10 Tips for Great Video Interviews [VIDEO]

The way the world communicates has shifted significantly over the last thirty years. I remember the banana-yellow rotary phone sitting on my kitchen wall as a child. Then came beepers, car phones, email, mobile phones (or was it the other way around?). Video conferencing became easily available to us around then as well. It not only changed the way we communicate with relatives scattered around the world (grandmas can read bedtime stories to their grandchildren countries away or fathers deployed abroad can interact with their just-born babies back home), but it began to change the way the world does business.

Companies now use videoconferencing to unite employees who work scattered throughout the world and to have meetings between companies—anytime it’s not practical to do so face-to-face. However, videoconferencing has made a huge impact in HR for recruiting.

Video interviewing is on the rise. Using video interviews instead of phone screening offers valuable insights that you don’t usually get over the phone, like body language and getting to see a bit more of an applicant’s personality. In addition, video conferencing allows you to easily meet with applicants in different geographical locations with ease (and little expense).

Whether you use Skype or Google Hangouts to actually have an interview or a recorded hiring system like HireVue (as we do), video interviews are not meant to replace the traditional face-to-face interview. However, many companies require video interview screenings before an applicant can move forward in the interview process.

Despite how helpful they are to recruiters (giving us a chance to consider more applicants than we used to), applicants don’t always love to do them. They may not be telling you this, but some of our applicants admitted they feel uncomfortable and awkward doing this type of recorded job interview.

To help ease applicants’ minds and answer some common questions about the process, we’re offering 10 tips to help job candidates have a great video interview:

1. Be yourself.

2. Don’t be afraid to show your personality.

3. Make sure you’re comfortable.

4. It’s okay to break eye contact from the camera.

5. Go through practice questions ahead of time.

6. You can check notes during the interview.

7. Don’t feel like you have to use the entire time allotted to answer a question.

8. Find a quiet place to record.

9. Dress as you would for a face-to-face interview.

10. Have fun!

We don’t like causing our applicants stress (who does?) so we made this video to help loosen them up before their interviews. (Oh, and if you’re looking for a job and you’re in the Utah area, we’re hiring!)