The Perfect Video Interview Part One - Advice for Candidates

Remember the days when you walked through the door to your home, shut it behind you, and you were in your own little world? It was YOUR world where you could leave behind work and spend time with the people that mattered to you without distractions.

But times have changed. Now you wake up, take a shower (or don't), brush your hair, and head to the office. Maybe your office is at the kitchen table, the extra bedroom and the lucky ones escape to a room with a door. Many of you are interviewing for a job, but instead of being invited to their office, they are inviting themselves into YOUR HOME.

Why is this important? Because never in our history have we invited people (often executives) into OUR home to interview us. Not only are they trying to determine if we have the right skills, the perfect experience, and the vision to move the company forward. It is human nature that they may be tempted to judge us on our background settings, the background noises, and maybe a random streaking kid or cat behind us. And this could happen to anyone despite all of the begging and distractions we have been strategizing the hours or days before our interview.

So how do you set yourself up for success when inviting your potential new supervisor into your home?

(1) Find a location where you are comfortable - but not too comfortable. A desk or kitchen table is ideal. Try to find a location with a simple background so the recruiter or hiring manager is focused on you instead of everything happening behind you.

(2) Work out all of the technology ahead of time. If you are unsure how everything works, you can set up a free zoom account and try it out ahead of time by inviting a friend to join you in a practice session. Check angles, lighting, and the sound before your interview will help you with confidence and eliminate awkwardness and the beginning of the conversation.

If they have invited you to another system that you are not familiar with, start signing in up to 10 minutes ahead of time and when you log in with the hiring manager, let them know you are not familiar with the system. Ask if they need you to make any adjustments before starting. "Is this angle okay?" is a perfectly acceptable question.

(3) It should not come as a surprise to anyone that you are not alone in your living space. Try to move your furry friends to the other end of your living space, work with significant others to play rodeo clown with the kids. Hang a sign on your front door asking the FedEx guy not to knock.

(4) Don't know what to wear? Dress like you want the job, even if it seems silly putting on a suit to sit in front of a camera. If you work in a formal industry - then dress for your industry!  You want to put as much work into a video interview as you would an in-person interview. Do your homework and show up like the star you are!

Start your interview by letting them know you are excited to meet them and that you have taken every precaution to ensure a quiet, focused meeting; however, you are not alone at home.

Finally, if you know that your set up is not ideal and you are anticipating several video interviews, you may want to consider some of these ideas:

(1) Invest in a small circle light, I use this one, but there are many to chose from

(2) Using a laptop? Place it on top of a shoebox to provide a more flattering angle (I use this hack for my most important meetings).

(3) Forced to use a cell phone? Buy a PopSocket, place it on the back of your cell phone, and put your cell phone in a coffee mug on your desk to create stability instead of holding your phone the entire meeting. Before attaching the PopSocket, play around with placement to ensure you are getting the right angle. (***This is an important one, cell phone interviews can appear very choppy because it is hard to keep your phone appropriately distanced and stabilized)

My last word of advice, don't be afraid to ask to reschedule. If you are not in a situation where you can put your best foot forward, it is not a good use of anyone's time. A good recruiter is always willing to reschedule a great candidate.