How to do a video interview in a pandemic
Hey, everybody, Don Georgevich here with Job Interview Tools. And in this video, I’m going to show you how to conduct yourself in a job interview; whether it’s over Skype or zoom or HireVu. And then I’m going to show you how to conduct yourself in an in-person interview, if you have to wear a mask like this.
Because in this current pandemic with COVID-19, interviewing is just causing job seekers all kinds of problems because they’re not used to interviewing on camera, they’re not used to interviewing with a mask on and it’s really making a big impact on people and it’s just making their life so much more difficult because there’s all these extra hurdles that they have to get through to get the job. So, I’m going to show you how to knock all those down.
Now, I’ll tell you this; a lot of the videos that I’ve seen on YouTube about interviewing over Skype and in Zoom, they say, “Make sure you have a nice background, make sure you have audio, lighting, make sure you look nice.” To me, all that stuff’s common sense.
Video interview communication style
What we are going to dive into is communication style. Now, have you ever heard of the rule of 7, 38, 55. And you’re probably like, “Don, 7, 38, 55. What are you talking about? No, it just sounds like a bunch of numbers to me.”
Well I’ll tell you this; smart guy, long time ago (I’m not sure who it is) came up with this rule of communication style and it’s the rule of 7, 38, 55.
And what it really means is he’s done scientific research into communicating and he found that 7 percent of our spoken words convey our meaning; our communication to someone else. Only seven percent of the words we say.
38 percent of our vocal tones convey our message. So, our vocal tones are weighted so much heavier than just the words we say and how we enunciate those words.
Now, the 55 is body language and facial expressions. So, 55 percent of your communication style is what’s on your face, what you’re doing with your body, what you’re doing with your hands.
So, if you think about it; 38 and 55 is a lot more than just 7 percent. So, what I’m trying to say is if you go into a job interview and you’re on a Skype interview, they can only see you from here to here and that’s about it. And most of what you feel you have to say are just words. And so, when they ask you a question, you be like, “Well, so let me tell you, sir. My last job, I was the manager and I managed a team of people and we created these blue widgets.”
Now, if you listen to that, all you’re hearing are my words. So, that means only 7 percent of my message – of my management ability – is being communicated to you. And what that really means to the interviewer is they’re not getting the full message.
So, that’s why when you’re on camera, if you just sound like this and you talk like this and you don’t move a muscle in your body, that’s what the interviewer is going to see and they’re not going to see the real value that you can bring.
So, what you want to do is change your voice inflection. You want to talk up, you want to talk down, you want to express yourself more vocally.
And this might take practice for you because you’re looking at a camera. And it kind of makes it hard to get personal and enthusiastic with a camera, but it takes practice.
So, knowing this, you might want to get in front of a camera and do a little bit of practicing with yourself when nobody else is around and they can’t see what you’re doing and get used to talking to that little teeny tiny lens as if there’s a real person on the other end. Well, there is a real person on the other end. But that’s the key to selling yourself in a job interview over Skype is expressing yourself vocally because that’s what they can hear.
Now, remember, there’s still the 55; they can still see you from head to toe. So, that’s the biggest part. So, if you notice when I’m talking to you now, I’m using my hands. You can see my face moving. You can see my head moving. It’s not like I’m just sitting here telling you what to do during a job interview, because you would turn me off by now (and maybe you already turn me off; I don’t know). But you’re selling yourself in a job interview.
So, use your hands; let them see your hands moving. Let them see your head moving. Let them see your face moving. And wrap that in with all of your vocal tones and inflect your voice inflections. Go up on your voice, go down on your voice, raise your voice, talk softer. Maybe you can even ease into the camera a little bit if you want to talk.
I mean, talking softly doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re dull and boring. If you lower your voice and you talk softly, but you’re looking at them right in the camera and your face is communicating to them, they’re still going to feel the rule of 7, 38 and 55. They’re going to feel your soft voice when you use it in the right way that’s directed at them. They’re going to pay attention to you.
Now, if I just use a soft voice like this, everything is lost. But when I use a soft, like voice like this and I’m looking at you and I’m talking and I’m using my hands and I’m straining my voice and I’m compressing it, so it enunciates my words, it’s a whole different experience.
So, you want to layer in everything you’re doing. So, you want to layer in that body language. Let them see. Let them see what they can see. Let them see your head moving. Let them see your face moving. Let them see you enunciating words. Let them see your hands.
Now, make sure that you know what you’re saying sounds good, too. I mean, just because what you say is only 7 percent doesn’t mean there isn’t any value in your words; you just want to enhance your words with vocal tones and body language. That’s really the key to interviewing and selling yourself on camera.
Now, what’s going to happen is at the end of your video interview, you’re going to have to close that interview. And that’s where — You just don’t want to say, “Well, okay, it was nice meeting you. Goodbye.” You want to close your interview that you have over Skype or Zoom in a way that you are setting up the next steps.
So, you might want to ask them, “What are the next steps in the process?” “When do you plan to have your interviews finished” or “When do you plan to start having in-person interviews?” Ask them these questions. Now, obviously, if they’ve already answered those indirectly, then don’t ask those again.
How to close a video interview over Skype
Another question that I love to ask at the end of a job interview is, I’d like to start off and say, “You know what? I really like everything you guys are talking about this interview and this position and where it’s going. If we were to come to an agreement down the road where I came to work for you, how do you see me fitting in around here? What do you see the first six months looking like?”
Now, what this does is this cause them to visualize you working in the position. And they’re going to think, “Hmm. Well, let’s see. If we had Don working here, we can see him doing this and that and starting this project.”
Now, that’s what you want to hear. You want them to visualize you working there and you want them to verbally tell you how they see you fitting in.
Now, they could also come back and say, “Well, I don’t know.” Now, that’s the kiss of death. If they come back and say, “Well, we really can’t see you fitting in around here”, then that’s your opportunity to keep selling yourself, because so far they don’t see you in the position and if they don’t see you in the position, they’re not going to offer you the position.
So, you want to get back on your high horse and you want to keep selling yourself. Maybe ask them, “Why don’t you see me fitting in around here?” or “What about my background and experience doesn’t seem like a fit for you?”
Challenge them. Bring this back into the conversation so that you can address their objections and concerns while you still have them on Skype and while you’re still talking to them.
Otherwise, I mean, most people what they do is say, “Well, okay. Thanks for interviewing me today” and then they end it and then they wonder why. They wonder why they never hear back from that employer again. Then they’ll go, “Well, I don’t know. I guess they didn’t like me.”
I strongly suggest that you find out right then and there what they like or what they don’t like about you and if they can visualize you moving into the next steps.
Now, the next steps are going to be an in-person interview. More than likely, maybe you’d have another Skype interview, but eventually you’re going to have to go to the in-person interview. And that’s the tough one, because I just had a client, right in. He’s like, “Don, I got the in-person interview, but I have to wear this mask like this. And how am I supposed to sell myself with a mask on?”
And that got me thinking. It’s like, how do you sell yourself with the mask on when they can’t see your face anymore? It’s like they can just see your eyes.
So, that’s something new to everybody across the world. How do you conduct yourself in an interview while you’re wearing a mask?
But you know what? It’s simple. I already told you; it goes back to the rule of 7, 38, 55. So, if I’m wearing a mask, like this and I’m trying to sell myself in a job interview, there’s not a lot I can do to express myself with this mask on. But you know what? There is. And what you can do; you still have vocal tones.
Now, you might have to emphasize your vocal tones a little bit more to get that voice out through your mask, but that’s really the key. They can still see your eyes, they can still see your head moving and they can still see your hands and they can still see your body language.
Now, if you’re wearing a mask and you just kind of slumped over like this, all they are going to hear or your words. And you know what we said about your words; they only convey 7 percent of your overall message.
So, if you’re wearing a mask and you’re talking like this, you are doomed. They are not going to be interested in you. You’re not going to be able to sell yourself. You’re not going to be able to show your full potential.
So, you get the face-to-face interview, wear that mask; no big deal. Make sure that you maintain the rule of 7, 38, 55. Beef up your vocal tones, talk stronger, enunciate your words. They’re not going to be able to see your face moving, but they’ll be able to see your eyes.
And if you’re looking directly at them while you were talking like this and emphasizing what you say, they’re going to hear you a lot more. And you get that body language pumped up, you have your shoulders back and you are exercising your body as you speak, they’re going to hear you, they’re going to see you, they’re going to feel you.
No, they’re not going to be able to see your face anymore. So, you have to overcome that. That’s something that you’re going — You’re just going to lose that. They can’t see your smiling face.
And I’m a big believer of smiling in the interview. But you know what? Even if you have a mask on and you’re smiling, people can hear a smile. You ever talked to somebody on the telephone where you can’t see them, but the way they’re talking, you can kind of hear that they’re smiling? Same thing.
So, if you’re smiling while you’re talking and you have a mask on, they’re going to be able to hear it; it sounds different. Us humans can pick up those subtleties in vocal tones that we can hear the other person is smiling.
So, if you have a mask on, smile while you’re talking. They’re going to be able to hear it. They’re going to be able to feel it. And that’s what you want them to do.
I mean, interviewing is the feeling. It really is. It’s a transfer of emotion from you to them and from them to you. They’re trying to sell you on the job. So, they’re going to try to transfer the emotion of working there into you and how that’s going to make you feel. You are transferring emotion back into them by what you say and how you say it and how you make them feel.
And that’s what really makes or breaks someone in a job interview is how they make the employer feel; hands down. It’s not about the right answer. It’s not about the words that you use. It’s how you make them feel.
And the only way you can change or influence the way that they feel is through your words, your tone of voice and your body language; all three of those coming together are going to impact how they feel about you.
And that, my friend, is how you sell yourself in a job interview; whether it is face to face or it’s on a camera through the Internet. Just looking through that little teeny tiny lens.
I mean, do you ever watch TV commercial where you really felt like they were talking to you? It’s because they’ve mastered the style of communicating through a camera to a big audience.
You have to do the same thing. You’re just not going to a big audience. You’re just going one to one or maybe one to three people.
But the problem is most people just — They think they can’t do it because they haven’t done it before. So, get yourself a camera and you can just — I mean, literally, you can use your phone.
I do coaching calls with people all over the world and half the time, they are just using their iPhones to have a Skype interview with me. I can’t tell. I feel like they are right there because that the camera is so close to their face and I feel like they’re just sitting across the desk from me.
And that’s really how you want your Skype or your Zoom interview to be. You want to feel like that person is just a couple of feet away from you. And you can do that by engaging them in the interview, getting close, making them feel like you are there. That’s half the battle.
So, you got it? Rule of 7, 38 55? If you get the Zoom interview, make sure that you fully express yourself; communication style, vocal tones, body language through the camera, just like I’m doing with you here.
I mean, hopefully you’re still here watching me and hopefully I’ve been engaging you and pulling you in. But that’s what you need to do to the interviewer. Just practice.
Now, when you get that face-to-face interview and you’ve got to put that mask on, make sure you exercise full communication style, full body language; hands, facial expressions. Remember, even though they can’t see your facial expressions, they can hear them in vocal tones. And 38 percent of your message. Makes sense?
Now, that’s all I have for you on interviewing. But they’re going to ask you questions, right? They’re going to ask you, “Tell me about yourself.” “Why do you want to work here?” “Why do you want this job?” “What are your weaknesses?” I got you covered.
Because you were here today, I’m going to give you, absolutely for free, my Top 10 Job Interview Questions and Answers. This little guide that you can download from jobinterviewtools.com/top10 covers the top 10 questions. It tells you what to say, it tells you what not to say.
And it’s going to give you some sample answers about how to answer, “Tell me about yourself.” It’s going to give you sample answers for “Why do you want to work here?” And through conditioning yourself by reading this little guide, these 10 questions, they’re going to help you get prepared for all of the other questions that are coming your way.
Now, if you want more questions, I have more questions. Just head on over to jobinterviewetools.com. You can download over 140 different questions and answers; behavioral questions, audio questions, video questions. I’ve got everything.
But to get you started, just grab the Top 10 guide. It’s got the most common questions in it, and it’s going to give you a feel for my style of what I think works best in a job interview.
I mean, after all, I used to interview candidates, too. And I know what works. I know what employers are looking for and that’s what you’re going to get in the top 10 questions guide. It’s going to show you exactly what employers want to hear.
Now, these work. These work; whether you are interviewing over Skype, whether you have an in-person interview, whether it’s just a phone interview.
And I didn’t even mention phone interviews during this video. But phone interviews are the same thing as to whether you’re having a Skype interview or an in-person interview.
A phone interview is just totally auditory. But you know what? It doesn’t mean that you can talk like this in a phone interview. You still need to enunciate your words. You still want to implement full communication style. You still want to emphasize your words. You want to have vocal tones and inflections and you still want to use body language.
I mean, interviewers can hear you smile. Interviewers can hear when you’re talking with your hands. It really just emphasizes and enhances everything that you say.
So, everything that we’ve talked about totally works for phone interviews and the top 10 questions guide totally works for phone interviews, in-person interviews, Skype interviews. You name it.; it does them all.
So, that is all I have for you today, my friend. Good luck on your next interview. I know it is difficult interviewing during a pandemic. COVID-19 is making everybody’s lives so much more difficult, so much more miserable.
But you know what? If you practice what I taught you today, that is going to give you the edge over everybody else who’s not watching this video. And it’s going to give you the edge in the interview and it’s going to help you go farther.
Are you going to get the interview or are you going to get the job after the interview? Maybe, maybe not; I can’t tell you whether you’re going to get it or not. But practicing these techniques is going to prepare you better for that interview, so that you do look like the superstar that you are and that that company wants to hire.
All right my friend, best of luck to you on your next interview. I will see you in the next video. Bye now.
