You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I’ve been on panels interviewing people online a few times, but I have my first online interview as a prospective employee coming up today. Any tips? Or stories? Or other nonsense?
What impressed you with people you interviewed? Do some of that, and smarten up your background..
What cheesed you off with other interviewees? Don't do that.
Be yourself and smile
Put a note on your front door so you don’t get disturbed
dress smartly
look at the camera, not the screen
everything else just prep the same as any other interview
Yeah, make sure you're in control of your environment.
Test your video conferencing setup ahead of time, make sure you can use whatever software they're using for the interview. Make sure there's no annoying feedback, or use a headset if necessary. If you think you'll need to screenshare, make sure that works.
If it's helpful for you, prepare interview notes ahead of time and have them on screen to refer to.
On the what not to do front I once had an interview with someone who took some persuading to turn their camera on so I could see them while we were talking. Turns out they hadn't bothered getting dressed and needed "a minute" to get ready. May as well have left the interview as soon as that was established as it didn't get any better once they had their camera on.
Don't do it from your phone in your car in the carpark of your current employer. Done 100s as an interviewer, and still on the fence doing it in a meeting room of your current employer.
Make sure the tech works 100%, especially if it's not a platform you usually use.
Use a computer if you can but have your phone ready to reconnect when the computer/network dies.
Have the camera at the top of the screen, not the bottom if it is a free standing camera.
Most apps let you hide the background but if you do that choose a bland default background replacement, not rainbow unicorns dancing under disco glitterballs (yes, a colleague had that as his background)
Prepare a short (few mins) powerpoint to highlight a few key jobs you worked on, keep it pictures/photos only and concise.
Well that was fun.
Strange format. I got sent three questions last night. A strict 30 minute interview. Panel of four, three of whom have similar postitions available.
I believe the approach is for you to show your time management skills by presenting on time, and I was asked to make sure I left at least 5 minutes for follow-up questions.
I used four slides of charts and images to support my answers (which they said they loved), wrapped it up 9 minutes early, answered their questions and we finished bang on time.
Colleague buggered off so i'd have p&q in our 2-person office.
I normally try and make the panel laugh at least once ... harder to do on Teams, but there were some good nods and smiles that didn't look forced.
I did something similar at my university entrance interview… kinda forgot they were doing an interview. Smoked a dooby on the way there. Saw everyone else dressed smartly and I was in jeans and Sambas and was mildly concerned. Didn’t seem to matter.
Result! 👍🏼
Cheers.
And thanks everyone for the tips … I anticipate an upcoming thread about how to maintain a relationship when you both work from the same home 🤦🏻