Digital Video Interviews - Tips for Success

Many airlines are now using digital video interviews to screen cabin crew wannabes for possible employment with their airline.  In the past 12 months, we have prepared applicants for cabin crew video interviews with Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines. Both these airlines have the video interview before you are invited for the assessment day.  Both companies use HireVue video interview technology.  Soon, Emirates Airline will also be taking this journey and will be using HireVue technology for the first stages of their cabin crew recruitment. 

The beauty about video interviewing is there is overall consistency as candidates are asked a similar set of questions.  The advantages for the airline recruiters are they will have the opportunity to replay, review and rate the interviews online, so a full recruitment panel can score your performance without the interviewer having to remember who said what or review their notes.  Yes, a score is given for each candidate by the recruitment panel and the overall score will then determine success or failure. For the candidate, this reduces bias and the overall outcome is much fairer.  

Video interviewing also saves time and expenses, reduced travel costs, hotel expenses and management time involved in open days around the world.

Let's focus on you next.  Can you ace the video interview?  Of course you can if you prepare well.  Prepare as though you will be attending a face to face interview with the recruiter.  Understand the job requirements well, and talk about your achievements in your current job that would meet those requirements.  You must always give a strong example to each question asked.  You are given thirty seconds to plan your answer, so use this time to plan the strategy to your answer.  You then have three minutes to record your answer.  Aim to have enough subject matter to use at least two minutes of the time allocated.  Using less than this time may work to your detriment as you are just not selling yourself sufficiently.  Imagine, if you were a sales person presenting a new product, would you answer a client question in less than a minute when you are there to convince the buyer on buying.  In a cabin crew interview, never forget, you are the product they are buying!  

Have any of you watch the British 'Dragon Den' series where a relatively new inventor or young business person comes on stage, has three minutes to sell their business idea to a panel of 'dragons' who are financiers?  If successful, these dragons will invest £250,000 in your business, help you grow the business and make it big for you.  Of course in return for a stake in your business!   You will find these young entrepreneurs come well prepared in their presentation and they all use 3 minutes of the time allocated to sell themselves.  Well, the digital video interview bears similar resemblance in this respect.  You are now given three minutes per question to convince the panel of recruiters why they should hire you and not your competitor!  In all recruitment, there is a quota in numbers they hire.  You have to stand out against the competition to achieve your dreams.

Other tips on Digital Video Interview:  

1.  Always use a laptop, PC or Mac.  Do not use an iPhone or cameraphone to do the interview.
2.  Follow the instructions given by HireVue.
3.  Dress in full professional interview attire, just like how you would for an in-person interview.
4.  Practise - Use the practise session on their software to rehearse as many as five times before going live.  You can also practise in front of a mirror.  
5.  Have clean surroundings and nice daylight lighting.  Do not have clutter on your desk or in the background.  It just does not create a good impression.  Test record yourself through your webcam to see whether the video is grainy and noisy due to poor light.
6.  Always look at the camera, not down at the desk or table.  Make eye contact and do not focus your eyes on the little image of yourself.  
7.  During the 30 seconds preparation, jot down 3 points so you know what to say.
8.  Remember to have your camera at eye level (not above or below).  A poorly placed camera can show up double chins and awful unflattering shadows.  This distracts the panel from giving you a good score at the interview.
9.  Finally, remember that your video recording is viewed by a panel of recruiters, not by a machine or software!  
10.  Make sure you are in a quiet space as your microphone will pick up any background noise.  Do not do it with friends or your family around.  Treat this as a one-on-one professional meeting interview.  
11.  When answering any questions asked, always relate to an experience that demonstrates how you can perform the job well.  So please use most of the time allocated to you.  Avoid repetition of your points and ensure you stay in point on the question asked.  Of course, never sell yourself short!  
12.  Visualise that you are making eye contact with a full recruitment panel so you know the audience that your answers are directed to.  This in turn will ensure you remain professional and not feeling weird speaking to your own webcam.  You are not making a Vlog, you are being interviewed for your dream job!  Finally, I must say body language plays such an important role in this video interview.  Aside from being professional, it is important to show you are friendly, warm and approachable too!  

If you have done all of those, there is a strong chance you will be invited for the assessment day.

Finally, if you need further help, mentoring or coaching, please contact us.

Essential tips for video interview:

1. Plan in advance
2. Go through the points above.
3. Dress professionally and have a plain background and good lighting.