To be terrified of an interview on zoom?

[Sunshineandrainbow]

Please can you give me your best tips to get through a remote interview on zoom!

You can jiggle your feet and no one will know.

Write notes on Post-Its; answers to likely questions, questions you need to ask them etc. Stick the Post-Its to the wall behind your laptop.

My son did this for a remote interview for his PhD job. He got it!

~You can have your laptop open with a few prompts in front of you

You can prep notes or speaking points for yourself and have them on the screen without the interviewer seeing. It’s a huge perk! Make sure you are in a quiet spot in the house with a neutral background, check your lighting (you can trial it by starting a meeting on Zoom and seeing if you want to blur your background or change anything); and just stay calm. Take a breath to consider each question before you reply.

Good luck!

Agree with the notes thing, an absolute lifesaver to prompt the nervous brain in that situation & a total advantage over face to face interviews (speaking from recent personal experience)

Link to a vid with. more tips on the subject from a more articulate source :)

Oh, & turn any ‘what if’ thoughts into ‘what if it works out really well?’

Good Luck OP! :)

I had a zoom Interview. I had notes everywhere and direct quotes from their policies and mission statement.
I'm generally OK with interviews anyway but found a zoom interview far less stressful than an in person interview.

I have had 3 zoom interviews recently and they were very specific about me not having notes beside me. I was told this at the start of the interviews. It will be very obvious that you are looking at notes whether on the wall behind your screen or beside you. Just be careful of that.

Definitely do a run through in advance, set up a zoom call with someone and run through some questions.
Look at the camera when speaking and not at their faces - I found this most difficult as you naturally look at someone's face but on zoom you then appear to be looking down.

Check background, lighting, screen position and volume in advance, make sure laptop is on charge as it will run down quickly.
Know what the back up plan is if you lose connection. I had no picture on my second interview (problem their end), I chose to continue but essentially spoke to a black screen for 45 mins.

Dress in full formal attire not just the top half. My first one, I had a trackie bottoms on with a shirt and blazer, I forgot to have my passport ready for id and had to leave the desk to get it. Cue trying to slide out of my chair while not revealing my tracksuit!

Try to relax, they will appreciate it is much more difficult to interview like this.
Good luck

I have never been to or conducted an interview either by Zoom or face to face where you were not permitted to refer to notes.

This!!

online interviews are an absolute bonus. You can have prompts all around you and they’ll never know.

Wear proper trousers, not pyjama bottoms. A colleague of mine recently interviewed someone via Zoom, the lady got up to close the door and didn't realise that the interviewer could see her reflection in the mirror. She had a business shirt and pj bottoms on!

Another one for notes! I have sticky notes all around the screen with possibly answer reminders and things like ‘remember eye contact’

i also have a note pad at the side and secretly scribble things they say or doodle to help myself relax

Same here saveforthat & the rebellious teenager in me wants to say ‘screw that’ to such early attempts at micro management from any company.

I always put my notes so that, if in doubt it will just look like I’m gazing briefly into the middle distance while thinking up a suitable answer.

Prove otherwise, corporate overlords :) :)

I've had two zoom interviews and much preferred them to in person ones!

My employer paid for a day of Zoom presentation training for some of us at work. It was run by an actor from Game of Thrones (he was fantastic!). As part of my job we have to pitch and interact with a lot of very senior (and notoriously difficult) clients hence the training.

Key is to look at the camera. Maintain eye contact with the camera rather than your screen (or the notes people are telling you to use). Then think about your tone of voice. Make sure you're using appropriate tones for what you're saying and how you want to come across.

And as has already been said, check how you look on camera before you start. A plain top is better than a pattern. Try different jewellery. Check how your make-up looks. If you don't usually wear it, it might be worth using it a little - again, test how you look with your lighting before you start.

Have a glass of water ready. And a coffee if you want. Make sure you won't be interrupted. Phone on silent etc.

Assuming you're doing it from home:

• switch off doorbell
• close windows to block off noise from outside
• ensure kids and pets won't disturb you (even if the interviewer loves cats, you're going to get flustered if it steps on the keyboard and shoves its arse at the camera)
• check what is visible behind you

Hi, I once got a job out of a skype interview (zoom wasn't even thought of then). I remember the experience vividly.

What I found most stressful was that it was impossible to judge the mood in the room from the little blobs that people's faces were on my laptop screen. In my profession (academic, so a bit waffly) I'd normally take physical cues from the person who's asked a question in discussion to know when I've said enough - the way they nod, make eye contact, etc. I realized within the first minute of this interview that this wasn't going to work on my screen.

The skype interview was more like performing to an audience - you have to say your say and not worry how it comes across, if it falls flat it falls flat and you don't even know. Of course it may be a bit better with the little boxed-in individual faces that you get on zoom - but then, in that scenario everyone is atomized and you still can't judge the overall mood. There may not even be one if people are dialing in from separate offices.

It may help you to practice in front of an empty chair, or with a friend who asks questions but, say, stands behind you.

It never even occurred to me to use post-it notes...

Btw. I doubt I would have got the job if I'd interviewed in person - it was in a social setting (Cambridge University) that I find uncomfortable. So the online set-up got me a very fancy job. Except it was so uncomfortable that I left again.