Home Knowledge Center Consultant Tips When You’re Ready For Your Next Assignment, You Need To Be Ready For Web Interviewing
When You’re Ready For Your Next Assignment, You Need To Be Ready For Web Interviewing
When your current assignment is over, NetEffects will be working hard to get you a new job. Web interviews are the hottest new hiring technique designed to get great candidates, quickly! Here’s a few tips about web interviews that you might want to save…and use at some point in the future.
Date: April 01, 2008
Category: About Consulting
You’ve just completed a NetEffects assignment and you’re ready for a new job. Part of NetEffects commitment to our consultants is to give our current staff the highest priority in find a new gig.
To assist in speedy re-placement into a new job, NetEffects is using the latest video interviewing technologies to help clients make effective hiring decisions quickly.
In this day and age, the corporate hiring process is sometimes painfully slow, and that’s not good for our consultants who have their own ongoing financial obligations. We want to shorten the client’s decision time so you can be on another job quickly, and video interviewing is one key way to do it. A good video interview can be as effective as an in-person interview.
Getting Ready
If you’ve never done a Webcam interview before, here are a few tips that you might want to clip and save:
- You might think the situation is informal, but it's not perceived that way by the people interviewing you. Dress-up for the interview just like you would for an in-person interview, even though it will be conducted over a webcam or a videoconferencing system;
- Find out how much time you have to complete the interview questions;
- Many people haven't done a video interview before and it's okay to tell the recruiter or hiring manager that you are new to the process;
- Practice for the interview. Good video interview software will have a window that shows what you look like to the interviewer. Try to minimize your movement and keep your eyes from wandering all over the room. Posture is probably more important in this situation than it is in person.
Practical Tips
NetEffects will work with you to set up the video interview. Here are a few other tips you’ll find helpful in getting ready:
- Review all the instructions. Ask for help (which is typically available online or by telephone) if you're not sure how the webcam works or if you have questions.
- Follow the directions.
- Be aware of your surroundings and the lighting.
- Look at the camera, not down at the desk or table.
- Have five questions ready that you want to ask about the company
- Turn off your cell phone!
To Keep Stress Levels Low
No matter how many times you’ve interviewed, doing your first webcam interview can be a bit unnerving. Here are a few tips to help you keep the stress level down:
Picture This: You can make your dream a reality. Use your imagination to stay calm during a job interview.
Visualization is a relaxation technique in which you create a mental image of a stressful or challenging situation. Then you imagine yourself succeeding in the situation. By doing so, you're mentally preparing to handle the event in real life.
You can practice visualization in the days, hours or even minutes before an interview. Simply close your eyes and breathe deeply. Picture yourself greeting the interviewer confidently and answering tough questions with ease.
Practice succeeding in your imagination, and soon you'll be doing it in reality.
Relax: A relaxed job candidate is a confident job candidate.
Show the interviewer that you're calm, composed and in command during an interview. He's likely to assume that you'll be rock-solid on the job too.
Here’s a few tips to stay relaxed during an interview:
- Breathing deeply and slowly (and quietly, of course).
- Sit up straight and don't cross your legs or arms.
- Speak slowly and pause for breath often.
- Keeps your hands and jaw relaxed; no clenching.
- Smile -- it really is contagious!
Pause, Don't Panic: In every interview, there comes a moment that doesn't go according to plan. There's an awkward silence. You stumble over your words. You flub a tough question.
Don't panic. Now's the time to put your relaxation skills into overdrive. It's much easier to control fear and panic as it starts to build than to calm yourself down once they've begun to spiral out of control.
When you feel yourself starting to panic and lose focus, pause. Tell yourself silently that you can do this. Take a deep breath. Refocus. And then resume interviewing.
A quick ten-second pause can be all you need to regain your composure and get back in control. And the interviewer likely won't even notice.
It's important to remember that a video interview is a "real" interview, just like when you interview in an office. Your answers will be weighed and selection decisions will be made, just as they would if the interview was in-person. In fact, given that the interview can be scored and reviewed, it can be even more important than a typical first round phone or screening interview.
When the time comes, NetEffects will be there to help.