Be it the ease, cost savings, or any other benefit, most corporates now prefer to hold zoom interviews for evaluating and hiring their candidates. Interviews through video calls are in vogue and several hiring managers seem increasingly inclined towards finding the talents for their business organizations via Zoom. Attending a video interview is in itself an art, that, every job seeker must master. This article gives you the finest 21 tips, which you can use to ace your upcoming Zoom interview.
21 Best Tips To Ace Zoom Interview Sessions
1. Use An Appropriate Digital Device
It will not be wrong to say that Zoom is one of the best video calling applications and is widely relied upon as well as used by a variety of hiring managers. Still, the seamless experience of an online interview session depends heavily upon the digital device that the candidates use for attending their digital interview calls. Thus, it is recommended that a job seeker always tries to use Zoom using a laptop (fitted with a web camera) or a computer system, along with using a physical web camera.
2. Keep Your Ringing Phones In Silent Mode
As per a general rule, whenever you are attending an interview session you ought to be committed and dedicated completely towards your interviewer. Any diversion in the form of cell phones, beeps, rings, etc must be completely avoided. This not only shows your seriousness towards the job opening but also reflects the level of respect that you show towards your interviewer. Hence, always remember to silence your phone completely, or in case you expecting some important calls, at least place it on vibration mode.
3. Maintain A Seamless Internet Connection
The success of an online interview session depends upon the quality of the internet connection that you have at your home. If you have a poor internet connection, that is not able to generate the minimum required speed for attending a Zoom interview call, then your Zoom call will keep on lagging and buffering, thereby adding to the frustration levels of the interviewer.
In such a situation, along with getting a piece of mind from the interviewer, your selection chances might also reduce to the bare minimum. Hence, always prefer to have a seamless internet connection while attending your online interview.
4. Make Sure Your Laptop Is Completely Charged
It is peculiar to note that there is no fixed duration for an interview session. From a minimum of 10-15 minutes, it can even go on to 1.5-2 hours depending upon your knowledge, the quality of your answers, and your body language. It is embarrassing as well as bizarre to witness an abrupt shutting down of the laptop due to lack of battery. Hence, make it a point to always check your current battery levels of the laptop, and ensure that your laptop has the ability to run for the next 2-3 hours.
5. Ensure Adequate Lighting
The position of the source of light matters a lot while attending a Zoom interview session. This is because an interviewer is only able to see your face and a bit of your chest during the video interviews. Hence, always remember to keep a source of light in front of yourself, which focuses on your face from the frontal position. Further, you must not keep any light source behind your back as that would blacken your picture on the web camera and consequently, an interviewer will not be able to see you completely.
6. Share The Interview Timings With Your Members Of The House
You might be married, if not, you might be having young siblings or nephews/nieces. In every case, the toddlers or the young kids have the ability to spoil your entire interview session. A single scream, shoutings, or their weeping voices, are enough to frustrate an already overburdened hiring manager. Thus, always remember to share the timings of your interviews session with your family members, so that they can themselves maintain silence as well as control the toddlers of your home.
7. The Dress Matters A Lot
It is a common misconception that your dress sense will not come in handy while attending an online interview session. Most candidates try to be smart and wear proper attire over their upper body, leaving the lower body in shorts or pajamas. But, beware, as it is common for the interviewers nowadays to check on the dresses of the candidates by asking them to stand up and move back a few feet. Hence, it is recommended that you always dress appropriately and wear proper business suits.
8. Use Headphones or Earpieces
A seamless and disturbance-free two-way communication is pivotal to maintain during an online interview session. To reduce the chances of confusion, and all kinds of semantic barriers, it is recommended that the job seekers always use a headset over their ears, so that they are able to completely understand what an interviewer wants to convey. This will also help you to understand the real interpretation of an interview question and prepare an answer that is crisp, relevant, and sharp.
9. Using Body Language To Create A Positive Impression
Not only the quality of your answers but also the manner in which you extend your answers will define the overall impression that you will leave upon your interviewer. This can be done by using your body language to the best effect while attending an interview session. Follow the below-mentioned tips to create a positive impression:
- Sit with a straight back
- Maintain consistent eye contact with your interviewer
- Use your arms and fingers to express your answers more comprehensively
- Keep nodding while listening to your interviewer, as this will show that you are attentive
- Maintain a pleasant smile and non-nervous look on your face, to show that you are confident
10. Set All Notifications Off
Be it a laptop, computer system, tablet, or mobile phone, make sure that you have switched off all the notifications on all your digital devices. This will help you to maintain concentration as well focus while attending your Zoom interview session that will ultimately help you to prepare quality responses to the challenging and tricky interview questions.
11. Just Expel Your Pets Temporarily From Your House
You might be an animal lover and simply love your pets. But, now is the time to hate them a bit and just oust them from the house on a temporary basis. No interviewer would love to hear the barks or meows of your pets during an interview session. Further, the voices generated by your pets will also divert your attention, thereby affecting your ability to create effective and impressive answers to the interview questions.
12. Maintain Professionalism Through An Appropriate Background
Most of the job seekers do not have an appropriate professional background while attending the Zoom interview session. It not only decreases professionalism but also reflects the bad etiquettes when you are showing your kitchen, bedroom, or maybe any of your house’s windows behind your back. Thus, be tidy, neat and choose a professional background, preferably different shades or mixtures of the white color.
13. Practice The Art Of Online Interviews
You might be attempting your first online interview session on Zoom, or might be a veteran. No matter what, you will always need some practice before attempting an online session. Thus, always remember to attempt at least two mock online interview sessions through any reputed career preparation website. This will not only help you to become aware of the typical interview settings but will also give you a sense of comfort and relief thereby augmenting your confidence level during an original interview session.
14. Adjust The Screen Brightness
Most people prefer to keep their screen brightness and other associated settings, like sharpness, color, contrast, etc. on the lower side to reduce the strain and negative effects on their eyes. But, it is highly recommended that you change your screen settings to default while attempting a Zoom interview call. This will allow you to see a clear picture of the interviewer and understand his hand gestures as well as body movements in a comprehensive manner.
15. Check/Test Your Equipment
To avoid possible interruptions and any last-minute defects in the communication devices, such as audio mic, headphone, and web camera, make sure to test them before beginning an online interview call. You can do this by making random calls to your family members or friends and asking them if they are experiencing any glitch or voice interruptions.
16. Become Aware Of All Features Of The Zoom App
In order to gain the most out of a Zoom interview session, it is necessary to understand all the features and tools of the Zoom application. This will help you as well as your interviewer to make your interview session more interactive and hiccup-free. Below is a list of all the important Zoom tools that every interviewee must look out for:
Virtual Backgrounds
This feature enables you to use virtual backgrounds while attending your interview session. Using this tool, you can select any of the displayed backgrounds from the Zoom application and use it as your background. By doing this, only you will be visible to your interviewer, and the rest of the screen will be covered or hidden by this virtual background.
Drive For Zoom
This feature integrates your Google drive account with your Zoom app so that you can easily transfer files, media recordings or any other document from your drive account to the Zoom app while attending an online interview call.
Push To Talk
This feature allows you to mute yourself during an online interview session. The shortcut assigned to this feature is the spacebar, and after hitting it you can unmute yourself.
17. Prepare A List Of Counter Questions
It is common for the interviewers to conclude an interview session, through the question,” Do you have any questions for us?” An ideal response to this question will require you to share all your doubts and apprehensions that you might be having in regards to the business organization. It is always recommended that you attempt this question and ask a few relevant counter questions, such as:
- What are the various incentives and allowances that are offered by the company to its regular employees?
- Is it the policy of the company to reimburse the medical expenses incurred by the employees or their dependents?
- What are the anti-harassment policies that are implemented by the company to protect its employees from possible instances of harassment bullying, teasing, etc.?
18. Mute The Audio When Needed
Although it is always preferred to choose a quiet place while attending a Zoom interview session, it is not always possible given the surroundings and the circumstances. No interviewer likes to hear unwanted noises and audio disturbances from the candidate’s end. Hence, it is always recommended to use the mute button feature of the Zoom app whenever it is not your turn to speak.
19. Reduce The Burden On Your Laptop/Computer
In order to ensure that your Zoom calls run seamlessly without any hiccups, delays or glitches make sure to quit all the running programs in the background so that higher disk space is available. This freed RAM will be occupied by the Zoom call and your interview session will run without any possible buffering or laggardness. Hence, be it the scans run by the anti-virus software or the automatic window updates, just pause them all.
20. Be At Least Five Minutes Before Time and Bust Your Stress
Late joiners are strictly not appreciated by the interviewers. The relevance of being on time enhances even more when you have the luxury of attending an interview session from the comforts of your home. Hence, it is recommended that you always log in to your Zoom account at least five minutes before the stipulated time and utilize those last five minutes to relax and calm yourself using deep breathing or any other stress-busting technique.
21. Make Sure You Are Using Latest Versions
While attending an online interview call every job seeker must look out for all the possible updates, mandatory or non-mandatory. It is highly recommended to use the latest version of the Zoom app on your laptop or computer system besides installing all the latest updates associated with your operating software. This will eliminate all the compatibility issues and ensure a pleasant video calling experience.
References
- https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/48134
- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3898330
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
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