Online Video Interview Tips For Management Consultants

Video Interviews

Mastering video interviews is an important skill for your job search – here are some quick tips to ensure you’ll be camera ready!

1. Take a look round your environment

Dirty dishes in the sink, laundry piled high, towel hanging over the door – all seemingly innocuous parts of daily life, but they do not create the best image for an interviewer, so make sure you tidy up!. Working from home means many do not have access to an office space, but do your best to mimic it – try to interview from a table, with a neutral background/wall behind you.

2. Test the tech

Zoom, Teams, Skype, Duo – VC software is designed to be quick-starting and user friendly. However, we have all been part of a meeting where one or more participants struggle to connect. The worst time this could happen is minutes before your interview starts! Prior to the interview make sure the software you are using is up-to-date, running, and understand how it works.

Quick tip – Name Setting – if you have also used VC software socially, make sure the name you have set is appropriate!

3. Let there be light! (but in the right spot)

Lighting is a seemingly small point, but incredibly important in ensuring you bring your enthusiasm and personality across. A lot of rapport building is based around visual cues – so if your face is hard to see this puts you at a disadvantage. Most VC software doesn’t have a low light feature, and too much light behind you can drown out your image. Make sure you are in a well-lit room, and do a quick test before the interview. If you need to add a little light, place it behind the camera. A quick tip is to do a trial run of the interview at the same time as the real thing will take place, so you can see how the light affects your space at the set time of day. 

4. Eye contact

One of the more difficult things to get used to – looking at the camera! How often have you been in a meeting, and you see a participant’s eyes cast downward and seemingly disengaged? Likely they are actually engaged, but are staring at your image on the screen rather than the camera. Be aware of the camera location on your device - be conscious to address it when answering questions and look at it while listening. A small amount of eye contact can make a huge difference!

5. Practice

Record some short videos in your chosen set-up and review. Is the microphone quality high enough? Are you sitting upright and engaging the camera? Is the lighting ok? Get used to introducing yourself and answering questions into a camera. Practice makes perfect, and the importance of doing some run-throughs cannot be overstated.

Hopefully, these tips will help you in your job search! For more advice from Ascent Professional Services, visit Career Advice. You can also submit your CV or contact us directly for support and guidance in finding your next management consulting role.