Are you preparing for an upcoming online job interview amid corona??
Read upon as I am writing this as a part of Digiaware team where I was recently interviewed for content writing job. I got selected and would like to share my experiences which may be useful during your upcoming online job interview. These steps are surely going to help you in cracking the interview with ease.
Currently, billions of people globally under a lockdown due to attack of pandemic disease called Coronavirus, thus remote jobs are becoming the key trends for hiring as the next strategic move for social distancing. Following are the super helpful key steps to keep in mind for acing in the interview process. The complete journey has been described into two stages namely Before the Interview and After the Interview.
Things to Do : Before the Interview
Research about the Company and Job description requirements: With each job interview, you meet new people and brand/sell yourself. In order to get successful in an interview display of skills and enthusiasm are of equal importance. Following are the key tips to consider while appearing for online job inteviews:
-
- In case you know about the interviewers/recruiters, research thier profile on leading social media platforms like LinkedIn. Familiarity with interviewer background helps significantly during your discussion as you have insight into his experience.
- Find common interview questions and practice your answers – 80% of the questions are generic, however it is very important to prepare yourself for these questions. Doing so makes you sound really more confident in real interview environment. Top known portals/apps to learn are Glassdoor, Monster, Indeed, The Muse etc. Some examples include,
- Help me with your profile brief
- Why do want to change your current job
- Explain some challenging assignment given to you and the startergy adopted by you
- Preparation of list of references – Always keep minimum 3 professional references handy and pitch-in their name while giving your introduction during the interview discussion. These references need to be active which means all these people must reply if enquired by the recruiters. This greatly improves your chances of hiring.
- Prepare a list of questions to ask to your interviewer – Almost every interview ends with “Do you have any questions”? and there you can communicate and can score heavily with simple questions like:
-
- What is the proposed work location?
- How much travel is foreseen?
- What is my position and reporting hierarchy?
-
And never ask about the salary yourself !!! This is one of the key Mantra ….
Be present well before your interview time with all checks done : Try to have a dry run on your laptop/mobile/tablet to avoid any surprises during the interview. This helps greatly as it avoids any delays or technical issues in audio/video. Having such checks adds to good inteview ettiquetes like punctuality, confidence, patience, listening etc. Following key checks will help to ensure a successful job interview :
-
- Be ready atleast 15 minutes before your call.
- Check your internet connection speed via Speedtest or Fast and ensure a steady connecion for video/audio calls via Skype/Zoom/Whatsapp/Duo/Line etc.
- Turn on your front camera and check your position on the video before logging into the call. Make sure that you are siiting in upright position in the center of the screen.
- Attire and background are very important aspects of online interview. Dress formally, preferable Shirt/Trouser combination. For boys, Tie is a great addition while for girls nice makeup and hairdo will help!
- Preferably opt for a clean white background. If not available, go for curtains as a background. Make sure you always sit on a chair and never on your bed especially with the back rest of the bed visible.
- Choose a spot with good lighting and illumination at the back of your camera. Also ensure that no unwanted sound/noise is there in the background.
- Get rid of any clutter around you.
- Always talk looking into the camera. Smile but don’t overdo it during the process.
- Posture is very important; therefore, you must avoid crossing legs, putting your hands on the table. If possible sit in an upright posture, unless asked to relax.
- Keep a pen and paper handy to illustrate any ideas. This can be a masterstorke and will help more than you can think of. It gives the interviewer an idea of your preparedness and thoughts instantly.
- Turn off or put your phone etc. on silent (light mode).
- Make sure the bell does not ring. And if it does, just ignore.
Things to Do : During/After the Interview
This phase is where an individual needs to give his/her best performance and following are the key tips to help:
-
- Make sure to start with an outstanding and impressive opening remark while greeting like – ‘It’s a pleasure to interact with you?
- Try to answer in the exact same sequence as the questions were posed and avoid missing out any.
- Further, listen to the interviewer carefully, and then give a moment of thought. Assuming that you’ve perceived the question well, try to analyze what the interviewer has spoken.
- Make a structure of the answer in your head and articulate the answer in a comprehensive manner, replying to all the questions put by the interviewer.
- Try to give answer in pointers rather than paragraphs. Like to this question my answer comprises of two parts etc.
- If you dont know any answer, don’t panic. Just say sorry andI have not worked on this before. In case interview furher enquires, mention that I didn’t get a chance to work on this till ow and will be happy to learn if given a chance.
- Acknowledge your interview experience after the interview and for the time for discussion and feedback.
- The next day or a day later, ask about next steps in the employment process. Thank them for the invitation to interview. Appreciate the opportunity, share your experience, acknowledge that you look forward to meeting them again.
Hope, above insights are going to help you all. Kindly share your experiences in comments and it would be good to know & learn so that I can improve as a content writer.
All the Best !!!!
