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4 Ingredients to a Winning Video Interview Environment [Updated]

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Video Interview

video interviewIf you are in the job market it is highly likely you will have a video interview. Interviews are given via Skype,  Zoom or a variety of other platforms. The key to a successful video interview is to look and, more importantly, sound your best.

Even though you might think that having really good video is paramount, but it is more important to have high-quality audio. The audio quality is more important than the video.

Let me take you through the 4 ingredients of a winning video interview environment.

Note: This post was originally published in April of 2017 and was updated in November 2018.

Room Selection

The room environment where you will be interviewed is key. You want good, consistent lighting and excellent acoustics. Pick a room that is devoid of hard surfaces (like tile or wood floors), glass table tops, or lots of windows. It should also have carpeting and possibly drapes on the walls.

Hard surfaces distort the audio by causing the sound waves to reflect and creating a tinny audio effect. This can be quite annoying to the interviewer and will detract from your interview performance.

When I record my podcasts, I am in my master bedroom closet where the hanging clothes create a studio-like audio environment. You probably cannot hold a video interview in your closet, but you get the point. You will want to position yourself in the room where you are less than six feet from a wall. If your webcam has an autofocus feature you will want the camera to focus on you and not something behind you. A little trick is to buy a simple room divider with smooth paper surfaces and place it behind you.

If you select the right room for your video interview everything else becomes so much easier.

Lighting

You want even, full-spectrum lighting on the front of your face. If this is an office, the lighting will be from above and this creates a shadow under your chin. This is the 10 pounds we gain on video.

If you are at home, much of the artificial lighting will be from the side as most home lights are designed to put light on working surfaces. You may have natural lighting and most of the time it will come from the side and light up half of you.

Natural lighting is problematic in that it changes throughout the day and changes due to weather conditions. What looks good one day when you are practicing interviewing may look dark during the actual interview.

It is best to use simple lighting for your interviews. I would start by purchasing two inexpensive desk lamps and install full-spectrum light bulbs. This is a very inexpensive solution.

The cost of LED lighting has come down so much that a professional light kit like the one I bought can be had for less than $140.

These lights will act as key lights and give you even lighting. Place these pointing up at your face on the left and right. Finally, close all of the window shades. Do not spend more than $150 on the lighting. You may already have the lamps in your house or office. I would invest in some good LED or fluorescent full spectrum light bulbs.

Audio

In the world of high definition video, your audio is more important than your video. Our tolerance for poor audio is much lower than for video. You will want to sound great.

If you have picked the room properly, with sound deadening materials, this is fairly easy. Use a set of headphones. These could be the earbuds from your cell phone. You can run the wire underneath the back of your shirt so they do not show. This will eliminate any chance of an echo.

If you use headphones you can use the microphone built into your computer. However, I prefer to use a USB condenser microphone. I use an Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone that I purchased with a pop filter for less than $75.

Audio gear has come down in price significantly in the last 10 years. It is definitely worth the money to spend a little bit of money on a high-quality microphone.

Clothing, Body and Camera Positioning

Pick clothes that have color and look good on you. For most of us guys, we will need to ask for help. Avoid patterns on shirts, jackets, and ties. The cameras have gotten a lot better at dealing with patterns, but it is still best to avoid them.

It is best to be standing up when being interviewed. You will be able to use your hands naturally. Most of us will be more energetic when standing versus sitting and your diaphragm will be able to expand more easily giving you a more powerful tone.

Elevate the computer so that the camera is at the same level as the top of your head. You might get some boxes or books and put your computer on top to get it to the correct level.

Since you will only be on video from the waist up, wear shoes that will not generate any noise when you move around. Flip flops work great. The most important feature is to be in an environment where you feel comfortable. You are on stage and you want to give your best performance. Much has been written on how to perform during a video interview.

Bonus tip – tape a picture of a person where their head is directly above the camera. When you speak,  look at that picture as this will simulate making eye contact with the interviewer.

A great performance can come across poorly without the right environment.

As you can see, this is not hard. You just need to do some planning.

What do you plan to do for your next video interview?

Marc Miller  

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The Purple Cow Job Description – Should I Apply? [Updated]

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Purple Cow Job Description?

Purple Cow Job DescriptionI guarantee you have read a purple cow job description. It’s one of those that, when you finished reading it, you said to yourself:

I am not qualified for this job but…is anyone?

They are looking for the purple cow. The ideal candidate does not exist!

I am going out on a limb to say that most job descriptions are badly written.

In my last corporate job, I had an open position to fill. I had to write a job description. Did I know how to write a job description? NO!

I went onto Indeed.com and searched for openings with the same job title. When I found one I liked, I copied it!

Did I know what a good description should look like? NO!

I am sure that the job description I picked was as vague as any other one I had ever seen.

I was expanding my team for a training and certification program. I wanted a technical trainer who was familiar with the program and was already certified. We had certified less than a thousand people worldwide. The candidate needed to have five years of technical training experience and be located in Austin, Texas.

The odds of finding someone who was certified in the topic, had five years of experience as a technical trainer AND lived in Austin, was close to ZERO! No, it WAS ZERO.

I was looking for the Purple Cow!

Did I write the job description saying I wanted everything? YES!

Note: This post was originally posted in August of 2014 and updated in September of 2018

Dissecting the Job Description

We will want to look at:

  • High-level job description
  • Responsibilities
  • Requirements/Qualifications
  • Education

(More: Is the Resume Still Relevant? )

High-Level Job Description

Can you honestly see yourself in this job? One of the problems with high-level job descriptions is they are so vague. Do not write yourself off even if it does not look like a fit just yet.

Perform a Google search using the high-level job description and see what comes up.

Responsibilities/Description

Read through this section carefully. Have you actually performed more than half of the responsibilities described? If so, you are probably qualified.

More importantly, do you want to have all of these responsibilities? For those of us in the 2nd half of life, we do not want the grind of lower-level tasks.

Requirements/Qualifications

Check out each item in the requirements/qualifications section of the job description:

  • How many of the requirements/qualifications do you have? Make sure you meet at least half of the requirements/qualifications.
  • Do you have equivalent requirements/qualifications? Do you have existing skills that you can map to what is in the job description? How long would it take, given your current experience, to attain what is needed?

Take some time to diagram out how your experience directly relates to these requirements. Creating a visual will help you determine whether this is a good fit for you, and give you a way to explain why you are a good fit.

Education

Do you have:

  • All of the required educational credentials?
  • The preferred educational credentials?
  • The experience that can be substituted for any of the credentials?

One way to get around having all of the educational credentials is to put in your resume a statement like the following:

20 years of experience in xxxxxx…in lieu of an MBA.

This will often get you past the applicant tracking systems and at least get you a phone interview for you to prove your worth.

(More: What Does Your Resume Say About Your Age? )

Gender

Havard Business Review recently published an article Why Women Don’t Apply for Jobs Unless They’re 100% Qualified. Basically, the author opens the article with the statement:

You’ve probably heard the following statistic: Men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them.

Women appear to be especially susceptible to the Purple Cow job description and will tend not to apply.

Ladies, is this true based on your experience?

Do Not Be Afraid of the Purple Cow

The purple cow job description is an outgrowth of the explosion of technology that has been injected into the hiring process. The fact is, most companies do not use this technology effectively, or to be blunter, they do not know how to hire. You may want to read my post on 5 Things You Will Never Know About the Hiring Process on how broken the hiring process is at some companies.

Lastly, if you are following a targeted job search strategy, you will have an internal contact within the company. Ask your contact to find out what the hiring manager is really looking for!

Your next job is going to come via a relationship.

Have you encountered a Purple Cow job description?

Marc Miller  

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How People Think of You May Be Frozen in Time

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Frozen in Time

frozen in timeHow people from our past think of us may be frozen in time. We all have colleagues from the early years of our career who do not think of us in today’s terms. They remember us how we were back then.

Their memories of us are frozen in time.

I learned about this concept from Carol Fishman Cohen, co-founder of iRelaunch. iRelaunch’s about page states:

As the pioneering company in the career re-entry space, iRelaunch is the leader in career re-entry programming of all kinds. iRelaunch works directly with over 40 blue chip companies in a range of roles, to develop, pilot, source for, present in and publicize their re-entry internship programs, or similarly support their efforts to hire relaunchers directly into open roles without internships.

Carol often talks about how her relaunchers are approached by colleagues, classmates, and bosses from years before their career break.  They remember them how they were previously and not how they are today.

This is especially important for those of you who have been unemployed for a long time and your confidence is waning. Many people remember the old you with confidence and vigor. They do not know the person who is worried about whether they will ever get a job again.

Let me give you some frozen in time examples.

Frozen in Time Example #1

Brenda had a long career in the non-profit association world, but after 25-30 years, she was burned out. She went to work for an exciting tech startup which flamed out when the main co-founder passed away. Working in the tech startup world energized her and therefore, she decided to ramp up her technical skills and become a programmer. She quickly learned after completing multiple coding boot camps that no one will hire a 55+-year-old female with no experience.

While all of this was happening, she was caring for both of her aging parents.

Brenda was pretty demoralized and directionless. That was until she was approached by someone she had worked with 10-15 years earlier to do some business analysis work for them. They remembered her as the bright, energetic, focused and really sharp business person, and not the demoralized and directionless person she had become.

It was a short-term project where Brenda went into the organization and reviewed their processes. She then gave recommendations on how to improve the flow of work through the organization.

Brenda was amazed that their view of her was frozen in time. This project gave her the opportunity to get some of her mojo back.

Frozen in Time Example #2

Back in 2016, I wrote “Introverted Sales Guy Job Search – Case Study” blog post. This was the story about Steve who had worked for the same company as an account manager for over 20 years.

Steve had been unemployed for a considerable amount of time and was quite demoralized. Steve thought everybody would think he was a real loser. He did not want to reach out to his network and ask for help. Sound familiar?

I pushed and prodded him to reach out to people he had worked with over the last 20 years. What he discovered was people remembered him as a really nice guy who put his customer’s needs and requirements first. His reputation was frozen in time.

Please read the case study to understand the process I put Steve through.

Frozen in Time Example #3

This is my story.

I planned my exit from high tech after a near-fatal bicycle accident back in 2002. I had worked in high tech for over 25 years and was burned out. Then came a couple years of teaching high school math and a year of non-profit work. I was glad I took a chance, but neither turned out the way I thought they would.

Financially, everything was okay but I needed to go back to work.

I had been away from high tech for over 4 years, which is an eon in high tech. Much to my surprise, I was immediately approached by 3 companies with opportunities.

The first opportunity was to work with someone who I had worked with at IBM years ago on an interesting startup idea.

The second opportunity was to do some contract work for the team I left after the bicycle accident.

The third opportunity was with a sexy tech startup where one of my colleagues at my previous startup was working. She recommended me for the job and I started a few weeks later.

They did not see me as someone who felt they failed at their two previous jobs. They remembered me as the incredibly innovative high tech trainer and instructional designer, which was not how I saw myself at the time.

Their memories were frozen in time.

How Do People Remember You

This is why it is so critical that when you get demoralized from a long drawn out job search to not isolate yourself. I formed the Career Pivot Community website, which as of the time of publication is in beta so that people in the 2nd half of life can find a community to seek help. You do not have to feel so alone.

Seek out others who remember you in better times, allow them into your lives and let them help you.

Very likely their view of has been frozen in time.

Full Employment is Here Except For Baby Boomers

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Full Employment is Here … Well, It Sure Does Not Feel Like It.

Full employment well maybe
Copyright: lightwise / 123RF Stock Photo

All of the data that is being published says we are at full employment. With unemployment rates below 4%, we should all be feeling pretty good.

Why then does it not feel that way? I speak at job clubs every few months and try to attend them on a semi-regular basis. The faces I see are well… old. Some of that is because these people are part of the long-term unemployed. Being unemployed over 26 weeks is a real drag on your health.

According to the AARP Public Policy’s Employment Data Digest, the numbers are pretty good. The unemployment rate for those over 55 years of age is only 3.2%.  This is based on those who are either working or looking for work. The employment rate (sometimes called the employment-to-population ratio) refers to the proportion of the civilian non-institutional population that is employed is only 38.7% which is one percent higher than it was in December of 2007. This includes a lot of people who have retired.

This is not so bad, right? We are at full employment, right?

Why does it not feel right?

Where not to be Old and Unemployed

I live in Austin Texas, where the unemployment rate is under 3%. Wow, that is great.., right? Well not if you are over 50 years of age. The unemployment rate if you are over 50 exceeds 12%.

Back in 2015, The Atlantic published the article Where Not to Be Old and Jobless which listed Austin as the #4 worst place to be old and unemployed.

AARP has funded a program at Austin Community College called Back to Work 50+. This program targets the most vulnerable members of the community, primarily women, who if they do not find work will likely become impoverished.

I was at my breakfast club a few months back where we had a prominent speaker say, in Austin, if you want a job you can have a job.

If we are at full employment, why do we need such a program like Back to Work 50+?

Retired Because You Want to or Have to?

I know a fair number of people who have retired before the age of 65 but they are mostly retiring from government jobs.

I also know some people who have retired because of health reasons, either their own or their spouses.

Then there are those of you who have given up looking for a job, took your social security early and checked out. We know that 40% of people who initiate social security do so at the age of 62. Only 7% wait to take social security until the maximum age of 70. Since you are no longer actively looking for work, you are labeled as retired. If you have retired you will not count in the calculations for the unemployment rate.

I do not know this as a fact but it is my feeling that many of you fall into the last 2 categories, retired for health reasons or because you can no longer find work.

Remember, we are at full employment … right? Everyone who wants a job has a job… right?

Is It a Skills Issue?

There is no question that we have a skills mismatch in the market. We are seeing creative destruction accelerate through so many industries. This is eliminating positions where skills were acquired and honed over many years. I wrote about a couple of clients in the post Living in a “Career Disaster Area” at the Age of 65 where their worlds disappeared in less than 5 years. You will also find this post on Forbes.com. 

You might be saying to yourself, I will refresh my skill set and make myself viable again. There are so many ways to acquire new knowledge and skills. There are many inexpensive and free online educational websites where you acquire the knowledge and skills in the latest technologies and industries.

Once you acquire those new skills, will any consider you for employment? I have lots of examples from the Career Pivot Online Community (which is currently in beta), where members have acquired skills in the latest programming technologies and data science and still cannot get hiring managers to speak with them.

Hiring managers do not want to invest in the careers for people in the 2nd half of life. The way I have heard this expressed in the past is, “they do not have enough career runway”.

When we are at full employment should we be worried about having enough ‘career runway?’

Adapt or Be Left Behind

Marti Konstant, author of Activate Your Agile Career: How Responding to Change Will Inspire Your Life’s Work, who was on episode 82 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast said it best, adapt or be left behind.

You have a choice, you can plan for the future that will be significantly different than today or be left behind. It is a choice!

There are several members in the Career Pivot online community who are working to get ahead of the change. They are taking bold action to put them in a position to be ready for the change.

A classic story of change is Mike Martin who is now a drone pilot instructor. You can hear Mike’s story, which is an extraordinary one on the “Repurpose Your Career” podcast episode #24. When Mike started down his journey to becoming a drone pilot instructor that career path did not exist.

Many of us will want or need to work into our 70s. Working in our 70s will not look like working in our 50s. It will most likely be a combination of different types of jobs.

Does It Feel Like Full Employment to You?

I wrote this post because this employment scene does not feel right.

I would like to get your perspective. If you would be so kind to comment below I would really appreciate it.

Am I smoking something or are the numbers not telling the complete story?

Marc Miller  

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What If You Are Not Passionate About Anything? [Updated]

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What If You Are not Passionate About Anything?

Well, there are a lot of us out there who are not passionate about any ONE thing. We are passionate about a combination of things!

I have talked about those interests that you must fulfill to be happy. In my last post, I talked about my wife and her very high outdoors interest.  She knew about this — kinda but she was not aware of it to the extent that she would go outdoors when she felt blue or just needed a boost.

What happens when you are not passionate about anything?

What if you have so many interests that there is not one thing that drives you? Society tells us that being passionate about one thing will drive you to success.

I hate to tell you but that is BS! I am not passionate about any one thing, but a lot of things, and I am fine just that way I am!

Note: This post was originally written in May 2012 and has been the most popular post on CareerPivot.com ever since. It was updated in June 2018.

Make sure and read the comments.

Interests = Passions

I do have a lot of interests but nothing I am passionate about.  The following graphic came from my Birkman assessment. A score of 85 or above is a strong interest and a score over 90 is something you must have in your life to be happy. Notice I do not have any interests over 82. I like to do a lot of different things.

What you will notice about me is:

  • I like putting things together, either physically or logically. (Mechanical)
  • I like helping people.  I have run help desks, support groups and been in training most of my career. (Social Service)
  • I like to research stuff and figure things out. (Scientific)
  • I like to propose ideas and communicate. (Persuasive)
  • To a lesser degree, I like the outdoors. (Outdoor)

For More: Do your skills match your interests in your career?

Multipontentialite

Multipotentialites have a lot of different interests. The problem is there is no single interest that drives them. The one common theme is they love to learn.

You could describe me as a multipotentialite. I like to do a lot of things, not just one.

For More: Are you a Multipotentialite?.

What do I not like to do?

  • I am not a reader AT ALL! (Literary)

If you have read earlier postings you would have learned that I graduated from high school reading extremely poorly.  I read at maybe 30-40 words per minute.  Reading was hard work! Even though I have overcome that in the last 30 years, I still do not read for enjoyment.  I read books when required.

I do not love to do anything.  I like to do a lot of things.  This is both good and bad.  On the good side, I have been able to move around in my career: programmer, engineer, trainer, IT consultant, public speaker, salesperson, school teacher, help desk support person, non-profit fundraiser and now a career designer.

On the bad side, I have been directionless from time to time. I wrote about this in my post when I left teaching titled, Dealing with that Directionless Feeling.  Rather interesting –  this post is found by readers using Google search every week. I am not the only one who gets this feeling from time to time.

What Can You Do About It?

I have long accepted that I need variety in what I do on both a daily and long-term basis. In my career, I have typically changed jobs or area every 3-5 years. This means I have made a lot of lateral career moves, which as a baby boomer, I was told was not something you wanted to do. We were supposed to always be looking for that next promotion.

I followed my own drummer!

I now try to make a change to my business every year to add variety.

I started the Repurpose Your Career Podcast in 2016, which has added a lot of variety. Learning how to produce a podcast has stretched me considerably.

The Career Pivot community website project was started in 2017 and is currently in beta. Building a membership website and community is something I have never done before.

In 2018, along with my virtual assistant, we have been re-organizing the website. You will probably notice the section –

Do You Need Help With …

at the bottom of every post and in the sidebar. We spent a lot of time digging through the nearly thousand pieces of content on the website and organized it into portals. This was fun! We created a Start Here page and eight portal pages.

I purposely make changes to keep things interesting. I am not passionate about anything. I am passionate about a combination of things.

How about you?  Do you feel that you are not passionate about anything?

Are you NOT driven by a single calling? Check out my post about being a multipotentialite and let me know if that resonates with you.

Note: This post is found daily! If you have found this article you are not alone. There are a lot of us who are not driven by any single interest. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME OR YOU.

Marc Miller  

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