Top tips for how to ace a pre-recorded interview

Vir­tu­al job inter­views are a great way of assess­ing can­di­dates remote­ly, but they can be a chal­lenge. Not only is it strange to switch to “pro­fes­sion­al mode” while in your own home, inter­view­ing lots of poten­tial employ­ees via Skype or can take a long time. 

With pre-record­ed inter­views, can­di­dates are nor­mal­ly giv­en a set of inter­view ques­tions and asked to record them­selves answer­ing these ques­tions. In some cas­es, you may be asked to fill in your answers online with­in a cer­tain time­frame — or be timed as you answer the ques­tions.

RBW Con­sult­ing, a glob­al com­pa­ny. “Can­di­dates should use this oppor­tu­ni­ty to give more com­pre­hen­sive overviews of their skills and suit­abil­i­ty than a typ­i­cal inter­view.”” data-reactid=“34”>“A pre-record­ed inter­view means advance knowl­edge of what you’ll be asked which means time to plan and per­haps re-record your answers,” says Richard War­ren, CEO of RBW Con­sult­ing, a glob­al recruit­ment com­pa­ny. “Can­di­dates should use this oppor­tu­ni­ty to give more com­pre­hen­sive overviews of their skills and suit­abil­i­ty than a typ­i­cal inter­view.”

So how can you this kind of ?

Imag­ine you are hav­ing a live con­ver­sa­tion

First­ly, the pre-record­ed for­mat can feel unnat­ur­al to some peo­ple. It can help to imag­ine that you are hav­ing a live con­ver­sa­tion, to avoid com­ing across as robot­ic.

READ MORE: Should we be tak­ing micro­breaks to get us through the day?

You want to try and be as nat­ur­al as pos­si­ble, so glanc­ing at bul­let points instead of read­ing from a script can be help­ful.

Know your audi­ence

If you can, War­ren advis­es ask­ing your recruiter or hir­ing man­ag­er to clar­i­fy a few points of time to find out what is dri­ving the hire. “Is it due to the team expand­ing? ques­tions to ask could include who will review your video, where they sit in the organ­i­sa­tion rel­a­tive to your desired posi­tion and what might each be look­ing for,” he says.

“Com­bin­ing these insights with your nor­mal back­ground research — com­pa­ny data, sec­tor news, indus­try out­look, and so on — and can­di­dates will a great chance of hit­ting the nail on the head.”

Plan your inter­view

As with all inter­views, prepa­ra­tion is key. Your prepa­ra­tion for the inter­view will be espe­cial­ly use­ful, espe­cial­ly if it is timed — so make sure you have your answers at the ready.

“A prospec­tive employ­er wants to see evi­dence that you under­stand the , the sec­tor and the chal­lenges,” War­ren says.

“It is impor­tant to bring in evi­dence of that under­stand­ing into your answers with log­i­cal, salient points which fit the ques­tion. Have the job descrip­tion to hand with key­words and phras­es high­light­ed along­side a list of the points you want to get across which seem most impor­tant.”

Don’t rush

It’s tempt­ing to push through all the ques­tions to get the inter­view over and done with, par­tic­u­lar­ly if you are ner­vous. You might also rush through your answers if you are being timed, but this can back­fire.

READ MORE: How to com­mu­ni­cate effec­tive­ly when video con­fer­enc­ing

Remem­ber to breathe before you start answer­ing any ques­tions and think about how you want to come across to an inter­view­er.

“Read the ques­tions,” War­ren advis­es. “What are they real­ly ask­ing? What do you imag­ine they’re look­ing for in an answer, and what does it tell you about their pri­or­i­ties in this hire? Take note of the key­words in the ques­tions.”

Get com­fort­able with your suc­cess

It can feel a lit­tle awk­ward to brag about your achieve­ments in a job inter­view, but it is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to show a poten­tial employ­er what you have accom­plished and what you are capa­ble of.

“There’s a of dif­fer­ence between, ‘We worked on’ or ‘My team did’ and ‘I deliv­ered’. It can be nat­ur­al to be self-effac­ing, but a pre-record­ed answer gives you a per­fect chance to own your suc­cess­es.

Get com­fort­able talk­ing about ‘I’, and prac­tice before you start record­ing.

READ MORE: How to stop feel­ing awk­ward and self-con­scious on Zoom

Be your­self

“Inter­view prep clichés all apply, but what espe­cial­ly stands out in this for­mat is authen­tic­i­ty,” War­ren says.

“The aim is to show your most gen­uine self in your answers and deliv­ery. The peo­ple watch­ing your video are look­ing for a col­league they want to work with, be your­self and you’ll land the right job for you.”

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