On the twenty-second entry of The Link Up with Latesha, our incredible host Latesha Byrd, founder of Byrd Career Consulting, discusses how to approach virtual interviews. In the wake of the coronavirus companies will be moving to 100% virtual interviews, so it's imperative for any of us seeking a new job or opportunity to begin preparing for our eventual interview taking place over video. She shares what she believes to be the most challenging part of being interviewed virtually and offers a handful of effective tips to help ensure that the interview goes great. If you are in the process of searching for a job some changes likely will be taking place, so make sure to utilize her advice!




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TRANSCRIPT

Latesha: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Link Up with Latesha. Super excited to be chatting with you all today. I think that we can all agree that 2020 has not been our year, [laughs] and due to, you know, the thing that everyone, literally everyone, is talking about right now, which is the coronavirus. Yes, this thing that is canceling schools, keeping people at home not being able to go into the office and working remote and, you know, some folks potentially are losing their jobs, and it's just pure craziness right now. As your career coach, hopefully favorite career coach, [laughs] I am doing a ton of research around how this virus will impact recruiting, hiring, interviewing trends so that you all can be as prepared as possible. For those of you who are looking for, you know, opportunities, I know there's a lot going on. I want you all to first take care of yourselves and your health, take care of your families, your loved ones, you know? Your elders. But if you are in the process of searching for a job, some changes likely will be taking place. I want you all to connect with me on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter, Latesha_Byrd, where I will be just continuing to do research around how this will impact hiring trends and decisions over the, you know, next few weeks, so stay tuned for that, but today I wanted to talk about something that I absolutely know will completely change due to coronavirus. This episode is for those job seekers, those of you who are actively applying and seeking employment and networking and interviewing, I want you all to listen to this episode, because companies are going to be moving to 100% virtual interviews. I don't know how long, right? I think we all are a little bit unsure. There's a lot of uncertainty around, you know, how long this will last, how long this will take to get under control but one thing is for sure - if these companies are making everyone work from home now, I guarantee you you will not be going into an office to interview because no one will be there. [laughs] So today, on this episode, I wanted to talk about video interviews. Video interviews. This is what companies will be doing, whether it is through Zoom or through Skype or through Google Hangouts. Companies will be moving to video interviews, because I don't really--it depends on the industry, right, and I don't want to speak on this too soon. I am not sure exactly which industries will slow down on their hiring. I do know that likely retail, tourism, event planning, you know, the event industry in general, transportation, you know, those industries will slow down. In terms of these tech organizations, I'm not too entirely sure just yet, but if you are still applying, I don't want you to let go. I don't want you to give up, right? I don't want you to give in, because we don't know when this will turn around and how long this will last, so still, keep applying, keep interviewing, but if you have not ever done a video interview before, this is going to take a different level of preparation, okay? So I have some tips that I wanted to share with you all today, and before I share those tips, I do have a special announcement. If you are going to be working from home and you're gonna be on your computer, understand that--well, I'm sure all of us will be on our computer, right, but if you are seeking employment and maybe one--a couple methods of your networking was attending networking events, attending conferences, we all know that all of the conferences that we're going on over the next few weeks have been canceled or postponed. LinkedIn, LinkedIn is a great platform and a great avenue for you to continue to build your network, to find people who can become referrals, and if you've listened to prior episodes, you know that I am a big fan of getting referrals for opportunities. You want to make sure your resume is getting in front of human eyes and not just being scanned by a computer and boop, no one ever sees it, it goes into a dark abyss. So it is important to use LinkedIn to network and for your job search. That being said, I am launching a five-day LinkedIn challenge. This is going to be starting on March 16th. March 16th. Just a couple days away, mark your calendars. [laughs] Mark your calendars, and each day--this will last from Monday to Friday. It is a five-day mini-course series that will literally break down the steps that you can take to revamp your LinkedIn. So if you don't feel 100% confident on a scale from 1-10, your confidence level with your LinkedIn profile is maybe a 4 or 5--trust me, I know. It's okay. Some people have told me theirs is at a negative or it's at zero. That's okay. I want to help you get your LinkedIn to a 10. So sign up for the challenge, LateshaByrd.com. I will also make sure we drop a link in the show notes so you can sign up. We've got about 200 folks registered so far. I definitely want to keep growing this number, because this is completely free, and I think that we all should be able to really be confident in our LinkedIn profiles and use that for your job search, especially as things really, really, really start to go virtual. And these may be long-lasting effects in terms of how we do business and how we network and how we job search. So get on the challenge. Enough about that. Getting back into today's episode. So the most challenging part of video interviewing is that the interviewer won't really be able to feel your energy through the camera. Video interviews are awkward. It's different from, you know, like, FaceTiming, you know, your boo, FaceTiming your parents. It's different from, you know, hopping on a video call or Skyping a friend, you know? It's much more professional. It's a little bit more conservative and uptight, and I don't want you to let that environment, you know, kind of keep you from being your authentic and your best self. So this is why I wanted to give some tips. Video interviews can be intimidating if you've never done one. So here goes. Getting back into this. Again, the interviewer might not feel your aura. They might not feel your energy in person, so you really want to give it all that you've got. So what do I mean by that? They can't feel your energy through a computer screen or through a camera, and so you definitely want to make sure that you are showing enthusiasm by smiling more. Eye contact. This is weird, right? Let me talk about eye contact. With eye contact, it is good to look at the camera. It seems weird, but you want that person on the other side to feel like, you know, that you are looking at them, they have your undivided attention. What I like to do is put the picture image of that interviewer kind of close up to where my camera is in the top center so that I can kind of switch my eye contact between looking at them and then looking at the camera so it's not weird. So you can go back and forth between that, but when I say you have to give it all that you've got, it's just that body language, that energy, showing enthusiasm, and hey, literally saying, "Hey, I am really excited about this opportunity." You guys would be surprised to hear how many companies really assess a candidate's enthusiasm or interest in the role by their body language, you know? By how they actually express things. You can be super talented, you can be super skilled, okay, you can be a great fit, but if they don't think that you're interested they may think, "Hm." That could deter them, right? And sometimes we just don't have that personality to be super bubbly and, you know, act like "Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited to interview," right? But you will want to make sure that you are just making a little bit more effort in that area, okay? Next, you definitely will need to eliminate all distractions beforehand. So no pets, finding a place in your home where you can take this interview with, you know, being able to close the door, turn off the noise. It is important to get into a highly lit area, but I'll talk about that a little later. But talk about eliminating distractions. So I'm super lucky because I have an office. I love having a home office, because there is a separation from me when I'm working and me when I'm just chilling or I want to watch TV or whatever. So I don't know if there's a place, but I would encourage you to find a place in your home where it is low distractions, where you can literally close off everything. So no pets, you know, babies, turning the TV off and the music off. Any type of distractions can throw the whole entire interview off. Now, let's say a noise does go off, right? Maybe it's your phone. You can just say, "Hey, excuse me. Sorry." Turn it off, whatever. Give it a second for the noise to calm down. Take a deep breath and go back into it. Let's say