You know you need to appear confident when you go to a job interview.  No one wants to hire someone who doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing or appears hesitant about their own ability to do the job. 

Interviewing on video brings another level of anxiety to this process, because you’re not speaking to a person, you’re speaking to a camera.  (Although that could work in your favor–you don’t have to worry about establishing rapport with a camera.  You just have to remember to look at it.  And smile.) 

The good news is, tips on how to build up your confidence for an interview also apply to your situation in a video interview.  For instance, you can practice your presentation skills and approach.  Research the company before the interview and practice answers to common questions (from 20 Interview Tips).  One tip from Calming Your Interview Jitters suggests you should pretend you are talking to a relative, which is pretty easy to do with a webcam. 

Just be careful that your confidence doesn’t veer into know-it-all, overconfident behavior.  The kind where you don’t acknowledge any problems you’ve ever had (which leaves you unable to convey your ability to overcome them) or where you don’t give any credit to co-workers or managers who have helped you.  That kind of attitude can turn off a hiring manager, no matter how much experience you have.  It can be a fine line, according to Heather Hamilton from Microsoft.   

Interview On Demand provides tutorials that walk you through the interview process, complete with more tips on interviewing, and practice questions so that you can see how you’re coming across before it counts for real.  And remember, the company is already interested in you, which is why they contacted you for the video interview.  That should make it easier to maintain your confidence.

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.

OK, I have to confess:  I’m so spoiled, I don’t think I could live without my TiVo.  I think the DVR is the greatest technological convenience ever.  (Besides my cell phone, of course.)  I am no longer a slave to the schedule of TV programmers who don’t take into account how busy I am.  I no longer have to patiently wait and suffer through commercials I can’t stand.  TiVo has changed my life.  (Yes, I know that seems pathetically shallow to some of you, but that’s only because you don’t have one yet.)  At the touch of a button, I can watch what I want, when I want.  It saves me time because I can skip commercials.  And if I need to see something again, I hit Replay.  It’s EASY. 

TiVo is revolutionizing media in America–from what we expect as consumers, to marketing practices, to advertising, to what we can imagine might come next. 

I am here today to tell you (and you knew this was coming, right?)  that Interview On Demand is TiVo for job  interviews. 

Like TiVo, Interview On Demand is convenient.  Interview On Demand makes it easy to arrange interviews to fit your schedule.  Watch the interview when it’s best for you.  With no hassles involving traffic, airlines, or hotels.

Like TiVo, Interview On Demand saves you time.  Interview On Demand gets you the answers you need in the fastest amount of time possible.  Video interviews consistently take less time than in-person interviews.  You can skip over interviews that you can tell won’t be a good fit. 

Like TiVo, Interview On Demand is easy to use.  Interview On Demand is intuitively easy to navigate.  Once you’ve contacted Interview On Demand, we can walk you through setting up interview questions.  We contact your candidates by e-mail and offer them tutorials on how to video interview.  Once the interviews are done, we store them online for you (or any member of your hiring team) to access anytime.  And you can hit Replay if you want to see them again.

Interview On Demand is revolutionizing the hiring process just like TiVo has revolutionized TV watching. 

Join the revolution.

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.

Many companies have a problem attracting top candidates–they have the perception that “all the good ones are taken.”   It is true that the people who are REALLY good in their field generally won’t be actively searching for a job.  They have one, thank you, and since their companies are very interested in keeping them, candidates are generally happy and not looking.  That’s not to say that they wouldn’t be interested if something great were presented to them, though.  But, how do you get their attention, and how do you get them to agree to an interview?  Traditional interview processes are time-consuming, can be difficult to arrange, and normally eat into regular work day time. 

There’s one article by Dr. John Sullivan that advocates paying candidates for interviews as a solution.  We have our reservations about that, but Dr. Sullivan does have some advice we love for companies looking to expand the number and quality of candidates they have to choose from: 

1.  Conduct online interviews.  Online interviews are much easier for candidates to complete, and it reduces travel costs for the hiring company.  Wipro, and other companies in India, have been using video interviews and saving millions of dollars in travel costs.

2.  Hold the interview close to where they live and work.  Can’t get much closer than their personal computer equipped with a webcam. 

3.  Interview at night or on weekends.  Video interviews can be completed at any time that fits into the candidate’s schedule, without having to fit into a hiring manager’s schedule.

Companies can make the whole hiring process more candidate-friendly by using Interview On Demand to conduct intial interviews that work with any candidate’s schedule, no matter where the candidate lives.  Even if the candidate isn’t actively looking, a video interview can cost them less than 15 minutes of their time.  Not many people would pass on something that effortless for the possibility of a great opportunity.

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.

Tips for successfully answering interview questions can apply to video interview questions, as well.  Here are two great articles offering job interview tips that illustrate this:

From Seven Crucial Interview Tips:  

1.   Use the power of “I” in your statements and avoid generalizations to keep the focus on you.

2.  Keep your language clear and direct, rather than using buzzwords to impress.

3.  Keep your answers short and sweet, giving enough information to answer the question, but not going on and on and on.  (Interview On Demand’s video interviewing system automatically limits candidate answers to 2 minutes.  It keeps you from going on longer than you should, but you should remember to practice answers to common questions to be sure you can answer well within the 2-minute limit.)

From What Not to Say in a Job Interview:

1.  The answer to “Why are you looking for a new job?” should hover somewhere near, “I’ve learned a lot from my job, but I’m ready for new challenges.”  And then you could point out something positive about the company you’re interviewing with.

2.  To answer “What are your strengths?”  point out some positives and how they’ve helped you in your job, and how they relate to the job you’re looking for.

3.  To answer “What are your weaknesses?”, don’t point out a fake one (as in “I just work too darn hard”).  Pick out a real (but minor) one, and what you are doing to fix it (reading books, etc.).   

When most people are offered the chance to do a video interview, the great fear is how they’ll come across on camera.  Interview On Demand does offer lots of tips on how to look your best on the video interview and be comfortable.  However, it’s important to remember that it doesn’t matter how comfortable you are on camera if you can’t deliver substantial, quality answers to the questions. 

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.

The progression of hiring options for businesses in America has followed the evolution of communication in the world.  We’ve highlighted some significant developments in this series–the Pony Express, the telegraph, the telephone, the cell phone, and the internet.  (The means of delivery has gotten smaller, but the area of delivery has gotten larger.  Crazy, huh?)

So, here’s the general progression of how to find the best employees in America:

*Hiring the best option out of whoever came in off the street.  Immediate results, but limited talent pool.

*Reaching out by Pony Express to get those adventurous, entrepreneurial types who had crossed the plains to make their fortune in California.   Offers and answers could be delivered in the lightning-fast speed of 10 days.  Sure, the horses were fast, but better hope your guy was still in the same place.

*Receiving inquiries and offering jobs to people using Morse Code and a telegraph from wherever a telegraph line reached.  Hiring with interpreters!

*Phone interviews.  At last, hiring managers can speak to an actual person to get a little more resume information.  Still, it’s difficult to “read” a prospective employee over the phone.

*Online job postings.  Unleashing the power of the internet to reach anyone with a keyboard, expanding the talent pool tremendously.  Exchanging job information through cyberspace.  Much faster, reaching a wider talent pool, but unreliable results.  Unfortunately, resulting in employer abuse through video resumes. 

*Video interviews.  The pinnacle of job-seeking and hiring technology.  Improving on the idea of video resumes by being employer-driven rather than desperate job-seeker driven.  A few companies starting up with some success, because it’s an idea whose time has come.

*Interview On Demand.  The latest, greatest technology in video interviews.  THE way to conduct video interviews–smooth, efficient, effective.  Interview On Demand’s video interview system is intuitive enough so that anyone can use it.  It saves employers time and money, and maximizes productivity.  It expands the talent pool to the whole world.  Interview On Demand is a global solution to an age-old problem.

And there you have it.  All the inventions, technological leaps and advances of the modern age growing, building on each other, and coming to perfection in….Interview On Demand.

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.

Posting your video resume on YouTube is supposed to get you noticed, according to some.  One article on video resumes says that you can search “resume” on YouTube and you’ll get 15,000 results–but that of course, only about seven of them are any good.  In fact, one of the main arguments for video resumes seems to be that “everyone is doing it, so we might as well get used to it.”  That’s not much of an argument. 

In theory, employers like the idea of being able to see someone before they invite them in for an interview.  It gives them more information and saves time.  In practice, it doesn’t work out so well.  Employers are leery of video resumes just like they are of pictures attached to a resume–because it opens up the possibility of being accused of discrimination.  Viewing video resumes is time-consuming, and candidates often don’t edit information like they should–see It’s Time to Hit Pause on Video Resumes.  Video resumes have an excellent chance of ruining a candidate’s chances simply by being done badly.  One article quotes a human resources person saying that “many video resumes come across like auditions for American Idol”–not exactly the professional image most candidates want to project. 

The solution for these issues is, of course, video interviews. 

A system utilizing video interviews allows hiring managers to sift through written resumes first (also a time-consuming process, but considerably faster than viewing video resumes) before inviting candidates to interview through a webcam.  Hiring managers only have to spend time previewing candidates they’re already interested in.  That saves candidates and managers time when it comes to scheduling face-to-face interviews.

Video interviews standardize the process.   Employers know what they’re getting because they asked the questions.  Each candidate receives the same questions and the same time to answer them, (which also means employers will know how much time it will take to review them).  Combining that setup with the fact that the candidates were chosen for interview through a traditional written resume, eliminates any potential charges of discrimination. 

Interview On Demand’s tutorials show candidates how to set up a non-distracting background and how to look their best for interviews, ensuring that they appear as professional and competent as possible.  Candidates are still able to let their personalities shine through, (which is important, and one of the most compelling reasons for using video in the hiring process) but with less chance of looking foolish.  No American Idol wannabe’s here.  Well, maybe, but you won’t know it from their job interview.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The hottest ticket in town is always Oprah’s “Favorite Things” show, when she gives away thousands of dollars of really cool stuff to everyone in the audience.  (I know I want a ticket to that one.)  One of the things she’s highlighted is a webcam from Hue HD (it comes in bright colors, has a bendy neck so you can easily get the best angle and lighting, etc.).  If you aren’t lucky enough to get a free one, though, it’s definitely worth the investment. 

Why buy a webcam? points out that you can use them for talking with friends, sending immediate pictures, or even showing an item for sale.  Children would be more interested in talking to friends and family online if they could see who they were talking to (think of the grandparents). 

Of course, what we’re most interested in is using webcams for job interviews.  Having a webcam allows you to practice your presentation skills on your own before you speak in front of an interviewer.  Record yourself, play it back, and catch every time you say “um” or “like” or display other nervous habits that could ruin your opportunity. 

Don’t forget:  Interview On Demand’s website offers tips for online interviewing, and practice time before each interview so that you look professional, capable, and right for the 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.