position for your computer and webcam.
You also want to think about lighting. Generally, a camera needs far more light than the human eye to produce an easily visible, high-quality picture.
Thus, it is paramount to interview in a well-lit room. Depending on the time of day, you can use natural light as your primary source. However, natural light may be inconsistent due to shifting weather or if the interview extends well into the afternoon.
If you need an additional light source, point it toward your face, place it behind your webcam and slightly above it. Light up your face evenly and aim to avoid casting shadows onto it.
Just like with your webcam, you may want to fiddle with the light source a bit to make sure you have a good position. For extra lighting, you can use a clamp light, a ring light or your smartphone’s torch.
Be aware of the “colour temperature” of your light source. “Warm lights” have yellow undertones, whereas "cool lights” have blue or white undertones. According to the Harvard Business Review, employers respond better to cool lights.
Maintain good posture.
The American Chiropractic Association defines posture as how we use our muscle tension to hold our body during our everyday movement.
On a professional level, your posture communicates a lot about you. You want to make a strong statement that projects confidence and authority.
The social psychologist Amy Cuddy posits that developing a better posture will reduce cortisol levels, improve your mood, and boost feelings of confidence. Psychology Today cites a Spanish study that shows that good posture encourages people to think better of themselves, whereas people with poor posture think negatively about their future. They also point out that other people react to how we carry ourselves.
In other words, by adopting good posture, you will look and feel more confident and self-assured.
Don’t slouch during your interview. Keep your back straight, your shoulders relaxed, and your head held high. Avoid looking around, cracking your knuckles, playing with your hair, or fidgeting. Get an ergonomic chair with a decent backrest to support your posture.
If you have notes you’re referencing, keep them brief and memorize them as much as possible, so you’re not bending over too often to check them.
You want your posture to be open and appealing. Look at the camera as you speak, and don't cross your arms.
Find a quiet place with no distractions.
One of the worst things that can happen during a virtual interview is having someone barge into the room or dealing with a random loud noise like your phone ringing. If you live with family members or roommates, let people know you'll be interviewing in a particular room and ask them not to interrupt.
Make sure your phone, or other devices, are on silent mode for the duration of the interview. If there are some distractions that you can’t control, for example, a child in the house who may start crying, let the interviewers know at the beginning of the meeting and apologize in advance.
If you’re interviewing in a public place, grab some noise-cancelling headphones to help you out.
Ensure you have a good internet connection.
This one is a basic step but an important one. A smooth video interview is impossible if you have a limited or unstable internet connection that keeps buffering or cutting out entirely.
Get yourself a provider who offers a reliable, high-speed connection. Walls will diminish your signal, so it's a good idea to have your router in an open space. If possible, place your router as close to your device as you can.
If your internet is shared, request your roommates or family members to turn off their connection during your interview. Log out your unnecessary devices.
Alternatively, you could use Wi-Fi extenders or repeaters to boost your signal or utilize an ethernet cable to connect to your router directly.
If you can’t depend on your Wi-Fi and your smartphone has dependable coverage, use it to hotspot your computer during the meeting.
For those who can’t interview at home, find a public space with a good Wi-Fi connection, like a public library or your local coffee shop. You can ask an employee if their Wi-Fi speed is fast enough.
Do a test of your internet upload speed before your interview starts. An internet search for an internet speed test should suffice for this.
Have a good background.
To look professional, you don’t want to have a cluttered background. If you’re interviewing at your kitchen table, perhaps make sure there isn't a sink full of dirty dishes behind you. You want to project professionality, even in your home environment.
Find a place where you can interview with a plain wall behind you. If you want to add a personal touch, you can interview in front of a neat bookshelf or neatly placed furnishings. Just make sure your background isn’t too distracting, messy or poorly lit. YOU want to be the focus of the meeting, not your background.
Speaking of focus, your webcam probably has an autofocus feature built into it. If something in your background is too prominent, the camera may focus on that instead of you. Avoid clutter as much as possible.
In some cases, your house isn’t the place for a professional interview. Or maybe you’re interviewing in a public place. If that’s your situation, you can digitally modify your background. Platforms like Zoom allow you to do this. Practise using this feature before the meeting starts.
You could change the background to an office, a bookshelf, a wall, or just a plain colour. Avoid busy or unprofessional backgrounds (like cartoonish images or pictures of the ocean).
Just note that digital backgrounds can look a bit sterile or fake. Only use them if you can’t look professional using a real-life background.
Learn the software.
By now, we’ve all seen the media stories of people who used filters on platforms such as Zoom and were unable to turn them off. These are funny stories, but you’d rather not have them be your reality.
Take some time to become comfortable with whichever platform you’re planning to interview on. Learn how to use different features, especially the important ones like those related to your camera and microphone. Popular interview platforms include Zoom, Google Meet, and Hirevue. Practise and master them.
Follow general interviewing rules.
There are many common interview questions that you’re likely to encounter. These include, “Why do you want to work here” and “Tell us about yourself”. Here is one of the best guides I’ve encountered for practising interview questions.
Be confident and calm when answering these questions. There’s no need to use rote memorization of long and detailed answers unless you want to sound like a robot.
Instead, focus on memorizing key points and practice general guidelines on what to say.
Your interviewer may also ask you technical questions related to your field. Make sure you can answer those as well.
You should also research the company and learn more about the position you’re applying for, including the job requirements, expected roles and standard salary. Also, have a good list of questions you would like to ask the interviewer.
Practice a mock interview beforehand.
Practice the virtual interview tips discussed by having a mock interview with a trusted friend or a family member roleplaying as the interviewer. Have them give you honest feedback about your performance. Ask them questions like, “If this had been a real interview, would you hire me?” or “How can I improve my interviewing skills?”
Carry out a personal review of your mock interview. Record the meeting and replay it back to get a sense of where you went wrong and the positive aspects of the interview. Pay close attention to how fast you talk, your body language, eye contact, and how well you answer questions.
Were you communicating clearly? Did you seem polite and engaged? Your interview should feel like an authentic conversation between yourself and the interviewer.
This is also a good opportunity to test out your tech, your internet connection and your knowledge of the meeting software.
If you’ve previously had real-life interviews, incorporate the lessons you learned during those experiences. Maybe you faced an unexpected question or situation during your last interview. How will you deal with it if it comes up again?
Keep practising until you feel comfortable and confident.
Build a connection.
Any relationship, including professional ones, is built and maintained by establishing a genuine connection. Express yourself authentically, be engaging, pay attention, and find common ground with your interviewers.
According to mindtools, you can establish rapport by exhibiting empathy, smiling, asking open-ended questions, responding with curiosity, and subtly mirroring the gestures and mannerisms of the people you’re trying to connect with.
After your interview, follow up in an email to individually thank the interviewers for their time.
Arrive early.
You may not be physically going to the meeting, but you still want to “arrive” at least 30 minutes before time. By this, I mean you should make sure everything is ready before the meeting starts.
Set up your tech and open the meeting software. If you have notes, make sure they’re on hand.
Conclusion.
Interviews can be intimidating under normal circumstances. Because of world events, the interviews are still intimidating, but now they’re happening on camera through virtual platforms. More and more people are looking for guides on how to ace a virtual interview. I hope my list of tips have helped you and you land that job!
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