Uptree

Hi everyone! My name is Rida and I am a first year Law student at the University of Leicester, an aspiring solicitor and an Uptree Ambassador. In this blog post, I will be covering the best ways to prepare for a pre-recorded video interview.

Summary

Pre-recorded video interviews are becoming increasingly common in recent years and are used by many companies in their recruitment processes for scholarships, internships, graduate jobs and apprenticeships. Therefore, I believe it is necessary to be aware of how they work and how best to prepare for them. These are a type of interview where there is no one else on the other side of the video call.

Usually, a question will pop up on your screen, you will have a set time limit to prepare (can be between 30 seconds to a minute) and then you will have a set time to say your answer which will be recorded (between 1 and 2 minutes). Sometimes, there is an option to try again but other times you will only have one try.

Preparing Questions

One of the hardest things about any interview is how to prepare for them. One of my key tips is to make a list of questions and plan out answers for them (plan, not write a script) as it will ensure you have some examples to draw upon during your interview.

Types of questions to prepare:

1. Motivational questions – Why that company? Why you? Why that sector? What do you want to get out of this experience?
2. Competency questions – Tell me about a time where you have shown leadership skills? Teamwork skills? Resilience?
3. Personal questions – What is your proudest achievement and why? What are your strengths and weaknesses?

A great way to prepare for competency questions is to create a competency grid with different competencies on the one side and examples of them on the other.

Technology

Now, technology is one of the key elements of this interview, as you can probably tell. My main piece of advice is to check beforehand that all of your technology is working and that your WiFi speed is alright.

I do want to point out that if there does happen to be a technical issue during your interview, reach out to the recruitment team, or the point of contact you have, to let them know. They may be able to make alternative arrangements for you.

Personally, during a video interview I had to complete for a scholarship, I emailed graduate recruitment after my video interview as I felt like my audio and video were not sent off properly. They confirmed that it was not submitted right and reset my interview so that I could redo it. To make matters worse, it still did not work and at this point I was panicking. The recruiter was really nice and arranged for me to complete the video interview over Zoom instead but in the same format it was meant to be in order to avoid any bias. She had her camera off, posted the question in the chat, gave me 60 seconds to prepare and then recorded my answer.

Therefore, do not be afraid to reach out to recruitment if you are having issues as more likely than not, they are happy to help.

One of my key tips is to make a list of questions and plan out answers for them

Tips for the actual interview

Okay. So, you’ve prepared, made sure your technology is working and then what? The next step is beginning the actual video interview.

For this, make sure you look presentable, have some water with you and some paper to plan your answers.

The hardest part of the interview, for me, is the time pressure. If you have followed what I have said above and taken the time out to prepare then you should be less nervous.

My tip for the interview is to keep an eye on the timer.

Which I know sounds obvious. What I mean by that is to not rush through your answer if you feel like you are running out of time. It is better to finish off your answer at the end of a sentence then have your sentence cut off because you carried on talking after the timer got to zero. Keep a steady pace when talking and maintain eye contact with the camera in order to portray yourself as prepared and confident.

There will be times where you may be asked a question you have not prepared and just remember that there is no need to panic. Stay calm and use that preparation time you are given to come up with a coherent and structured answer but remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Do not be afraid to reach out to recruitment if you are having issues as more likely than not, they are happy to help.

Conclusion

My most important piece of advice is to have confidence in yourself. If you believe you can do it, then you can. Don’t worry too much about the outcome of the application; see the application process as a learning experience to develop yourself.

Good luck!

Uptree thanks Rida for taking the time to share her experiences and advice on pre-recorded video interviews centres. If you want to see what opportunities we have available visit our jobs and placements page here.