How to ‘Wow’ Your Recruiters in This Virtual World?
By YuTing Shi
As most events have moved back to in-person, many companies have decided to continue with virtual recruitment and interviewing processes. This article will provide some insights to ways to navigate this virtual world. Make a strong impression to your recruiters and get that dream offer! Feel free to adjust any of the advice to your own circumstances.
Treat It Like It’s In-Person
When we are given the option to interview in the comfort of our home, we somehow think interviews are suddenly not so professional. We start to slouch in the chair and our eyes start to wander through the room. No, No, No! Just because we are not physically in the same room as recruiter doesn’t mean we a magic pass for unprofessional behaviors. Through my conversations with many company recruiters, virtual interviews, if anything, makes it easier for them to tell if the candidate is engaged in the conversation.
But how do we do that?
Dress For Success
It is too tempting to roll out of bed, change into a nice-looking shirt and blazer, sit in front laptop thinking our PJ pants will never be seen. But somehow, our comfy pants psychologically significs our body to slouch. Dressed in an unprofessional way, even though the recruiter may never see it, provokes unprofessional behaviors during our conversation. Always remember to dress as if you are attending an in-person interview, and you do not want to walk in with sweatpants!
Conduct Company Research and Be Ready to Present
We have our browser open, scrolling through company websites as we carry on a conversation with recruiters. Thinking “they’ll never know.” On the contrary, it is a lot more obvious through virtual platforms for recruiters to distinguish who have done their prep-work, and who are catching up last minute. Recruiters have a zoomed-in view of your facial expressions. They may not be receiving signals from body language, in turn, they can focus a lot more on your eye contact and facial expressions. It is wise to have taken notes on company or recruiter background as a source of reference during the conversation, but never rely on reading off notes.
2. Secure A Professional Environment
In a conference or interview room, we are automatically in the mindset of interviews. When the process is moved to virtual platforms, it is up to us to ensure the same. An alcohol bottle in the background is not going to add impression points for you. Take ten minutes before the interview to clean up your desk and background.
Here’s what you can control:
Keep a clean desk surface to prevent any distraction during the conversation
Remove all inappropriate items from your background
Find a quite location with stable internet connection
Check lighting, sound, camara and microphone ahead of time
What if you have an extra loud roommate? What if you cannot find a nice background?
Reserve a meeting room on-campus (Mason Hall, OSU Libraries)
Use blur filter or virtual backgrounds if the platform allows
Virtual process is here to stay, some companies have even announced to permanently move work online. This article hopefully gives you some basic guidance to successfully navigate this virtual world. Let’s ‘wow’ some recruiters!