Yay I just had my first job interview in over a decade and it went well!
After being laid off from working over 10 years at a place I loved, completely due to pandemic finances and downsizing, and starting a very targeted job search in a few narrow fields of experience, I landed my first interview and I just finished and feel great! Even if I don't get the job or to a second round of interviews I felt really confident and better about the whole process, especially interviewing via Zoom.
I read a post on Fairygodboss about prepping for a Zoom interview/meeting and took it to heart. I took the time to find a nice virtual background since my real background isn't great, I ran it by 2 people to make sure it looked okay, I figured it was best to swap my swivel highbacked office chair for a low non-moving one, "dressed up" with a smidge of makeup, but most of all spent a few days prepping by reading up on the website of the employer and coming up with a list of questions I wanted to ask and answers to the most usual kinds of questions I assumed I'd be asked. I did a trial run Zoom with my kid in another room just to ask how I looked with the virtual background and she wisely suggested I focus on looking up at the camera more because I kept looking down at how I looked. I really wanted to have my typed up notes in front of me with the questions I'd written to ask and answers to the questions I figured I'd be asked so I set up my screen for Zoom to appear at the top directly under the camera and minimized my notes in a spreadsheet right under that for easy reference. In the end I think it was a great setup and I rarely looked at my notes but had them there at a glance and like a security blanket. I was given 40 minutes of time and had time to ask lots of my questions (I forgot to ask one but that's okay) and it ended up feeling like a conversation with a colleague on the same wavelength more than an interview which I think is a good sign. I also discovered that instead of wearing the big Princess Leia buns-style headphones I figured I'd have to wear I could swap in my small earbuds instead which were hardly visible and made me look so much better with perfectly fine sound quality.
I decided to share those thoughts here in case anyone else wants to chime in, toot their own horns, offer suggestions, blow off steam, whatever, about the world of interviewing!
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3 Comments
3 Comments
Nicole
282
Podcaster. Speaker. Tech Leader.
01/14/21 at 6:28PM UTC
This is fantastic! I remember when I'd started interviewing after having been at a company for just 5 years and I totally bombed the first one. It was a great learning experience and definitely helped me ace the ones to follow.
I love that you were prepared, considered your background, swapped a chair so you wouldn't move, had thoughtful make up and most importantly came with questions! That is such a key thing that a lot of folks miss and definitely helps one stand out.
Good luck on results and way to show up!
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Lesa Edwards
799
THE career expert for high achievers
01/14/21 at 8:50PM UTC
Such great feedback for anyone interviewing!
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Anonymous
01/14/21 at 9:40PM UTC
Right there with you. I'm looking for a job after two decades with my previous employer. Last year I had two interviews to dip my toe in the water. This week I had an interview which was the first one to matter. Went well. Now for the wait. Good luck finding the job that fits you! Thanks for the reminders -- I have yet to set up a Zoom background.
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