One of the bigger impacts of pandemic life has been the rapid transition to web-based everything. Job interviews are now conducted online. The regular monthly meetings of most local pharmacy chapters have transitioned to online. And even the larger pharmacy conferences (such as Midyear) have shifted to a virtual platform this year.

This drastically changes the dynamics of both conferences and job interviews. There are some of us who feel uncomfortable in pressured social settings, so sitting in your own living room in front of a laptop can help with that. At the same time, it’s really hard to pick up on non-verbal communication and subtle social queues from a pixelated Zoom window. And, let’s be real, at least some of these new aspects of online living are here to stay. At a minimum, you can expect some aspects of the job interview process to remain virtual, even after the new “normal” of post-pandemic life emerges.

That leads us to what you’re currently reading…

Maybe you’ve always been a good interviewer. You’ve got charisma, you shine like a diamond, and you’re very comfortable rubbing elbows with a room full of your future bosses and colleagues. That’s great, but the online game is different. The skills that brought you success with in-person interviews may not quite be sufficient in a virtual environment. On top of that, there are a new set of interview “faux-pas” that can torpedo your efforts. If you’re not careful, committing one of these will sabotage your chances of getting the job (or residency) you’re pursuing.

So let’s break down these deadly sins of the virtual job interview and see if there is anything we can do to avoid them. Some of these tips may seem very surface level or minor. You may feel the urge to just scroll through them without actually absorbing them. Please don’t do that. You’ve got to cover the basics in this new world of job interviews and every little detail matters. At the end of the day, the goal is to have the interviewer focusing on you and the content of your words…NOT on the glowing orb of light surrounding your head from the light in your background.

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Online Interview Rule #1 - Dress Professionally and Turn Your Damn Phone Off

Honestly, we shouldn’t have to say this. But we’re going to just in case. You should treat an online interview the same as you would an in-person interview. Dress in your best professional attire and turn off ALL notifications on your phone. While you’re at it, make sure you have all notifications turned off on your computer as well (since virtual interviewing is relatively new, you may have forgotten about this one).

There is nothing more distracting (and annoying) to an interviewer than hearing a bell ring or a weird vibration every few seconds while you get a text message or a Twitter notification. It conveys the message that the interview isn’t important to you. Is that the first impression you want to make?

Online Interview Rule #2 - Be Mindful of Nervous Ticks (and Don’t Forget to Smile)

You probably wouldn’t sit in a rocking chair and rock back and forth during a normal job interview. And you probably wouldn’t swivel your chair back and forth either. It’s doubly important not to do this during a virtual interview. In the real world, subtle repetitive motions may not be that noticeable. There are so many other things going on in the interview environment that your little nervous ticks may fade into the background.

But in the online world, you are the ONLY thing in the interviewer’s field of vision. On top of that, there’s a good chance your interviewers have you pulled up on a giant screen in a conference room. Swiveling or rocking back and forth will give your interviewers motion sickness (kind of like when you’re FaceTiming with your nephew and he takes the phone into the other room to show you the new toy he got for his birthday).

Another point that’s easy to miss…don’t forget to smile. Humans are wired to notice small queues that we pick up with non-verbal communication. Subtle facial gestures and expressions are the driving force of most conversations. These are much harder to pick up on in the online world. Keep that in mind, and make sure to showcase that glowing smile of yours.

But try not to be creepy about it either. You’re going for a “warm and friendly” vibe more so than an “I just kidnapped your daughter” vibe.

Online Interview Rule #3 - Test Your Internet Connection

You may not have full control over this one, but you should still give it its due diligence. In terms of optimizing your internet connection, the best thing to do is to plug an ethernet cable directly into your router. But that limits the spots in your house/apartment that you can interview (see Rule #4). Not to mention, it’s like, SO 2003. Why don’t you go grab your Avril Lavigne and Nelly CDs and rock out if you’re feeling so nostalgic?

So we recommend trying to sit near your internet router if you can’t plug directly into it. The same room is best, but generally speaking, you’ll be OK if you’re a room or two away. An hour or so before your interview, go to a site like Speed Test to make sure your connection is running smoothly. If you can, test your connection before you go. You can FaceTime your family (ask your nephew to show you his toys again) to make sure there isn’t any stuttering or freezing. And make sure no one is running BitTorrent (is that still a thing?) or using any bandwidth intensive things during your call. Pause all software updates and turn off your game consoles and video streams. They shouldn’t really impact your internet connection that much, but why take the risk?

Online Interview Rule #4 - Find a Good Interview Spot

*Nothing says “I really want this job!” better than “Look at me!! I’m in Outer Space!”*

Ideally, you want to find a quiet corner in your house with a nice background. By “nice background” we mostly mean that it shouldn’t be too busy. You don’t want an unmade bed or piles of dirty laundry laying around. You don’t want empty beer bottles and your weird collection of offensive art (by the way, we’ve been meaning to talk to you about that…) on display in the background.

You also don’t want to use one of the fake backgrounds in Zoom. They slow down the internet connection, and there is always a degree of “choppiness” to them that makes you look weird and pixelated.

Generally speaking, you want your interviewer to focus on YOU, not on what’s going on in your apartment. A plain background will work (it’s certainly better than the above scenarios), but a simple wall with a clock or a picture/painting will do wonders. Plants, bookshelves, and other pieces of furniture that are already in your house are also fine.

Again, the biggest point is to not have anything incriminating in your background.

On a related note, you want to make sure your interview area is quiet. It’s usually a bad idea to go somewhere public (like a coffee shop) to interview. In the age of work from home, having a spouse or kids running around the house has become a fact of life.

But, to the extent that it’s possible, you want to control background noise. If you’re on active child care duty during your interview, you may not have full control over that. But do the best that you can. And when all else fails, you can…

Online Interview Rule #5 - Use Headphones or Earbuds

You have a smartphone, right? You’ve probably had several over the years. And have you noticed that every smartphone you buy comes with a pair of earbuds? You’ve probably left these in the case, or you’ve got several pairs of them tucked away in a junk drawer somewhere. Now is the time to dig those out.

Earbuds are a gold mine for online interviews. The headphones will greatly reduce background noise, and they eliminate that horrible echo noise that happens when your laptop microphone picks up your interviewer’s voice in your speakers and then plays THAT back to your interviewer.

As for the microphone on your earbuds — While it’s not studio quality, it does follow the most important rule of rock and roll: get the mic as close to your mouth as possible.

Your laptop mic is much further away and so will pick up more ambient noise and have more of a hum. When you move the mic closer to your mouth with earbuds, the mic doesn’t have to work as hard. Your voice sounds considerably better and you’ll have less of that “din” situation going on in the background.

Don’t like the look of earbud wires dangling around on camera? Try this trick that we picked up from Adam Martin, the Fit Pharmacist. Tuck the wire into your shirt. This reduces the unsightliness and also helps to prevent you from moving around too much on camera.

If you have a home studio or the equipment at your disposal for even better audio quality, definitely use it. Podcasting microphones, sound dampening foam pads, or pop filters will take your audio to the next level, but it’s probably overkill for an interview. Rather than “Damn, this person has a voice for radio!” you just need your interviewer to think, “Damn, this person knows their stuff and I really want to work with them!”

Online Interview Rule #6 - Put Your Camera at Eye Level

NOT how you want to look to your interviewers

This subtle move is a real game-changer. If you have a laptop, DO NOT sit the thing on your lap. Put it on a desk or table, and use books to elevate it so that the camera is at eye level.

If you’re working from a desktop, adjust your chair (use pillows if you have to) to make sure you’re at the right height. When your camera is too low, you look like you are bearing down on your interviewers (not to mention, you’ll have one hell of a double chin).

Keeping everything at eye level looks much more natural and pleasing.

You also want to make a point to look at the camera at least some of the time. This is kind of difficult because your interviewer’s face is on your screen (with your camera being just above the screen).

A good “hack” for this is to drag the video window up to the top of your screen (as close as possible to your camera). That way, when you are looking at your interviewer, you’ll also appear to be looking at the camera.

I’m Brandon Dyson, and I approve this message.

The added benefit of a virtual interview is that the interviewer cannot see anything other than what’s on screen. If it helps with your nerves, you can place notes or ‘words of affirmation’ right behind the camera, kind of like a teleprompter. But keep in mind that it will be fairly obvious if you’re relying on them a lot. Think of all the flak people get about ‘too much teleprompter’ or looking ‘rehearsed.’ Keep it simple. A post-it note that says “Smile!” or “Relax!” can go a long way.

Online Interview Rule #7 - Light Yourself Like You’re in Hollywood

With a window behind you, you look like a creature born of fire and shadow

Remember when you were little and you’d sit around a campfire telling ghost stories? You’d hold a flashlight under your chin to create ominous shadows, and that would enhance the spookiness of your tale? The way most people light themselves for a Zoom meeting is no different, and that’s a shame.

Most people give no thought at all to lighting. And while you don’t need to go buy a $1000 key light, a little bit of thoughtfulness goes a long way.

For starters, do NOT sit with a window behind you. You will come across looking like a silhouette (or some shadow creature from another dimension). You also want to be mindful of where ceiling lights are in the background. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a glowing orb surrounding your head.

The best bet is to place your light source in front of you. You can sit in front of a window or just place a desk lamp in front of you on the desk. You can get really fancy and place two desk lamps in front of you at about 45-degree angles. This will give your face a flattering and relatively even look. Even better if you can control the brightness of the lamp with a dimmer or a 3-way bulb. That way you won’t show up too bright and ghoulish.

Even room lamps placed nearby in front of you will go a long way. Direct sunlight is not your friend in this case. If you need a little extra vitamin D, wait until afterward to run outside to frolic and celebrate your amazing interview skills.

Online Interview Rule #8 - Be Familiar With Your Tools

What software are you using to interview? Zoom? Webex? Make sure you’re familiar with how it operates before you go into your meeting. At the time of this writing, we’re about a year into a global pandemic that has shifted a significant portion of our lives to the online realm. It’s not too much of a stretch to expect that you’d be reasonably competent with how online meetings work by now.

You should not be downloading the latest Chrome extension 3 minutes before your meeting is supposed to start. You should not be figuring out how to dial in with your computer or your phone. You should have sorted this out weeks ago. It’s also expected that you know the basics of how the software works. In particular, make sure to be aware when your mic is muted. I know that seems super basic, but out of all the virtual meetings you’ve attended this year, how many of them had at least one incidence of someone speaking while muted? It’s hard enough coming up with a good interview answer and phrasing the first time, let alone remembering and repeating what you just said.

Online Interview Rule #9 - Be Prepared for Technical Glitches and Failures

In spite of all your hard work and preparation, there is a good chance that you will run into technical snafus. This is a great opportunity to showcase how you respond to pressure and unexpectedly stressful situations. Have a plan ahead of time, and you’ll come across as unflappable. Interviewers will likely be somewhat forgiving for technical difficulties in this new era, but at the same time, you’ll look like a total rock star if you can troubleshoot small problems without getting flustered. If all else fails and you can’t fix the issue, calmly apologize and suggest a traditional phone call.

You also want to be prepared for the “Awkward-Virtual-Multiple-People-Speaking-At-Once Issue.” This is one of the hardest things about virtual communication, especially if someone’s internet connection is draggy, but we have to deal. Make sure to have your “Oh I’m sorry, please go ahead” phrase ready to roll. Hopefully, it won’t happen too many times but be prepared for a few as you figure out the conversation flow.

Further Advice for Online Interviews

These 9 rules should cover you for the most troublesome problems with online interviews. If you cover these bases, you’ll come across as professional and put-together to your interviewers. You’ll set yourself apart from most of your competition (or at the very least, you won’t be remembered as the Candidate with 3 Chins”). If you want to read a bit more to get even more polished, we recommend the following:

Good luck, and Happy Interviewing!

How to Ace Your Online Job or Residency Interview