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Interview mind games

10 replies

thebeachismyhappyplace2 · 18/04/2021 21:43

I had a job interview the other day on zoom with a large corporate company. It became very clear by the end of it that this first interview was all about identifying what kind of person I am and whether I would fit into their team. Most of the questions were behavioural questions.
But I can’t stop thinking about something strange that happened at the beginning of the interview. It was with 2 male interviewers both interviewing me from their respective homes. When the first window pinged up of the first male interviewer he didn’t really say much, a couple of moments later the second window popped up with the 2nd guy but only revealing his name and camera was not switched on. The guy with no camera then proceeded to talk about the company before asking me some questions and it was probably a good 5 mins before he said “oh I do apologise, I’ve just realised my camera isn’t switched on” to which he then appeared and I kind of laughed and said “oh I presumed there was a reason you didn’t have it switched on and that’s why I didn’t say anything”
I just find it strange that the other guy didn’t say anything to his colleague as presumably he would have noticed too. According to some of my friends whom I’ve mentioned this to, they think it was probably a test to see how I would respond to this situation and to see if I would be pro-active and say something.

I didn’t realise this kind of psychology really goes on in interviews. Could it be that he just genuinely forgot to put his camera on and his colleague felt awkward saying something to his boss?

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StripedLeopard · 18/04/2021 21:45

I think it was a genuine oversight

idontlikealdi · 18/04/2021 21:46

I think it was probably a mistake on his part.

thebeachismyhappyplace2 · 18/04/2021 21:50

I hope so. But why didn’t his colleague say something then?

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trunumber · 18/04/2021 22:05

Maybe his colleague thought he might have a reason for having it off? I don't always ask my team if their cameras are off unexpectedly

bridgertonian · 18/04/2021 22:13

If someone has a poor internet connection they often leave the video off, I’d have assumed it was due to this or they had something else going on....definitely wouldn’t have mentioned it.

Purpoole · 18/04/2021 22:17

Some companies have had a bit of a drive to encourage others not to insist on cameras being on as it can be deemed intrusive.
Either that or the other man didn’t care. I don’t think it was deliberate, just an oversight

thebeachismyhappyplace2 · 18/04/2021 22:24

Also I was pretty nervous in the interview as not had one in ages, and felt like I didn’t answer some of the questions as effectively as I could have. Towards the end of the interview it was a bit more relaxed and I ended up telling them I was nervous and thats why I crumbled a bit at the beginning. Do you think this honestly will go against me?

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CommandoDog · 19/04/2021 08:29

Genuine mistake - one of our best recruits when faced with the same issue reflected that many people had strong feeling about being on camera and it was relaxed about allowing other people to decide whether they felt comfortable on camera or not.
He did take control of the room once, when he felt a question being asked was not appropriate for him and he decided to answer a different question - the interviewer was a bit taken aback but when I watched the interview I completely agreed with him - but it wasn't a test - it just cropped up.

6rainbow · 19/04/2021 08:38

Maybe his colleague did tell him via text or private message ?

We often text each other when we are in zoom meetings at work

thebeachismyhappyplace2 · 19/04/2021 08:56

Thank you!

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