Tips to succeeding in a video or phone interview
By Cham Posted Date: April 07, 2017
For certain job applications they may host a video or phone interview prior to hosting a formal face to face interview. This is especially true if you are applying for a role that’s located in a different city. Discussed below are some tips to help you get through a phone or video interview if you face the hurdle:
Dress and act as if it’s a face to face interview: A mistake that a lot of candidates make is to take a more casual approach towards the phone or video interviews considering it’s not a face to face one. The fact is you have to maintain your professionalism in the best way possible, if it’s a video interview dress appropriately. Make sure your body language and the way you speak are all in a professional manner, with respect and authority. Show your confidence in your responses to any questions they may have while also reflecting a friendly and approachable attitude.
- Make sure you have signal: Ensure that you have good phone signal or internet, if you don’t then have a backup plan in case the signal is weak. Making sure the conversation goes smoothly is important and making the effort to ensure it does is also important. This will show the initiative you have taken and how important you consider the interview to be.
- Keep time to setup video or webcam if necessary: Sometimes skype interviews will need you to set up a web cam ahead of time, so make sure you are ready for the interview a few minutes before the scheduled time with the camera all setup to go.
- Don’t over prepare: Yes this can actually happen, especially with phone and skype interviews you can tend to over prepare and may have formulated info cards or notes to refer to during the interview. If you choose to have notes with you ensure that they are bullet points, do not keep looking down at the paper and avoid sounding ‘rehearsed’. It’s important to sound natural and be yourself.
- Show you are a good cultural fit for the company: This is especially difficult to do during a phone or video interview, however it is nonetheless an important point. Speak slowly and clearly, make the effort to be engaging and try to turn the interview into something like a conversation rather than all the formality. This will show them you are engaging and easy to communicate with which is something important in team oriented work environments.