You realise you’re actually feeling pretty calm and confident about this online interview.
15 minutes before your interview starts you sit down in front of your computer. You’ve made a big mug of coffe and set up your notes next to you on the desk which you’re planning to sneakily glance at throughout the interview.
You’re feeling all smug and confident and ready to conquer the world, only to realise your camera decided to take a holiday and - what’s that noise you can hear? - oh right, your next door neighbours have decided to tear down one of their walls.
There’s 101 ways your online interview could go to sh*&# - cameras and microphones dying on you, cats acting all cat-like and deciding to walk on your keyboard and children prancing behind you with their bums out while you’re trying to flesh out your 10-year experience as consulting manager.
My grandma once had the perfect timing of walking in my room to tell me lunch was ready while I was having my 3rd and final interview with a company. Yeah..that didn’t work out!
It’s not all a series of unfortunate events though. In fact, there’s actually a few plus sides to it, number one being you don’t even need to put proper work pants on because, well, they can only see your top part!
Taking an interview remotely means that you can do so from the comfort of your own house, in a familiar environment where you likely feel most like yourself in. And that genuine aspect of you is something your interviewers really do want to see and appreciate.
Recruiters are moving away from looking for your classic corporate know-it-alls, and more towards your next-door-developer dressed in a simple T-shirt, who is ready to talk about what they know and what they’ve done in their professional life in a simple, relaxed and honest way.
Professional achievements surely matter - you don’t want to hire a sloth to build you an app in 2 weeks - but personality, character and and a strong brain matter even more.
So next time you take an online interview do check that your gear is working, but also do check that you’re feeling comfortable and ready to just talk to another human being about what you do best and what makes you, you.
Good luck!
— Alexandra