Last year I did my first video interview. I used the Hireview video interview software, which is cool because I know the founders, and they are a local company. The irony? I was interviewing for a job at Hireview! I was using their own software to hire for a job to be on their team.
When I went in for the panel interview (to be followed by an interview with the VP of Product) one of the interviewees (I was in a room full of product managers) said something like:
“Jason, you were the only one who talked to Ricky by name.”
It was the thing that made me stand out. I was the only one who did it. Nice job Jason!
Video interviews are not as personal as a face-to-face in-the-same-room interview. It is weird to talk into a camera/mic and get no reaction… the first time you do it you’ll feel weird! It doesn’t help that you get a question and then you have a certain amount of seconds to answer your question, and if you go over you have messed up. Yes, you get to do it again but after the third or fourth time answering (and trying to cram the right answer into a few seconds!) you are mentally taxed.
It’s a crazy experience.
I researched the job and the company, and found out who the hiring manager was: Ricky. It was actually Ricky who presented the questions (in video, of course). So, in my responses I would say “Well, Ricky,…” or “That’s a good question, Ricky….”
Every answer I gave was addressed to Ricky.
The cool thing was that took the impersonal out of my video interview.
And it made me memorable.
What are YOU doing to make yourself memorable?