While many organizations have put a freeze on hiring, a lot of businesses are still conducting interviews for openings that have been put on hold. The timeline of when a hire can be made may be unclear, but managers want to keep their pipeline filled for when they’re given the green light to fill their roles and you need to be ready for when your name is called upon.
With an ever-growing candidate pool, you’ll want to be on the top of your game to go through an interview, which will likely be conducted virtually for the foreseeable future. With that, we’ve put together a short list of tips so you can be ready to ace your next video interview:
1. Maintain eye contact
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When it’s time to jump on the video interview, all of your focus and attention needs to be on the call and the interviewer. Close out all the other tabs you have on your screen. Turn off all your notifications, dings and pings that may come through. It’s easy to get distracted with so many updates and reminders coming through your computer or tablet, and it’s important that anything you can turn off should be shut down for the duration of the interview.
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2. Have your resume within reach (or eyesight)
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Many questions will be geared around your past experiences so you’ll want to have your resume nearby to refer to throughout the conversation. It’s also a good idea to ensure the interviewer has your resume in front of them at the beginning of the conversation.
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3. Turn off your cell phone – you don’t need the distraction!
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This goes without saying, but have the space around you be conducive for you to have the best possible interview. People understand the current dynamic we’re all facing, so there are certain excusable factors like having a make-shift WFH set-up, but having a cell phone go off is something you can control and should be able to avoid.
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4. Dress appropriately
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Treat this interview as you would an in-person meeting. In normal circumstances, you’d want to be the sharpest dressed person in the room, and unless you have been told of a specific attire beforehand, the same applies for the video interview. You can probably get away with not putting on your dress pants, but it’s not worth the risk and you’ll ultimately feel more confident in your business attire.
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5. All movement is accentuated on video so move sparingly
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Interviews can be stressful, especially in the current times, and people tend to sway, fidget, etc. when they get nervous, but it’s really important you try to constrain your movements while on camera. It’s okay to be nervous for an interview, but you don’t want your constant moving around on camera to make the interviewer dizzy!
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6. Be prepared - do your research
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Like you would in-person, have at least 5-6 questions ready prior to jumping on the video. And even if the timeline is unclear of when a hire will be made, at the conclusion of the interview you should ask, “What’s the next step?”. (Pro tip: Listen to the answer!)
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7. Don’t forget to follow-up the interview with an email
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Remember the 3 S’s of emails: short, sweet and spell checked!
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8. Enjoy the interview and learn what you can
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Interviews are always a chance to build new relationships. Keep a smile on your face, and don’t forget to laugh!
Good luck to all of you out there. If you've recently been let go from your job, and you want to be considered for future jobs in sports when teams begin to hire again, consider going to our job board and uploading your resume so we can keep you in mind. I can be reached at any time as well if you have any questions or want to talk about future opportunities. jason@sportsbusiness.solutions
-Jason