Once you’ve researched the company, prepared your cover letter and resume, contacted the people you’ll be using as references, practiced your elevator pitch, and memorized the questions you’ll be asking, it may seem as if your interview experience is already a done deal. But not quite. After you’ve strategized in every other area of making a great first impression, it’s important not to let this particular skill fall by the wayside: body language. In this article, we’ll address four elements to perfect for your next virtual interview and every teleconference hereafter.
The first area to improve upon has little to do with the body directly. It has more to do with the positioning of your camera in relation to your body. The ideal Zoom frame features you in the center, far away enough the catch both the slope of your shoulders and the area above your head where a halo might be. This distance allows the viewer to feel engaged with you, without feeling intruded upon. Depending on the height of your device, your camera may need to angled either slightly up or down, but what matters is that the video gives the impression of you facing head-on. Framing is important because it contributes to having a put-together aura and allows you to highlight other areas of your body language better.
For example, you definitely want to highlight your posture in an interview, virtual or not. However, posture becomes increasingly noticeable when the camera limits the amount of information received. In addition to being linked to increased happiness and energy, good posture is also associated with confidence and leadership skills. For help maintaining your posture while spending long hours in a desk chair, experts recommend memorizing the 90-90-90 rule. Your elbows should be bent at a 90-degree angle, your hips should be at a 90-degree angle, and your knees should be at a 90-degree angle with your feet flat on the floor.
Even with your knees being flat, your facial expressions should never be. Without the physical impact of having another in the room with us, it can be tempting to get lax with your facial expressions during a virtual interview. Studies say that 70% to 93% of all communication comes from nonverbal cues. The numbers are still out on how much of that communication originates solely from the face but think about your own experiences, it’s safe to say a lot, right?
Considering that the face will be the focus of the frame, a blank, detached expression is especially detrimental to creating a warmth between yourself and your interviewer.
Another element essential to creating warmth between yourself and your interviewer is tone. Although body language is usually understood as a form of visual information, for our purposes we’ll expand its definition to include auditory information because when you are reduced to a 2D representation of yourself, it’s best to optimize every tool at your disposal. You want to be upbeat, clear, and professional while still keeping authenticity.