Acing a Virtual Interview — Just A Coder Thing

Apr 24

Apr 24 Acing a Virtual Interview

Things are crazy right now to say the least. People are working from home, schooling from home, exercising from home, and also interviewing from home. Virtual interviews aren’t new, but they’re definitely being used more than ever right now. Unfortunately, I know from my LinkedIn feed that lots of people have been laid off, had internships cancelled, and are job hunting. This means you’ll have to do a virtual interview if you haven’t already done one as part of the hiring process with a company.

I’ve done quite a few phone and Skype/Zoom interviews and recently I interviewed for a new team via Zoom (more on this to come!). I’ve learned a thing or two about virtual interviews that I thought I would share with all of you who might be going through this right now.

I’ll come right out and say it - the same way that getting on a Zoom call with all of your friends can be awkward with people interrupting each other, background noise, even children coming into the room, a Zoom interview is no different and it can be awkward! Don’t worry too much about this though since we are under very extenuating circumstances there shouldn’t be judgment for factors like this that are out of your control. Here are a few tips that will help you stand out as a master virtual interviewer.

Related | Acing the Technical Interview

Before the Interview:

Get a good pair of headphones/earbuds that have a mic. This will allow you to have your hands free to take notes (and code if you’re doing a technical interview) and will eliminate the chance of there being unwanted feedback from playing the other person out-loud on speaker. We’ve all been in those calls with shrill ringing feedback so it’s best to avoid it.

For a video interview a good thing to do is to put a sticker or a picture of a person next to your webcam. It’ll give you something to look at so you’ll be looking at the camera when speaking with your interviewer. If you stare at their face on your screen (which is a few inches below your webcam) it will seem like you’re looking down the whole time to your interviewer. I also like to elevate my laptop so it’s almost at eye-level and makes it easier to look at my webcam. Books, pillows, or boxes all work to prop up your laptop on your table, just make sure it’s not a Jenga setup that will come crashing down during your interview.

Before the interview, call up your grandparents, parents, or best friend and do some sleuthing for where in your house you have the best phone reception/Wi-Fi connection. For phone interviews, I wouldn’t recommend the basement (unless you have killer reception there for some reason) and preferably a space where you can close the door so there’s less chance of being interrupted. Make sure you can hear/see the other person clearly and that they can hear/see you - this is a great time to test out your hands-free headset from above and make sure everything works as expected.

Lighting and background are important too! Backlit setups will result in your silhouette being the only thing visible to your interviewer. My pro-tip is to find a space where your back can be against a wall or other neutral background and you’re facing windows or other natural light this way you won’t have to worry about people walking behind you during the interview so you can stay focused and your face will be clearly visible without shadows. If you don’t have a spot like this in your house, don’t worry you can easily create one with a ring light! I thought these were just for YouTubers, but when I got one for my GHC workshop presentation I fell in love! No matter what time of day it is or what direction you’re facing you can get even lighting and control the color of the light as well! I recommend this one that comes with a tripod so you can set it up on your kitchen counter, desk, or wherever you plan to interview from.

During the Interview:

Be sure to close out all tabs and applications except for the ones you’ll need for your interview. It’s a good idea because those auto-play ads could definitely be a distraction if you’re scrambling to find which of a hundred tabs it could be coming from!

One of the benefits of a virtual interview is that you can have a cheat sheet handy! I like to have a copy of my resume printed and in front of me, with the most relevant experience to the role highlighted so I don’t forget to bring it up. This is an advantage of being virtual, so use it! I also make sure to do my research on the company and write down any questions I want to ask at the end of the interview. Be sure to leave some extra room to take notes on the responses!

A phone interview is especially tricky because you can’t see the person at the other end of the line at all. It makes it really hard to judge when they will start talking and could lead to you both talking at the same time. If this happens, I find it best to say “Sorry about that, go ahead” and that way whomever is interviewing you can talk without another long pause where you both aren’t sure of who should say something and then talk over each other again.

If you’re about to have a Skype/Zoom interview, be sure to minimize the little video preview of yourself. It’ll draw your eye away from the camera/the photo you stuck up there and probably distract you. Instead, just keep smiling at the mini picture of Ryan Reynolds or whoever else you stick up there and rock your interview!

Some things to keep in mind of some DON’Ts for during your interview are:

DON’T be late. Give yourself extra time to login, make sure your Bluetooth headset is connected, and to take a deep breath.

DON’T take notes on your laptop unless you’re coding as part of a technical interview. It’s good to have a physical pen/paper handy to make any notes so that your key clicking won’t distract

DON’T check your phone. Same as an in-person interview. Just because they can’t see your hands doesn’t mean you won’t get caught.

DON’T forget to send a thank-you note. Especially in these circumstances, be sure you send your interviewer(s) a short and sweet thank-you email.

Interviewing virtually given the current circumstances is stressful for sure. Having completed almost 11 virtual interviews a few weeks ago, I learned that if you take a few extra minutes to prepare and are confident in your setup then there’s no reason to stress. That way you can focus on emphasizing your strengths, skills, and background to land your job offer!

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