The interview is not only about the candidate selling and explaining their skills to you but also about you selling yourself and the organisation to them!

Make sure you are presentable

We ask our candidates to be presentable and whilst stating the obvious when a candidate joins the meeting, their first impression is of you and where you are.

As well as the obvious you may want to consider either blurring your background or having a company logo or value-based message behind you.

If you are working from home you may want to close the door as we increasingly hear of family members joining into critical meetings.

The technology

It does not look great to any potential employee if you cannot master the tech. Make sure you know how to work the technology, for example, screen sharing or adding colleagues to the call prior to the interview.

Lights, camera – Action

We would advise investing in a desk lamp or similar, so your face is effectively lit. Avoid sitting with a bright light or window behind you or putting half your face into shadow.

We would advise raising the camera, or laptop. Avoid the camera looking up your nostrils (especially if you nail the lighting!)

Be enthusiastic – Video interviews are far trickier than face-to-face conversations. Small and subtle movements in a face-to-face interview will be lost on video. If you want to communicate with gestures; go large!

Be committed to the time

Turn off all your other tech and distractions. If you are distracted by other messages or other people whilst in a video meeting, everyone can see your eyes wandering and the fact you are not 100% ‘in the room’. Treat the video interview and all video conferences as ‘do not disturb meetings.

Be inventive

We have clients who will walk around the office holding the laptop/camera to show the office environment and on occasion will introduce other employees as they walk around.

Finally

As with face-to-face meetings, thank the candidate for their time and offer feedback via the recruiter in a set timescale, ideally within 24 or 48 hours. Even if a candidate is not quite right at the moment, we have seen that it pays to always leave the interview in a positive and polite manner.