5 Reasons to Love Zoom Interviews

We’re coming up on a year of living and planning our lives during Covid. There are signs that the economy is improving. Many organizations have moved out of uncertainty and have put firmer plans in place for the year ahead. My clients are finding several roles that interest them and better yet—they’re breaking through to secure interviews.

To my surprise, I’m hearing a common refrain among them. "I like a Zoom interview!" I’ve added this to my running list of unexpected Covid silver linings. Along with my daughter’s upcoming Zoom Bat Mitzvah. That’s between us, of course.

If you’ve been flummoxed by the idea of job searching and interviewing during Covid, here’s your glass half full perspective.

1. Travel challenges are no longer a variable. There’s no mapping out your route, wondering if there will be traffic or train trouble. That element and level of planning is completely removed, so you can spend more time actually prepping for the interview.

2. Seeing yourself helps you avoid bad habits. Goodbye slouching, touching your face, fixing your hair or whatever your body does when nervous. While I wouldn’t look at yourself the entire interview, I would check in on your video to see how you’re presenting yourself a few times throughout your meeting.

3. You can stand. If you have a standing desk or high counter where you can take the call, it can be a game-changer for you. When you are standing, you are more likely to keep your energy high. I always recommend standing for interviews that are on the phone and if you are doing many interviews for a search, you may want to look into one of the trays that can create a standing option for your everyday desk.

4. Video peek into the lives of potential colleagues. You should do your best to guard your time and space for the interview. Ideally you want to create a calm and clutter free setting. That said, I’m hearing stories about interviewers with quirky and fun backgrounds or a child who comes in for a hug. This time in which the walls of perfection have come down some can give you a sense of the personality, culture and priorities of the organization.

5. Your notes are off camera. I often tell my clients to write the word "pause" on a post-it that hangs above their laptops during the interview. Our tendency to go on and on can prove challenging when we are nervous. So, this simple off-camera reminder can keep you on-track. Sometimes, it is accompanied by an intention set for the interview like, "Be curious." Or "Learn more about the company." Or even, "Practice interview skills!"

Whether you’re grateful for this shift in the job hunt or you’re dreading it, remember with practice you can nail a zoom interview just as you would have the in-person version. Speaking of practice, you can do this on a zoom meeting by yourself so you get a sense of how you look saying your elevator pitch and answering certain questions that may be tricky for you. Like it or not, this practice may be here to stay in some form—so building your skills during your search right now will be critical in your career in the longer term.

The #1 Networking Mistake

Often clients come to me complaining that they’re terrible at networking. Sometimes they’re doing the work to reach out to their people. They’re having multiple conversations a week…and yet nothing comes of them.

They say, "We had an interesting chat, but who knows what will happen." Or "He asked me how he can help me and I froze."

There’s an easy fix for this common challenge.

Have a goal in mind for each conversation. Each meeting's goal will be unique and most often it is NOT – give me a job.

Here are 10 examples of networking goals:

1. Learn about the person’s role.

2. Learn about the culture in his/her/their company.

3. Ask for an intro to a specific person or company.

4. Ask for intro’s to colleagues in a new city in which you’d like to relocate.

5. Learn about a specific leader or colleague with whom you may be working closely.

6. Learn about the organizational structure in his/her/their company.

7. Learn about his/her/their career transition and tips to making a switch.

8. Ask about skills or education needed for his/her/their role.

9. Ask to send in your application for a role to a hiring manager or HR.

10. Share specific roles you’re looking for so if they hear of them, they can reach out to you.

When you have a clear goal for the conversation, you know if it you hit your mark or not. You’ve also given the other person a specific and actionable way to help you, which makes them feel good, like they hit their mark.

Remember that when it comes to networking, long-term thinking is best. While you will have a goal for the conversation, you also want to consider that you are building a relationship, and this is not simply a transaction.

Your sub-goal is always expanding and curating your network so that you can continue to expand your impact within your career. With this sub-goal in mind, even if you didn’t meet your specific goal in the conversation, you can continue to cultivate the relationship.

Perhaps you will reach out when you are clearer in your own vision of what you need and most importantly you can show your gratitude with generosity of your time and expertise.

Permission To Want What You Want

In my work with women, there’s one epiphany I’m grateful to witness often. An insight that turns the ship around and provides a new lens to look back on a life half-lived.

Sometimes it starts with a feeling.

Guilt. Anxiety. Frustration

And then there’s a moment where the unseen is seen. The common refrain—I don’t know what I want—becomes untrue.

In its place arises something unfamiliar and beautiful. Many wants.

But still no permission to want them.

As women we are so accustomed to cloaking ourselves in the needs and desires of everyone else in our lives that our own oxygen feels selfish to breathe.

Yet when we inhale and imagine, we see a glimpse of what is possible, and we are filled with hope.

This is the shift that can forever change you. It is an honoring of what you want. No matter how you may fail or fumble. Especially because you may fail or fumble. It is agency. It is trust.

It is admitting to those you love that you have wants and they are important. And practicing together. Continuing to remind each other that they are still important, even when they are inconvenient and throw off the equilibrium of the old systems that put your wants at the bottom of the list.

Your wants are worth fighting for even if there’s chaos before you find your order.

We were not taught to want outside the lanes our culture drew for us. And yet every time we unlearn these bounds—we find who we are meant to be.

The Broad Experience Podcast Features Rachel Garrett

I’m thrilled to be featured on The Broad Experience podcast with Ashley Milne-Tyte discussing the impact of the pandemic on women’s careers—and within my own business.

You can find the full episode of the podcast on The Broad Experience Website, on Stitcher or Apple Podcasts.