Digital Interview Disasters

This article is one that I published over a year ago when I was in an Executive Recruitment role. This content is more relevant now than ever before. My hope is that it adds some value and helps someone out there in securing their next role during this time of uncertainty.

Digital Interview Disasters

It’s no secret that the world of technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace and it is at a pace that is hard to keep up with. In the world of recruitment, we are constantly hearing about new technologies that are going to change the game, threaten our jobs and put the robots in control. Rather than focusing on what could be coming, I prefer to wait and see what does actually come into play and then quickly adapt my approach to embrace the new technology (or at the very least work with it).

Digital interviews is one such technology and a change of the recruitment game that I have embraced and been working with now for almost three years.

For many of the executive level candidates I work with, digital interviews are a new piece of the recruitment process that they haven’t come across before (they may not have had an interview in over five years). The candidates will naturally resist even the thought of a digital interview because it is new and it is an unknown. Humans natural defenses go up when they come across a situation that they are unfamiliar with.. Perhaps it’s the fight or flight programming kicking in to help protect us. And that’s ok. My job is to set candidates up for success and that’s what this article is about.

You may have clicked on the article to watch some digital interview disasters. Well sorry to disappoint you but this article is actually about avoiding digital interview disasters and is focused on making your next digital interview a great success for you.

To help with the reading of this article, which is longer than my other articles published on LinkedIn, I have split the content into three distinct pieces.

• The “Why” for digital interviews and what value do they bring?
• The technical stuff you need to know before getting started
• An approach to get you into the zone for being at your best come show time

Let’s get into it.

The “Why” for digital interviews and what value do they bring?

When I first started utilising digital interviews, clients loved them and candidates hated them. Why? Candidates had to go through an uncomfortable situation that was new in every single way to what they had experienced in a recruitment process before and for clients, they simply had to kick back and watch some videos.

To help candidates understand the value that the digital interviews bring, I started to keep track of the feedback and how I was seeing things play out on the client side.

Some the of the feedback from clients included:

• “You get a feel for the candidate as a person”
• “I was watching the videos last night on my phone whilst I sat on the couch and relaxed”
• “Hearing a candidate’s career experience and relevance is much more engaging than purely looking at their Resume”
• “It’s great that the selection committee could all watch the videos before we met the candidate. We got a good sense of who we were meeting the next day before they even arrived”
• “It’s great not having to take home a pile of key selection criteria responses”.

Now as a candidate, you need to understand that you are going to naturally feel uncomfortable with the thought of doing a digital interview. To re-focus the mind on the positive, here are some of the benefits for you:

•  You don’t have to spend two hours writing out key selection criteria responses
• You get to talk through your career story and can highlight the key elements that align to the role you have applied for.
• You get to bring “you” to the table and can show your personality whilst also clearly articulating what differentiates you from others
• Unlike a face to face interview, you can “re-take” your response if you don’t feel you got it right the first time.

From when I first incorporated digital interviews into my recruitment processes, back when candidates hated them, I started to see how we could improve the candidate experience so there wasn’t the natural resistance. This came through adapting and changing some of the technical elements (at the back end) but also in how I was preparing candidates so they knew what to expect and also ensure they were prepared.

The technical stuff you need to know before getting started

When it comes to digital interviews and the technical elements behind it, you can spend a lot of time researching what you need to do in order to set-up the environment for an effective video. I prefer to keep things simple and have provided some basic elements that are quick and easy to follow:

• Find some natural light (a window is great) that you can face so the viewer can see you
• Don’t have a window behind you as that’s going to upset the balance of the light for the camera and the output will be you appearing as a silhouette that we really can’t see
• Ensure what’s behind you is not a messy book shelf or anything else that resembles clutter or chaos. As much as I advise clients not to judge the environment, it’s a subconscious thing that will happen and a messy room will reflect poorly on you
• Try to ensure that the background noise is low. If you are next to a major road or highway, the sound of a truck powering past may upset the balance of your microphone. Where possible, you want as little background noise as possible.

Ok so that’s the environment sorted.

Now the technical stuff when it comes to recording your digital interview.

Use a smart phone versus a laptop to complete your digital interview. Most digital interview platforms these days have kept pace with the world and have created an App for their software. Where possible, my advice is to download the App to your smart phone. My reasoning behind this is that the technology in your smart phone is 10 times better than what your laptop has. I can almost bet that you have upgraded your phone in recent times whereas you laptop is probably 3 or 4 years old (think about how far technology has come in that time).

Unlimited preparation time is on offer for candidates these days and something that we can now control at the back end of the system. Gone are the days where you had one minute to read the question, prepare your response and then get positioned to respond before the video recording started and caught you off guard.

In the next section, you’ll learn a technique that allows you to make full use of this preparation time so keep reading.

Unlimited re-takes is another change that I’ve made to my approach in using digital interviews. Originally you had one shot at recording a great response. When the software was updated and upgraded, we could then choose the option of three re-takes for candidates. Now, we can choose “unlimited”. This is a horrible option if you are a perfectionist as you may spend a long time trying to get the “perfect” response. My advice is apply the “is it good enough?” assessment to your recording and if it is, move on.

Short and sharp response times are also what we aim for to minimise the time commitment required for a response from a candidate but also to minimise the viewing time for the client. Most digital interview questions will have a two or three minute response time. Again, work with what you have but focus on your response being concise and articulate. You don’t need to cover every detail in your response but rather show enough that the client will be wanting to hear more from you at interview. 

So you now know why digital interviews are being used, you now know how to set-up your environment, you have downloaded the smart phone app and you know you need to be short and sharp with your responses. So you are ready to go right? Wrong.

The one thing you you need to know is how to get yourself into a winning mindset. This will allow you to not only show your best but also to be at your best.

Being your best when it is show time – the how

One of the most powerful things that I learnt from my earlier days in sport that has served me well since, is something called “state management”. At the time, I didn’t know the science behind it but felt the power that came with being in the right state of mind going into a game or at a defining moment in the game.

State management briefly described in my own words is “being in the right frame of mind at the right time to be able to do the thing that needs to be done”.

The scientific component that I now know more about is related to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which was made popular by Richard Bandler and John Grindler 30+ years ago.

Rather than going into the science, let’s keep it simple again with the practical application in your time of need.

Getting ready for show time

So you are set up and ready to record your responses. Before you hit record on your first response, I want you to walk through the below exercise to get in the “right state” to be at your best.

Read the question and picture yourself responding with the very best answer

Think about, visualise and picture in your mind, you responding with a great answer to the question that is posed. I know it’s weird, don’t ask questions, just do it.

Now in picturing your response in your mind, take note of your physiology. Are you standing? Are you sitting? If you are sitting, what’s your posture like? Are your shoulders straight or slouched? How are you holding your head, is your chin-up or pointing downwards? When you talk, what are you doing with your hands?

Also take note of the environment, how does it look and feel to you? What are the key things around you as you are responding with your answer?

Now see yourself responding to the question and take note of the actual content that you are covering. What words are you using? What stories or examples are you telling? What are the elements of your response that you know and feel hit the mark.

The idea of this is to see yourself in “the best state”. By doing this activity, you are creating an image and video in your own mind that you can then realise when you hit record on the digital interview.

Now one important part that you need to do is give yourself a trigger (some call it an anchor) or something to jolt the body into the peak state just at the right time. For me, it can be as simple as clapping my hands once and saying “let’s get into it”.

What you need to do is identify a trigger and add it to the start of your mental motion picture that you have just watched in your mind. So using my example, I would add a clap and “let’s get after it” before leaning forward and hitting record and then giving my response.

Run through in your mind one more time, the response and then you will be good to go.

Put your trigger to work and get after it!

You can do this for each question given the unlimited preparation time per question. It is also much more powerful than purely writing notes for your answer and response. You can write notes if that works for you but often visualising and “feeling” your response is going to be more powerful when it is show time.

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Cameron Norton

A forward thinking talent expert that delivers results through leveraging technology

Cameron specialises in connecting expert talent to organisations that have a social purpose (local government, state government, NFP and Social Enterprise).

From his university studies in both Human Resource Management & Marketing and combined with broad experience in both public and private sectors, Cameron brings a unique approach to connecting career opportunities, organisations and individuals.

Having well known brands and people as advocates for his approach, Cameron brings an authentic style with a strong focus on partnering with people and helping them to succeed.

Possessing a strong understanding of technology and how to leverage it for maximum impact, Cameron embraces new approaches to enhance results in sectors that are seeking change to overcome the challenges that stand before them in the future world of work landscape.

To get in touch with Cameron, you can email him at [email protected]