With  this in mind, adapting to the new way of living life and going about work is the best way to manage your way through this pandemic. For recruiters and hiring managers, face-to-face interviews have always been crucial to the vetting and hiring process, specially for high level positions. Pre-pandemic, in-person meetings were a must. However, for health and safety reasons, candidates specially for managers and executives should expect more online video interviews instead of face-to-face meetings. Even if the questions will likely be the same, an in-person interview is still different from getting to know and assessing a person through a digital screen. It is therefore important that candidates prepare and set themselves up for a successful online video job interview every time.

The  first thing you should do is check your internet connection and ensure that the speed is fast enough for your video to come across smoothly. Download virtual meeting tools that are used to conduct interviews. Slack, Cisco WebEx, Skype Business, BlueJeans Meeting, Microsoft Teams, Zoho Meeting and Google Hangouts are just a few of the meeting tools available. Familiarize yourself on how to use them and do test runs with family or a friend so you can learn to troubleshoot and avoid glitches during the actual interview. If something does go wrong, remember to stay calm and make light of the situation. Your interviewer will be watching how you handle yourself in a stressful situation. If you aren’t able to resolve technical issues, be sure the interviewer has your number so you can continue your interview over the phone.

After  making sure you’ve got your connection and meeting tools properly set up, prepare the physical space where you’ll be interviewed. Whether you’ll take the interview in your home office (if you have one) or in your bedroom, make sure your space is well-lit, uncluttered and free from visual and auditory distractions. For your background, try to stick to a neutral palette instead of bright colors so the focus remains on you. If you’ve got children and pets, make sure they stay in another room for the duration of the interview and put a sign on your room door or front door that says “do not disturb”. It would be helpful to indicate the time your visitor should come back. Even if the notification alerts may be barely audible, be sure to turn off your computer and mobile phone notifications to keep your thoughts on track during the interview. In line with this you can have your note cards around you as guides. But be sure they are out of the camera’s line of site. You don’t want the interviewer seeing your cue cards. Also make sure the camera is at eye level to avoid unflattering angles. A pair of googly eyes or any helpful marker that calls your attention should be placed near your webcam to encourage you to look into the camera so that you maintain good eye contact at all times during the job interview.

How  you look during the interview, whether it’s in-person or online, matters. Be sure to dress for the job you are going for. Avoid wearing distracting bright colors and big jewelry. Look polished and professional, someone who is competent and can be relied on. This will give you the confidence you need to engage and connect with your interviewer. And be sure your bottom half matches your top half in case you need to stand from your seat for whatever reason.

As  with any presentation, research and practice are a must. Take the time to research about the role, the company, and any current news about it. Practice how you’ll communicate your skills, experience, insights and answer some practice questions. Being sure of what you know and the repetition of practice will give you the confidence and lessen any uncertainty you may have. Since virtual meetings in general tend to be shorter than in-person meetings, try to connect with your interviewer within a small amount of time. Knowing your information and research well will help you confidently do that.

At all times during your job interview, be patient and gracious even after the interview. Know that everyone is working from home so be gracious when the interviewer gets interrupted by a delivery or children entering the room. After the interview, whether you want the job or not, send an email thanking the interviewer for his or her time and the opportunity to meet. Recognize that the hiring process will need several approvals and that the people deciding on your hiring are all physically separated which means that it might be harder to get a consensus on your hiring. Be patient and gracious if the interviewer takes longer than usual to get back to you. You’ll both more likely have a more relaxed, engaged and positive experience during the interview and that’s definitely how you want your interviewer to feel about you.