Re: Skype interviewing

[Helen OBoyle <hoboyle -at- gmail -dot- com>]

My problem with Skype interviews is when companies insist on them without a
fallback, even when someone lives in a remote area with poor Internet that
can barely hold a connection at all.

I lived in one of these remote areas the last time I was in search mode,
several years ago.  After 3-4 hours of general, writing and technical phone
screens over about a month, I declined a skype videocall interview because
of TWO prior disastrous experiences with skype audio interviews elsewhere.
I similarly declined to get on a plane at my own expense to an area where I
could do an interview from some sort of hosted business center facility
with good Internet.  They were unwilling to change that interview to audio
only or to fly me out.  The company had no fallback position beyond, "OK,
then call us when you ARE in a place where we can do this."  That time?
About 8 weeks later, 18 hours before I started my new permanent role in a
major city, when I arrived in town, by which point I had no interest.

Large (formerly?) open source software company based in Sydney, Australia,
I'm looking at you.  It left enough of a bad taste in my mouth that, to
this day, I tell my acquaintances in all IT fields not to bother with that
well-known company because they don't invest enough in their hiring process
to land the most qualified candidates and apparently prioritize "looking
cool" (the videocall was for "cultural fit") above skill, motivation and
ability to generate business results.  Oh, and speaking of looks, "cheap"
isn't a good look when you're a successful company recruiting permanent
employees, or when you are willing to spend recruiting money on entry level
devs that you're not willing to spend on tech writers with a track record
who were entry level devs 20 years earlier. ;-)

To close, here's an existence proof that it's not necessary to do a video
call to find your next superstar.  I was hired SIGHT UNSEEN by a Fortune
100 company for a role in which I experienced amazing career success.
Recruiters and managers repeatedly asked me, "How do we find more people
like you?".  "Do videocalls of all of your prospective applicants" was not
one of my recommendations.
-- 
* Helen *



On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 2:47 PM, rebecca officer <
rebecca -dot- officer -at- alliedtelesis -dot- co -dot- nz> wrote:

> I'm finding this very interesting because I've done Skype interviews of
> potential applicants. I used Skype instead of phone in the hope that
> it'd be more like F2F, in that it'd help both me and the applicant if we
> could see each other's expressions. It did help me; I hope it didn't
> make things worse for the poor applicants!
>
> You do have to be flexible. A couple of times, the connection's been
> crap so we've quickly fallen back to a phone call. That changeover is a
> bit rough on the applicant, so that risk's a disadvantage of Skype.
>
> Cheers
> Rebecca
>
> >>> Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> 14/01/14 09:47 >>>
> I started such a thread almost a year ago when faced with a video
> interview
> as a job applicant. I passed through all of the hoops in F2F meetings
> with
> the local company reps, including the VP. But when it came to the
> video
> interview with a key developer in Ottawa, my hopes were dashed.
>
> I had "set the stage" as best I could and went through a trial with a
> family member, but was using an older Logitech camera that didn't help.
> The
> other problem was that the Ottawa interviewer did all of the
> talking—the
> first sign that the interview was doomed. (The adage is that a decision
> is
> reached within... what?...thirty seconds?) I'm sure the quasi-fisheye
> distortion from my camera didn't help, nor did its angle from atop my
> monitor. (I have since purchased a better, newer Logitech that mounts
> to a
> tripod and provides a superior image.)
>
> After I posted to this forum about my experience, one respondent wrote
> that
> she would never agree to a video interview. After considering her post,
> I
> have to agree. If I were applying for a position where appearance is
> part
> of the job, such as a TV anchor or some such, then a video interview
> would
> make sense. But as a tech writer, a telephone interview (in lieu of
> F2F)
> should be sufficient; if it isn't, then maybe that's not a job one
> really
> wants.
>
> For the same reason, I held out posting a photo on my LinkedIn profile
> for
> many years before finally caving in last year. What I look
> like—graying,
> thinning hair 'n all—shouldn't have anything to do with whether or not
> I'm
> qualified and, in fact, runs counter to EOE laws, IMO.
>
> </rant off>
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 12:13 PM, McLauchlan, Kevin <
> Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > Yer right.  I hadn't looked at this thread for a week, and I've been
> > helping the Missus to tweak her setup, so my head was in that space.
> >
> > So, for the potential employee's half of a video-Skype interview,
> > everything that I described should help to project a confident,
> > professional image.
> >
> > Turn it around, and if you are the manager or team lead tasked with
> > interviewing the applicants...  the same techniques will have the
> same
> > effect.
> >
> > Further, as an applicant for a position, if you have a crappy
> internet
> > connection, I suggest finding a friend who has a decent connection
> and then
> > ... see previous post.
> > It might sound like a bother for a single interview, but if you
> really
> > want to come across in an impressive manner - to stand out from the
> crowd -
> > and/or if you anticipate more than one such interview, it's worth
> the
> > effort and possibly the expense, no?
> >
> > If there's any issue with the connection, it might be advantageous to
> have
> > that standalone Webcam, so you could swivel your laptop to face it,
> and
> > show an Internet Speed test (we like speedtest.primus.ca for the
> clean
> > interface and lack of nag-ware) as it verifies your
> more-than-adequate
> > upload and download speeds.   "As you can see, I've secured a solid
> > connection at this end. Perhaps you are experiencing a corporate
> proxy
> > issue or there's interference elsewhere. Would you like to
> reschedule?"
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Robert Lauriston
> > Sent: January-13-14 2:51 PM
> > To: McLauchlan, Kevin
> > Cc: Mike Donoghue; TECHWR-L
> > Subject: Re: Skype interviewing
> >
> > I thought this was about job interviews.
> >
> > I
> have no use for video when meeting with SMEs via Skype or other
> > computer-based conferencing systems. Screen sharing is often
> essential.
> >
> > For a demo or tutorial I don't need or want to see the presenter
> either.
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 11:40 AM, McLauchlan, Kevin <
> > Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:
> > > If we are talking about interviewing SMEs for documentation
> content,
> > that stuff doesn't matter much.
> > >
> > > But if we are talking about interviews that will be published to
> > internal or external Web, then "what he said" plus another
> observation or
> > two.
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