A Recruiter’s Guide to Ace Your Virtual Interview (Part 3)

Ace your virtual interview and overcome common candidate challenges! Here are what some successful Team Red Dog candidates and our leading industry recruiters say will put you ahead of the pack.

You’re asked to interview through videoconferencing, and you’re given a set time. In our three-part series, we explore the top challenges our candidates have faced and how to solve them. In today’s featured challenge we’ll look at how to prepare for potential technical issues during an interview.

Be ready for technical issues – What’s your plan?: Your internet crashes, the power goes out in your neighborhood, your kid spills coffee on your laptop five minutes before your interview, your microphone is staging a boycott, or your camera has decided to unnaturally illuminate. So… what’s your plan?

Whether there is a technical crisis on your end or for the interviewer, there are times when adaptability and resilience may be warranted. Another challenge is that candidates may not be as comfortable speaking up if it is the interviewer or hiring manager who is having audio or video issues.

A few tips:

  1. Have a second way of communicating lined up in case you get kicked off the call, whether that be an email address, phone number, or way to chat on the interview platform. Some companies like to keep hiring manager’s contact information confidential, but things happen and you will feel better prepared if you have some alternate way to reach out. Don’t forget, many video conferencing tools also have text functions so if your video/audio is acting up, you can explain that in the conferencing tool’s text app too.
  2. Do not be afraid to politely request that the interviewer repeat the question due to the technical issue at hand. Better to be honest if you didn’t hear what was said than to guess and respond incorrectly.
  3. If you’re able to, have a hotspot on your phone as a backup plan, and in some cases, it may be helpful to have a battery pack power source in case of a power irregularity. At least make sure your computer is fully charged and ready to go, just in case.

Thanks for following along with our recruiting team to hear some tips and tricks for virtual interviews. If you are ready to ace your interview, be sure to reach out to Team Red Dog about potential roles!