How to do a Skype Interview: 5 Tips for Acing the Online Interview

Skype Interview Tips

As the current job market continues to open up and restaurant brands begin to grow and hire, there is still an air of caution when it comes to hiring costs.  One way some of my clients are saving both time and money in the interview process is to conduct their out of town restaurant job interviews via Skype.

Most of you know Skype as an internet based program that allows for real-time voice and video communication over your PC or laptop with a webcam.  More and more, restaurant hiring managers are conducting initial job interviews over the free service rather than flying a candidate in to meet in person until further into the interview process.  This saves both time and travel expense until a more certain match is determined.

For some candidates interviewing for a leadership position in restaurants, interviewing via Skype is simple and less stressful than a face to face interview, but only if you prepare in advance.

Here are some tips for preparing for a Skype interview:

First, remember that this is an interview - Prepare just as you would for a face-to-face interview.  Research the restaurant concept thoroughly.  Know your resume well and have a copy in front of you.  Read and understand the job description of the position you’re interviewing for.  Prepare your answers to the most common restaurant interview questions. Have your questions for the interviewer written down as well.  You can read more interview preparation tips for restaurant interviews here.

Interview in a professional environment - Make sure the background in your home or office is clean and professional.  You want to create the right impression about yourself, which means you don’t want the interviewer to be staring at the piles on laundry hanging on your StairMaster while you describe your proactive organizational skills and how one of your joys in life includes physical fitness.

Dress in a professional manner - You should dress as you would if you were interviewing in person. This means both the top and bottom half should be properly dressed.  Don’t just wear a business top while sporting your comfy sleep pants and Sponge Bob slippers.  It won’t feel right to you and heaven forbid you should have to stand up at any point during the interview!  Read more on funny interview Faux Pas here.

IT Checklist and Troubleshooting – Well before the interview test all your equipment. Turn on your computer and verify that your Internet connection is working and the Skype program is running as it should.  Turn off any scans that may be scheduled so your PC or laptop doesn’t lag.  No IM, chat or Twitter either!  Test your web cam, speakers, and microphone as well.

Eliminate Distractions - Any outside noise will distract you from your interview so eliminate all that you can.  Turn your cell phone off as well as the TV and radio.  Close your windows so the neighbor’s yippy little “purse dog” doesn’t interrupt you.  And put your own pets in a different room. Make sure your family knows when you’ll be interviewing so they won’t enter the room to tell you the toilet’s backed up.  Avoid distracting the interviewer by minimizing your movements.  The images on Skype can be a bit jumpy. 

Let me know what other Skype interviewing tips you have by leaving a comment below.



Comments

[bill fischer]

Although, we're still not seeing much in the way of video interviews, our market research indicates that hiring managers are very interested and see that it could be a real time saver. We incorporated Skype into a basic ATS on our http://twitjobsearch.com product to facilitate a single-click request to be interviewed by job seekers. You can read more about it here: http://bit.ly/cxPLX3 or here: http://blog.twitjobsearch.com/home/2010/5/19/skype-me-twitjobsearch-integrates-video-interviewing-with-sk.html

Cheers,
bill
@williamfischer

[Skype Voip Phone]

I see more and more articles stating that hiring managers are looking to Skype for virtual interviews. I find this information very interesting and I'm looking forward to interviewing someone currently using this process.

Jason Dandridge
VOIP Life

[Sandeep Ghael]

Great post! Have you considered using a web based application like ActiveInterview to streamline the video interviewing process? With Active Interview, you can actually share and collaborate on the hiring/selection process since the videos are archived and re-playable. That's a major advantage to the real-time only Skype.

Sandeep Ghael
ActiveInterview.com

[HeadHunterBrian]

Sandeep - I'll take a look. Thanks for the heads up.

[Jones]

Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. I like the cartoon most.