Getting a video interview is an exciting opportunity to showcase your skills, work experience, and personality to a potential employer. But a video interview can be a different experience than a phone call or even an in-person interview, so the preparation that goes into it might require a bit of work and thought. In this article, we’re going to share 20 video interview tips to help you land your next job.
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20 Video Interview Tips to Help You Land Your Next Job
1. Test your camera and microphone before joining the call
Testing your equipment before your video interview is key. There’s nothing worse than realizing your microphone isn’t working properly in the first couple minutes of your call. It can lead to a negative first impression. Before jumping on a video interview, you can create a meeting invite with only yourself to test out the camera and microphone. You’ll also want to make sure your shot is centered well if using a web camera.
Checking out your background to ensure there’s nothing distracting or negative can also help ensure your interview goes well. If you don’t have a background or a private office, you might want to upload a simple background or create a blur of your background to prevent distractions. Another video interview tip would be to ensure that your name on the meeting invite is actually your name. There have been cases of people using profanity or nicknames when joining calls that may be off putting or offensive to a recruiter.
2. Keep a notepad and pen at your desk
During your video interview you may want to write notes down. For example, they might discuss a salary range, insights into the company, job perks, or ask a question you want to write down for further practice in other interviews. Having a pen and paper around you can allow you to take notes when they speak, recall things you talk about in the video interview, and more. It can be hard to recall all the things you've talked about and with who when you're doing three or four interviews in a single day. So having a notepad with notes about each one will be key.
3. Choose a quiet spot
Your video interview location will make a huge difference. If your atmosphere is too loud, like a coffee shop or your workplace, it can create an unsettling or jarring experience for the other person too. Pick a quiet location to do your interview virtually so you can both hear each other with ease.
4. Take a deep breath before joining
One of the video interview tips to help you stay calm during an interview is to take a deep breath a few minutes before joining the call. Often, before a big or important meeting, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. This pressure can manifest as awkwardness or desperation. This is especially if you’ve been having a bad run with interviews lately. The secret to success in a video interview is to feel relaxed and comfortable with the person you’re speaking to. And remember, if you find yourself stumbling over words, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the problem. Sometimes, the people we’re interviewing with are awkward themselves. So, don’t overthink that a bad interview means you’re the problem, sometimes you need to meet dozens of people before finding someone things flow naturally with.
5. Dress to impress
When preparing for an interview, you’ll want to dress the part. You don’t need to dress in a formal suit to look professional. You’ll actually want to dress like the culture of the company you’re applying to. If you’re interviewing at a bank, formal wear like a suit or blazer might be a good choice. However, if you’re interviewing at a tech company, something more casual may be better suited. For example, a crewneck sweater, a blouse, or a workwear dress could be a good fit for a woman to wear in an interview. Meanwhile, a man might wear a polo shirt, button up shirt, or collared shirt. Remember that only your top half will be seen on camera, so having styled hair, jewelry or other accessories should be considered in helping you look professional on camera.
6. Pay attention to your body language
In a video interview, your body language matters. If you’re slouched over, looking bored, or looking down you might come across as uninterested in this role at the company. Looking enthusiastic using gestures, smiling, and being interested in what your interviewer is saying are all important video interview tips to consider. You’ll want to mirror your interview as well. For example, if they raise a cup of coffee you might take a sip at the same time. Alternatively, if they put their hand on their face, you might do that as well. It usually happens naturally when we get along with certain people. Waving at the end of a video interview call is also a regular sign of a positive gesture to do that helps build rapport.
7. Keep a light energy
One of the tips for video interviews is to keep your energy light. Your energy in an interview will be the biggest deal breaker of whether or not you make it to the next round. If you’re excitedly talking about ideas for the product or sharing industry trends with your interviewer, your energy, passion, and enthusiasm will shine through. You’ll feel like a great person to be around, thus, making it more likely that you can pass through all the interview stages to land that job offer. When you feel confident in your skill set and you feel comfortable around your interview, the chemistry will feel natural.
8. Include all interviewers in the conversation
Sometimes, especially in later round interviews, you'll be meeting with multiple people on the same call. If you're doing a two-on-one or three-on-one interview, it's important to include all interviewers in the conversation. If you choose favorites on the call and exclude someone, they'll feel left out and won't vouch for you. Even though it's kind of awkward on a video call, making kind comments to pull in other interviewers in the conversation will ensure you fit in well with the whole team.
9. Ensure you’re in a quiet room
When doing job interviews on camera, you’ll want to choose a quiet room. Now, we know that’s not always possible when you’ve got children, a small apartment, or you’re working in a coffee shop, but it’s crucial to try to make it easy for the interviewer to hear. If your environment is too loud, the interviewer will hear that noise and it may be off-putting to them, causing them to reject you from the next interview stage. Everything about an interview is about how you feel and how the recruiter feels. And if a recruiter or interviewer is feeling tense because of background noise, that could affect your interview performance even if you’re a great fit as a candidate.
10. Practice questions in front of the camera
Turning on your camera and speaking into it is a great way to practice doing interviews. You want to see your facial expressions when talking about your experience and so on. For example, if you had a negative experience in a previous role causing you to leave a job, practice answering questions that touch on that subject, you might want to see what your body language looks like while practicing. The more practice you put in, the better prepared you’ll be to answer any questions thrown at you. Having the visual cues of what others see while answering questions is also good practice for you to find different ways of answering certain questions or using different examples altogether.
11. Write out interview answers
One of the best tips for video interviews is to write down some answers to common interview questions. You probably won’t actually use them as cheat sheets during your interview, but they can be helpful to have out in case you get stuck. Plus, writing down the answers to interview questions helps them stick in your mind a little bit stronger. Answering as many questions as possible or doing interview prep is crucial to your chances of landing that role. You can try an interview simulator or reading through lists of interview questions online practicing questions for who you are, your past experiences, culture fit, competency-based, and more.
12. Check internet connection
There’s nothing worse than your internet connection crashing at the exact moment your interview starts. By the time you’re back online, your interview has probably waited about five minutes for you to show up and now you look rushed and anxious because you were late. That can lead to a negative experience overall leading you to get rejected in the next stage. Restarting your router an hour before an interview if it’s been spotty lately or jumping on the call a couple of minutes earlier just to make sure everything works is a necessary step to making sure you have a good internet connection. Paying for reliable internet when doing interviews or applying to remote jobs can cost more but it’s worth it if it helps you earn more money in your next role.
13. Be yourself
These days, especially with how great AI has gotten, some people turn to AI for their answers to interview questions. But this can be kind of awkward and some recruiters are catching on to insincerity. When doing a video interview, you want to be yourself as naturally as possible. Don't rely on AI technology to do the heavy lifting of the interview. You're supposed to talk about what makes you a great hire and the reality is AI doesn't know you well enough to sell you like that. Your anecdotes, stories, and accomplishments are unique to you. So, share your story.
14. Show up three minutes early
Showing up to a call three minutes earlier will help ensure you give yourself time to breathe and show that you’re on time. You typically want to be on the call before your interviewer to be respectful and show your commitment. On average, your recruiter will hope on the call within five minutes of your interview start time. It can feel a bit awkward sitting alone on that call as you wait, but keeping a relaxed posture and doing subtle breathing exercises will help ensure you’re ready to take on that interview. Being on a video interview call early shows that you’re reliable, prepared, and gives you a relaxed feeling to set you up for success.
15. Don’t interrupt your interviewer
It’s possible that this will happen naturally. Yet, one of the video interview tips to try your best not to do is interrupt your interviewer. On a video call, social cues can be harder to figure out, especially when you don’t really know someone that well. However, if you find yourself speaking at the same time, pause and let the interviewer speak. In general, you want to stop speaking when the most senior person on the call is speaking. So, if it’s a recruiter or a hiring manager interviewing you on a call, you’ll want to let them speak when on a video interview call with them. Remember that interruptions on video calls do happen often, so if it happens, just correct the course of action instead of overthinking it.
16. Practice using the video chat tool before the interview
If you’re not too experienced with video interviews, playing around with a video chat tool before the interview can help ensure you know where everything is. For example, if you’ve been asked to do a presentation for your video interview, knowing where the share screen button is located is helpful so you’re not in a panicked state before the call. You also need to know how to unmute your microphone and turn on your camera so that everything is showing up nicely. Some people will use Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, and so on, so you’ll need to know which video call tool your interviewer will use and become familiar with it before you jump in on your video interview.
17. Keep a copy of your resume and job description nearby
Another important video interview tip is to keep your resume and job description handy. Recruiters often take down the job listing once they start interviews. So, if you haven’t already, you’ll want to add your job description into a tool like Huntr. Having your account open with your job description on the screen and a printed out copy of your resume will allow you to view keywords to mention in your interview. For example, if there are skills listed in the job description, you might mention those skills when talking about your experience. If you’re doing multiple video interviews in a row, it can be hard to remember who wants what. So, having that job description ready and open on your screen can allow you to personalize your interview a bit better.
18. Ask engaging questions at the end of your interview
These video interview tips are mostly about coming prepared. And your last impression with your interviewer or hiring manager will be a crucial one. Having a list of engaging questions to ask at the end of your interview that tie in questions about the product or service the company offers or is a direct tie-in to something an interviewer didn’t fully expand on will show your interest in a role. Keep in mind, if you have an opportunity to, you should dig around the website, product, and more to figure out how the product works so that your questions are not surface-level but in-depth about the next steps or vision for upcoming features and so on.
19. Tell them why you hope to be considered
On a video call interview, your facial expression shows your excitement for a role. Ending an interview by telling them why you’d like the job, what you think you bring to the table, and why you’d be a good fit within the culture are all factors that an interviewer would like to hear. If they’re on the fence about you, this could tip you over to the edge. If they’re pretty confident in you, they’ll be more likely to feel relieved that you’ll likely accept an offer when they send it. A grand finale of tying in everything you talked about and your genuine excitement at the possibility of landing a role at this company can give you a competitive edge in your video interview.
20. Recap your interview in an email
One of the earlier video interview tips we told you about was to take notes. At the end of the interview, compile your notes and write an email thanking the interviewer, recap your interview, and share why you'd be a great fit on their team. You essentially want to keep your impression after the interview as favorable as possible to give yourself the best advantage.
Need help organizing your video interviews?
If you have multiple video interviews lined up, staying organized is crucial. Using Huntr’s job search tool to keep all your resumes, cover letters, job applications, and interview schedules in the same place can help ensure you achieve success during your interviews. To keep track of all your job search and interview details, sign-up for Huntr today.
Nicole Martins Ferreira
Nicole Martins Ferreira, Senior Writer at Huntr, brings a rich background in marketing, tech, and ecommerce to craft insightful content on job search strategies and career advancement. With experience from Super Magic Taste to Shopify, she excels in creating engaging, actionable advice for job seekers.
Nicole's expertise in SEO and content marketing, honed across diverse roles, enables her to effectively guide individuals through the complexities of the job market. Her contributions at Huntr are vital, offering readers valuable tips and strategies to navigate their professional journeys successfully, making her work an invaluable resource for job seekers everywhere.