More and more interviews are being conducted remotely rather than in person. The dynamics of electronic interviewing is very different from face-to-face interviews. Yet, many candidate fail to understand the dos and don’ts to advance their candidacy.
From a manager’s perspective, the following list reduces your chances to move into the top 10 candidates for a job. Over 1,000 hiring managers were surveyed by Zenefits, an HR software company. Three of the five items are from their results. I’ve added the first two, based on my experiences of over 10 years working with clients with a 97% success rate.
- The biggest negative is a candidate not being adequately prepared. Doing a video interview on the fly, while assuming you have all the answers to any question, is foolhardy. Prepare potential questions ahead of time along with the most effective answers. Practice with a mentor, coach or knowledgeable colleague beforehand. It will pay dividends.
- Not knowing how you look and behave during a video interview is risky. To the hiring manager you may not look your best. Bad lighting, a distracting background, a low camera level and extraneous noise is not your friend. To make yourself most presentable, video yourself during a practice session and correct any missteps before the real thing.
- One of the questions a hiring manager will ask is about any work gap, especially during the pandemic. If you had a gap in the continuity of your work, make sure you explain the reasons in a professional way, what you accomplished during the work gap to improve or enhance your skills sets, and how you’re prepared to apply new energy to your next job. Don’t fabricate a reason that is not true. The truth will be uncovered eventually.
- Never connect for a remote interview late, unprepared or having difficulty with the technology. It demonstrates your inability to work with computers or applications that are important to the skills being sought after. 10% of managers said that not showing up on time or having technical issues is a major negative.
- 38% of hiring managers in the Zenefits’ survey said that an inappropriate work site for the interview was an indicator of bad preparation. Problems like a noisy pet, child, telephone interruption or background distractions during the interview are a lack of planning. It gives the impression that the interview is not that important, or if you did accept a job offer, these interruptions would remain and take away from performance.
While a person-to-person interview is more revealing in terms of an actual interaction between a potential boss and candidate, remote interviews are here to stay for a while. The more practice you have, the better off you’ll be. Work with a mentor, coach or friend in a role play situation with questions about your resume and work experiences. Focus on the key components of the position description that matches metrics of results you’ve achieved on your resume.
For a FREE critique of your resume, send to: wkaufmann44@gmail.com