Confessions of an Executive Restaurant Recruiter has a post called Top 10 Ways to Blow Getting the Job, and a few of them are extremely applicable to candidates who will be video interviewing:

Inappropriate dress:  showing up for the interview in attire that is not proper for your industry and position.  You must dress as professionally for a video interview as you would if you were going in to meet with the hiring manager in person.  Here are some tips for appropriate interview dress. 

Not showing desire:  not showing the interviewer(s) at every point that you are ready, willing, and able to make a job change and that you want to work for them.   A video interview is the ideal chance to show your enthusiasm and desire for this job–before you even get in the door. 

Lack of knowledge:  not knowing about your business and profession, and not knowing about the company where you are interviewing.  Even though the questions you’ll have to answer are likely to be standard ones, there’s no excuse for not finding out about the company you’re interviewing with and what it is they need.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.  Here’s a link for what your pre-interview research should cover. 

Poor language skills:  inability to communicate effectively, inability to articulate ideas using proper English, using curse words or slang during the interview.  This, possibly more than any other factor, could knock you out of the running in a video interview situation.  If companies are using video interviews, there’s a good chance that they are interested in your presentation skills, as well as how you react under pressure.  Good language skills matter.  Avoid common bad habits.  (A video interview is a simple thing, but the pressure is tremendous once you know the camera is on–believe me.)

Interview On Demand will provide as much information as we can to make the video interview process as easy as it can be for you.  In addition to the tips on our website, here’s a link to techniques for a great interview and here are some previous posts you can go to:

Acing Your Video Interview

Be Confident On Camera

What to do if you get invited, but you don’t have a thing to wear (on camera)?

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Cell phones are everywhere.  Even 9-year-olds have them.  Cell phones have, at the same time, the capability to be the greatest convenience of your life and business as well as a source of masive irritation to others if you forget your cell phone etiquette–also in life and in business. 

But where did they come from?  Cell phones have developed as a natural progression of experiments, insights, and technological advances in many different areas.  (And how do they work?  This article explains it nicely.)

Notable dates and progressions in the history of the cell phone :

 1843 - Michael Faraday experiments to see if space could conduct electricity

1865 - Mahlon Loomis (a dentist) sent up kites with copper screens connected to the ground with copper wires to transmit messages through the air using the atmosphere as a conductor

1895 - Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless message (using Morse Code)

 1921 - The Detroit Police Department installed the first land-mobile radio telephone systems for police car dispatch

1973 -  Martin Cooper from Motorola placed the first cell phone call….to his rival at AT&T.  (I love that…)

 1977 - Chicago became the first city to use cell phones, on a trial basis, with 2000 users.

1983 - Motorola introduced the “DynaTAC,” the first truly portable cell phone.  It cost $3500.00, weighed 2.5 lbs., needed 10 hours to charge for 30 minutes of talk time. 

1980s - most mobile phones in the U.S. were permanently installed as car phones

1987 - over 1 million cell phone users in the U.S.

1990s - as cell phone technology developed, phones became lighter-weight and more powerful and feature-packed

2006 - over 233 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S.

Today, cell phones have progressed to camera phones, and Bluetooth technology has revolutionized it them even more by enabling hands-free use.   In the future, cell phones are expected to use holographic displays, have credit card capabilities, have mobile television reception, and more. 

Do you see the progression?  The emergence of faster, more efficient communication, one technological leap at a time.  (In the end, I’m going to get you to video interviewing with Interview On Demand….you knew that, right?)  So far, we’ve discussed:

The Pony Express

The Telegraph

The Telephone

Cell Phones

What’s next?  The internet.   

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

When you are presenting products and services to the marketplace for a new product, sometimes you get a bit of push-back.  That is especially true when you are talking about a product that hasn’t existed before, or a product that is so new that the majority of the target market has never heard of the product and sometimes have never even thought there might be a need for your product or service.

Push back can come from many places and on many levels.  One of the places where we find that hiring companies push back a little is on the percentage of adoption of webcams in target employee homes.  Hiring managers are sometimes overly concerned that the candidate pool where they are recruiting doesn’t have enough percentage of webcam owners. 

“What if they don’t have a webcam”  they ask? 

Our answer is pretty simple.  “Buy them one.”  They are cheap as dirt, almost.  The pictured webcam is available in our online store for right at $25.00.  That is just about what a candidate would pay for airport parking ALONE for ONE DAY if you were to fly them in for an interview.  So why not have the candidate order a webcam from our Amazon store and save yourself the price of the plane ticket?  Seems like a no-brainer to me.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

A video job interview is not the same thing as a video resume.  Some people really like video resumes, and even think that they will soon replace job interviews.  We don’t think so.  There are many good reasons why we still need job interviews, and several reasons (seven, in fact) why video interviews are better than video resumes: 

1. Video Resumes are job-seeker-driven, sent to companies unsolicited.

Video Interviews are employer-driven, ordered after finding an interesting written resume. 

2. Video resumes take hours to wade through.

Video interviews take exactly as long as the employer desires.

 3. Video resumes are like a box of chocolates–you never know what you’re going to get.

Video interviews are standardized, each one set up exactly the same for the position to be filled.

4. Video resumes can vary greatly in production skill and equipment.

Video interviews require everyone to use a webcam. 

5. Video resumes can bias the employer negatively before they’ve even seen a resume of accomplishments.

Video interviews are ordered after the employer has seen and is interested in the employee’s accomplishments.

6. Video Resumes have the potential for legal problems.

Video interviews are not discriminatory–they are a “pre” face-to-face interview.

7. Video resumes have been around for a long time, but have not captured the interest of employers.

Video interviews have been received well by employers, and are gaining ground every day.

Interview On Demand has been created with the latest technology to provide a smooth and streamlined process for employers to invite candidates to interview and for candidates to easily figure out the system and show themselves in the best possible light to potential employers.  It’s inexpensive, convenient, simple, and efficient.  A win-win for everyone.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Here’s the story:  you have just received an invitation to complete a video interview through Interview On Demand.  The interview is for a position that you are very interested in getting, and since you got the invitation, you know that the company must have been pretty interested in your resume.  This video is your next best shot at getting through the doors for a face-to-face interview (where, of course, you’ll knock their socks off). 

Chances are, you’ll complete your interview in the privacy of your own home (at the best time for you, thanks to the convenience of video interviewing) through a webcam attached to your computer.  Here’s where you might get tripped up a little.  Not only do you have to be well-dressed and have answers to various questons ready for a smooth delivery, you have to think about your setting—lighting, background, angles.  Not to worry, Interview On Demand is here to help.  There are several video tutorials available at Interview On Demand, such as “Taking the Interview:  Practice and Review“ and “Taking the Interview:  The REAL Interview” that will be full of tips to make your interview as smooth as possible.  (There’s even a system test so that you can feel assured that your system is capable and ready to go.)

For good measure, we would like to direct your attention to Expert Videos, where there are several more videos to help you:  How to Use a WebCam for You Tube discusses general topics to remember, like lighting (use an extra desk lamp if you need more light).  Also, check out How to Use a Camcorder and All About Camera Angles. 

Interview On Demand is very interested in making sure that your interview shows you to your best advantage, so we want you to have all the information you need to make your video interview a success.  Check out our website and our other blog posts for more tips.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Who invented the telephone?  You would all answer “Alexander Graham Bell”, right?  Me, too… until I started researching for this lightly informative series on the history of communications in America.  Apparently there’s a whole mess of controversy I didn’t know about, and I bet you didn’t, either. 

The generally accepted story is that Alexander Graham Bell was working to improve the telegraph, which had been successfully in use for years but could only transmit one message at a time.  Bell’s background in music and sound inspired him with the idea that he could transmit multiple messages at the same time by using signals of differing pitch, or sound–he called it the “harmonic telegraph.”  This is what he had received financial backing for.  However, while working on the harmonic telegraph, he realized he could hear sound over a wire.  Working with his assistant, electrician Thomas Watson, he then perfected the idea and the means of transmitting sound (speech) using electrical signals.  “Mr. Watson, come here.  I want to see you” was the first thing he said. 

Here’s where the controversy comes in:  there’s a new book out this month called The Telephone Gambit:  Chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s Secret (see exerpts from the book here) that maintains that Bell stole his ideas for the telephone from Elisha Gray.  It is true that Elisha Gray filed his patent for the telephone mere hours after Bell, in February 1876.  An extensive legal battle ensued, which Bell won. 

And, there are a large number of people who claim that Italian immigrant named Antonia Meucci invented the telephone, but that through bad luck and poverty, he failed to establish a patent on it.  There’s much more detail in this article, ” and justice for all.”  It’s significant–in 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution endorsing Meucci as the inventor of the telephone because he had demonstrated his invention as early as 1860 and had a description of it in an Italian-language newspaper in New York. 

Whoever’s going to end up with the credit for inventing the telephone, being able to speak to someone in real time and get an immediate response revolutionized life and business in America.   Sit for just a second and really think about how mind-boggling that would have been…going from sending letters across the country by Pony Express to Morse-code-clicking with a telegraph to actual speech.  Building on that, we progressed from switchboard operators (who could listen in on your call) to party lines (so your neighbors could listen in on your call) to private lines with call-waiting to cordless phones to….cell phones!  Coming up next. 

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Hiring sales people is both an art and a science, meaning there are tangible and intangible qualities for hiring managers to consider when making decisions on choosing the best talent for their company. Yes, the record of sales numbers on the candidate’s resume is important, but there is an argument that there’s no substitute for natural talent. Using video interviewing is a no-brainer when hiring sales candidates, where creativity, energy, enthusiasm, personality, and presentation skills are just as important as product knowledge and sales history. (See The Subtle Requirements for Successful Sales Hiring)

The flexibility of Interview On Demand’s video interviewing system fits in with the hectic schedules of most salespeople, and phone interviews just don’t work as well. Hiring managers can save a lot of interviewing time as well as potentially useless and expensive in-person interviews by screening candidates through video interviews, and avoid hiring mistakes. Here are some common interview questions for sales jobs.

Here’s a great idea: Some recruiters are offering video interviews to candidates to use as part of the packages they send to companies to give hiring managers a lot of extra information (and their candidates an extra edge). It’s important to note that this is not a video resume–it’s a targeted, employer-driven addition to a regular resume that ends up being much more useful to everyone involved.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

You should always look your best for a job interview, and a video interview is no different. (Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can slack off since it’s not a “real” interview yet. It is. The video interview is what’s going to assist in getting you in the door, but this is your first impression.)

However, in a video interview, much more attention is focused on your face and upper torso (since that’s where the camera is aimed). Everyone should appear well-groomed and tidy, and women’s makeup should be understated (here’s a quick video on applying makeup for the camera). Not too much jewelry…you get the idea. A conservative appearance is always best for first impressions. You can loosen up later. (Depending on your job).

Interview On Demand has lots of tips available, and your practice session will allow you to review what you look like before you commit yourself to the real thing. What you see is what the hiring manager will see, so you should make every effort to appear as professional as possible.

Bottom line–nothing about your appearance should detract from your message: you are THE right person for this job.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

By the end of the Pony Express, telegraph lines had already been in use for many years in the eastern parts of America.  The first working telegraph system began in 1844.  Telegraphs worked by using electric impulses to transmit messages over a wire.  They used a series of dots and dashes called Morse Code to organize those impulses into words that could then be interpreted at the other end of the line.  How’s that for a simplified explanation? 

The invention of Morse Code is credited to Samuel Morse (he’s the one with the patent), but there is some debate out there over how much work he put into it versus how much his partner, Alfred Vail, had to do with it.  Some people think that Morse was more of a marketer than a scientist. 

The bottom line of this story is that by sending clicks over a wire, you could get critical information to others quickly.  Once Western Union finished the first transcontinental telegraph lines in 1861, America became really connected from sea to shining sea.  This helped to set the stage for explosive growth in the next few years.  (Although doesn’t it make you think of smoke signals?  I wonder if the concept influenced the inventor’s thinking process?)

Side note:  There are those who worry that Morse Code will be lost:  a retired astrophysicist in Arizona is translating books into Morse Code to sell or give away.  And apparently, according to the same article, there’s a German computer game called Rufz that lets players practice and compete for speed.   

Americans have always been interested in faster, more effective communication.  It’s good for business.

What’s next?  The telephone, of course. 

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.

Would you answer that ad?  This was a real advertisement in 1860 to gather riders for the new Pony Express.  It was the newest, fastest way to communicate across the country, using a relay system of riders on specially selected horses to ride hard and fast to deliver the mail from a starting point in St. Joseph, Missouri across the vast western plains to California.  It reduced the amount of time for mail to be delivered from weeks or months to around 10 days.  Though that seems incredibly slow to us today, it was a monumentally exciting development in communications speed. 

Its founders were hoping to win a million dollar government contract for mail delivery away from the Butterfield Stage operation for their company, the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company by becoming better, faster, and more efficient.  Sound familiar?  It wasn’t new technology (horses and riders had been around for a while, obviously) but these guys were apparently the efficiency experts of their day.   The Pony Express got the mail delivered in at least half the time and lost only one bag of mail in its entire 18-month operation, even though the routes were grueling and dangerous. 

The Pony Express and it’s riders became famous, capturing the imagination of Americans to this day.  (Anyone see the movie Hidalgo?  That was based on the true story of a Pony Express rider.)  There’s a national Pony Express museum in St. Joseph, Missouri.    For a really well-written, not-too-long history, see Run, Pony, Run.  For a book, see here. 

Not long after the Pony Express started, the government started work on a telegraph line to California that was completed in October, 1861.  And that was the end of the Pony Express.  That’s progress.

What’s this got to do with video interviewing?  Just a little side-trip into the development of communications in this country that led to where we are today.  Imagine only being able to reach someone you needed to talk to by writing a letter and hoping that the person you asked or hired to carry it didn’t run into any trouble on the way and actually got your letter delivered.  A little time-consuming and unreliable, yes?  Hope you didn’t need an answer quickly!

What’s next in the communication evolution?  The telegraph.  Stay tuned…

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.