Articles From the Team

Tips on how to nail a video interview

Law firms across the UK (and globally) are making adjustments for the health and wellbeing of their employees in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

This has included a reassessment of how interviews are carried out, many firms opting to conduct virtual rather than face-to-face interviews in an effort to reduce the number of external people visiting their offices. This follows the examples set by Facebook, Amazon and Google (to name a few).

Within legal recruitment, video interviews are relatively uncommon with most firms preferring to meet candidates in person. Generally speaking, it's easier for candidates to present themselves in person and to build rapport, so here are a few tips on how to prepare for and conduct yourself in a video interview... 

1. Ensure you have reliable videoconferencing capabilities set up in a quiet, clean and well-lit space where you won't be disturbed. If you don't have access to a quiet space at home, consider renting an office space for an hour or two.
2. Test the connection and technology ahead of the interview itself. Make sure your internet signal is strong and the camera and microphone are working. If you’re connecting from home and there are others in the house who are also online, perhaps suggest they disconnect from Netflix etc. to ensure you have the strongest signal possible. There are many different options when it comes to videoconferencing, but the most commonly used by law firms are Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts. If you don't already have access to these you’ll need to download the necessary software in advance. We can help you if needed. We’re happy to assist candidates with videoconferencing capabilities – we can extend this service to our clients as well.
3. Make sure your phone is on silent and all notifications turned off.
4. If your video connection fails then the next best option is a telephone interview so make sure you have a backup telephone number to contact your interviewer and vice versa. Agree on who will call who in the case of a technological hiccup.
5. Make an extra effort to articulate yourself well during the interview: speaking calmly and clearly. Monitor your speed too.
6. Spend a little extra time thinking about your answer to the 'tell us about you' question. Compensate for not being there in person and think about how you can best project your personality without it being too rehearsed.
7. Maintain professionalism. A video interview is every bit as important as a face-to-face interview so ensure that you conduct yourself and present yourself, including how you dress (at least from the waist up!), just as you would in person.
8. Maintain eye contact and nod when the interviewer talks to show you’re engaged. If you’re being interviewed by a panel, direct your answers to the person asking the questions, remembering to make occasional eye contact with the other interviewers too.
9. Prepare appropriate questions for the interviewer.  Keep a note of your questions to hand but just out of sight of the camera.

Given the ever changing guidance on coronavirus, it’s highly likely that some scheduled face-to-face interviews will change to video interviews and we’ll provide you with as much notice as possible when this occurs.  

We also ask you to notify us if you’ve recently been overseas so that we can ensure that necessary protocols are followed. The safety of our candidates and clients is our primary concern at the moment and we will provide you with any additional support we can during this time.