These two strategies are gonna make a world of difference in your online
interviews you might be dreading the fact that you a have an upcoming
interview and B that it's online and your inner monologue is acting up an
online interview but I can never seem to connect with the manager if the
interview is not in person what am I gonna do the problem is not with the
online interview the problem is with the way your interviewing and the way that
technology is actually getting in your way instead of helping facilitate the
success of your online interview so in this video lesson I'm going to give you
two strategies that's going to help you leverage technology and use it to your
advantage in an online interview just making these two simple tweaks is going
to change the way you interview online and this is valid across multiple
platforms Adobe Connect Skype zoom WebEx all those things so as we know online
interviews are becoming more and more popular they're a dime a dozen chances
are you've probably already had an online interview so many of you may be
saying right now yeah well I just interview so much better in person well
let me be real with you many employers are going to reach out with a video call
to get to know you it's so much more convenient they don't want to waste
their time they don't want to waste your time so instead of calling you in to
come into the office having you sit down and do an interview why not just hop on
a video call at least in the very beginning you'll probably be getting an
online interview so I'm going to teach you two ways to feel more comfortable
and confident in an online interview so that you can be presenting the way you
want to present and answering the questions the way you want to be
answering them and by the end of it you're really gonna feel like you can
connect with the hiring manager the person who is interviewing you and
you're probably gonna even want to have online interviews because it's so
convenient and you're gonna see why you're gonna
want it at the end of this video so make sure you watch till the end for the two
tips and the tweaks that you can make that will transform the way you
interview online while strategy number one make eye contact or maybe it's more
appropriate if we say camera contact and you'll see what so as you know an
interpersonal communication it is imperative that we make eye contact
same with public speaking we need to be able to look the audience members in the
eye share our thoughts with them because it's a way of connecting with the
audience so why wouldn't the same be true in an online interview scenario it
is how do you make eye contact with the other person on the other side of the
screen without them actually being in front of you by looking into the camera
so you're looking into the camera as you respond because that translates into
making eye contact with the person and the person on the other end of the
screen will notice that you're actually looking them in the eye it doesn't even
feel like an online call it really does feel like an in-person situation just as
simple as looking into the camera now you want to avoid staring at the camera
the whole time obviously that would make the person uncomfortable so instead you
can you know add a little bit of eye movement but you don't want to do too
much of it because that can be distracting and you certainly want to
avoid looking up or down if that's just too obvious my recommendation would be
to look at the screen at that point and they're not going to think anything
strange of it because when you look down you avert your gaze from the camera
you're actually looking at the image of them on the screen so that's not going
to seem strange to them really the only places you should be looking is at the
camera to make eye contact and then looking down into this screen to halt
look at the image of you right if you want to check your hair or makeup or
shirt and whatever do that before you get on the call right so if you're not
able to avert your gaze from your own image on the screen I would
put a post-it so that you're not tempted to look because we want to minimize
distractions on the screen so that the only place you can actually have access
to is the camera so that you make eye contact why does this work it shows you
have a secure handle on the interview and it also makes the person feel good
because it shows that you're paying attention and that you're listening to
what they have to say and everybody likes to feel listened to right it's
really important to look in the camera when you do you're tell me about
yourself when you do tell me about your
weaknesses when you're talking about how you would add value to the company and
what your role would look like sharing an anecdote these are the parts of the
interview where we really want to make sure that we're connecting with the
hiring manager now when they ask you a question or when you need some thinking
time it is okay to look down direct your gaze moreso to the screen in other words
so to some of strategy one you're making a point of looking into the camera so
that you can essentially be making eye contact with the hiring manager it shows
confidence it shows that you're poised and it shows that you have everything
under control because you do even when it doesn't feel like it you can really
project that impression onto them by doing something as simple as maintaining
eye contact and maintaining eye contact will really give them the impression
that wow she is really confident he is really confident so we all know that
interviews can be over stressful and for some people it's even more stressful
when they feel like they can't connect with the person who's interviewing them
because it's not done in person right in an online interview situation but I'm
telling you that you don't have to worry so we looked at the first strategy of
making eye contact and now we are looking at the second strategy which is
having a safety net so you may be thinking okay so what's my safety net
how in the world am I going to feel even more secure about this whole thing well
you're gonna have a minimized outline now it's really important and I really
stress this and underline it and highlight
you really have to make sure that you're not over stuffing your outline an
outline is probably a generous term for it what you really want is to have a few
talking points you don't know what you're gonna get ahead of time in terms
of the questions but you have some sense as to what you'll be speaking about so
those are your talking points and that is what you want in your outline outline
okay so make sure that it's not more than five words because then you're
gonna fall into the trap of reading off the screen and that is super obvious
right reading eyes you see it sometimes in newscasters when they're reading the
teleprompter you want to avoid that because it is really obvious so instead
you have just a few points right these can also be images for the more visual
explorers out there right just put an image that again it doesn't have to make
sense to anyone else it's about allowing you to see that image or see that word
and then it jolts your memory and then you're able to speak to it once you have
your few talking points that is when you minimize it and you get it to fit all
nice and tightly into a square and here comes the fun part
you take that minimize screen and you overlay it onto the image of the person
right because think about it you have a maximized window and then you have a
smaller version in a PDF file or a word file of your talking points and you
overlay it onto the image of the person that you're interviewing with and you
might say oh but I'm not be able to see them honestly it'll be more distracting
if you are looking at them constantly as opposed to looking into the camera every
now and then you know you can take your mouse and discreetly move it so that you
can see their expressions but as much as you can take your talking points and put
that there so that it will minimize the distractions that you have on the screen
and then it gives you access to look at the camera
that is where your gaze should be for the most part right again we're not
staring why does this work you have the security of knowing that your Allen is
there that your talking points are there should you need them security net and
this is also important because you're not tempted to look anywhere else other
than their eyes when you're responding to the question so some of strategy to
doing this minimized talking points window action is really going to give
you the peace of mind to respond in a way that you're proud of that you feel
reflects your experience your expertise your background your skills while you're
good fit for the role in a great way and it also helps guide your gaze to the
camera where it should be most of the time in the interview so to quickly
recap the problem that we're trying to solve is to figure out a way of getting
you to be more confident and comfortable in an online interview thus giving you a
higher success rate and we have two solutions as to how to address that one
to make eye contact by looking in the camera and two to minimize your talking
points minimize your talking points minimize distraction so for the first
strategy it might be a little bit strange at first to try to make eye
contact with the camera to even look there but you will get used to it and
try it out with a friend really try to do it make it a point of looking in the
person's eyes by looking at the camera because it is the difference of looking
at somebody's shirt and looking them in the eye so which one are you going to
look at their eyes or their outfit their eyes you guys right
as for to minimizing your talking points be really really strict about what goes
in there you don't want it to be a crutch the reality is is that you're
already prepared for the interview provided that you did already a lot of
the heavy lifting beforehand right this is really only to get you in the right
headspace and to make sure that you can fall back on looking at it if you were
to need but most of the time you won't need it
it's really there to act as a security blanket and not to distract you with
their image on the screen practice doing these two strategies in a casual video
call with a friend of yours and see if they're you know responding to the way
you interacted online any differently by doing those two things that we discussed
in this video and you can always just put in a couple talking points things
that you want to share with your friend some catch up points and see if you know
how it works for you because you need a practices before getting on the call the
call that counts in other words and you will gradually see changes you will
start to get more comfortable interviewing online and at the end of
the day you're probably gonna suggest to the hiring manager that you first chat
online it's gonna be so comfortable and super convenient to just turn on your
computer get ready and make eye contact with the camera alright Explearners that's
a wrap on this video I hope that you found it helpful try them out make them
your own and go out there and explore I will see you in my next video right here
on exploring communication coaching if you haven't subscribed yet please do it
means a lot to us and that way you'll catch us in the next video Happy
Explearning !