Asynchronous Video Interview: How can candidates stand out in a virtual interview environment

Asynchronous Video Interviews (AVIs) allow candidates to stand out from the competition, increasing your likelihood to be shortlisted and hired for the role. The competition will always be tough, but with the right tips, you can nail your AVI and land the job.

Candidates have it just as hard as employers. While the 2022 Hiring and Employment Trends survey says 95% of employers say it’s difficult to find skilled professionals to hire, job candidates are still struggling to get their resumes in front of the right people. Part of the difficulty is that great hires have trouble standing out and showcasing the whole of their potential through only a resume. Even writing a cover letter won’t be enough evidence of your personality, your soft skills, or your enthusiasm. But nailing the Asynchronous Video Interview (AVI) with these tips can help you get to the technical interview faster.

1. Check your lighting setup

Same as on every movie set, during video interviews the lighting is essential, so set yourself up properly. Make sure that your room is well-lit, but beware of the angles. As much as the overhead light head is suitable for dramatic portraits, it’s not suitable for a job interview. Putting your light source in front of your face gives you a more professional setting for your interview. Remember that everything will show on the camera, so ensure your background is clean with no distractions.

Keep in mind that laptop cameras are mainly inferior to mobile cameras, so using your mobile phone for the interview could be a good option. You can use a tripod or a stable, non-moving space in your apartment. For example, creating a holder for the phone using books is a simple option if you don’t have professional equipment.

2. Focus and keep still

When talking to a camera, it might be easy to drift off and lose focus. Don’t let yourself get caught off-guard making comments, doing facial expressions, or fidgeting. AI-based hiring platforms often rely on facial and body mapping. That means each crucial point of your body, such as your mouth or eyes is chalked up to one dot that the AI algorithm follows. Naturally then, the more movements you make the harder it is for AI to interpret your gestures.

Keeping enough distance between you and the camera, showing your hand gestures and body language, will make the video more clear and transparent; otherwise, you might appear unprofessional. Moreover, taking care of your non-verbal cues such as posture, body language, and tone of voice while recording might make the difference.

SEE: Hiring Kit: Cloud Engineer (TechRepublic Premium)

3. Test your audio and video

Imagine you just performed the best interview you ever did and then you realize your microphone isn’t working, what a shame right? Test your audio and video within the software. Most AVI platforms offer a way to test your video and audio before the interview starts. Use the opportunity to double-check your settings.

4. Practice confidence

It makes sense that you feel the butterflies in your stomach before facing an interview: You want to present the best version of yourself. Start by building up your self-confidence. When you trust yourself, you build a bridge between your knowledge, experience, and personal background to the external world. But how does this translate through an AI-driven interview system that runs on machine learning binary language?

AI-based hiring platforms can measure your performance based on phrase classification, ascribing weight to each term you use. When describing your skillset, your final percentage could vary depending on how you start the sentence. For example “I doubt that…” or “I believe so…” may give you a lower score than “I’m certain that…”, which sounds more confident and powerful.

Although this classification might appear overly simplistic, as you could “be sure” of something you’re in fact wrong about, or say “I don’t know, but I believe that…” and be entirely right, the scale is not focused on measuring how truthful you are – that’s the job of a different algorithm. Practice how you express yourself before the interview, to give you more confidence in the form of your answers.

SEE: Artificial Intelligence Ethics Policy (TechRepublic Premium)

5. Prepare for authenticity

It’s vital to research the company and have a thorough understanding of what the job demands. Keep in mind that although you apply for many positions, you can come across repetitive questions. After evaluating over 100,000 candidate responses during the pandemic, according to our internal data, these three are the top 3 questions employers ask:

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why are you a good fit for this position?
• Do you know about the job profile? If yes, can you tell us a bit about the job demands?

Don’t try to memorize or have scripted answers — this might raise red flags and highlight integrity issues. Most software can also catch if you try to read from a screen or lip-sync while asking your friend to answer the questions for you. What’s more, don’t try to talk too much for each answer. You will appear rushed, and most AVIs have a time limit, so focus on essential points you want to mention.

Follow up and improve your performance

To improve your performance on AVI, you could request a copy of your video interview responses and the AI Score later on. It will allow you to check your score on different parameters and review your mistakes.

Sunny Saurabh – CEO & Co-Founder of Interviewer.AI has gathered over a decade of experience in some of the most prominent Silicon Valley companies, such as Google, MySpace, and LinkedIn. As a second-time founder, Sunny guides it towards increased efficiency and optimization of recruitment pathways – from ideation, product vision, and sales strategies to hiring itself.