How to Choose the Right Device for the Best Results during Your Video Interview

You are about to have a video interview when you discover your lighting is bad, your sound quality is not so great and your voice is echoing when you talk. This can negatively affect the impression you make during an interview. Having the right device setup before a video interview is important. It greatly increases your chances of getting selected for the job position you are applying for.

1. Laptops or Mobile Phones?

Depending on the one you have, it can have an effect on how your video interview turns out. Avoid using old laptops or phones. While they may be good for surfing the web, they won’t work so great when taking power demanding jobs like video uploading. Their sound quality is also not as great as more modern systems. If you decide on using a phone, be sure the camera quality is good enough to highlight your features and make you look your best. Avoid using low end phone cameras.

2. Deciding on Your Webcam

There are a quite a number of things you cannot control during a video interview process, but how you look is not one of those things. This is why it is important to make the right decisions when it comes to camera quality. Even if you are on a budget, it is always better to get an external webcam for your laptop. They give better image quality and are easier to adjust due to their flexibility. This makes it easy to adjust angles without having to move around your laptop so much, which can be difficult.

3. Adjusting Your Webcam

Looking good is good business. To get the best shots of yourself, you should avoiding placing the camera at a low angle. It doesn’t matter how good looking a person might be, having a camera shooting him or her from below will give a horrible appearance. Always place your webcam at an angle above eye level, having it point slightly downwards.

If you are using an external webcam, place your camera on a shelf or stack of books behind your laptop. Balance it at a height which is almost at the same level with the top of your head. If you are using the built-in webcam on your laptop, then you will need to place your laptop on a stack of books or on something that will raise your webcam to be in-line with the top of your head.

4. Lighting Technique

Having your camera positioned properly won’t do you much good if you do not apply proper lighting techniques. A good lighting technique will make your face look brighter, remove wrinkles and reduce shadows across your face. You can get two good clamp lights, and using a light stand, have these clamped 2.5 to 3.5 feet on either sides of you. The lights should be at the same level as your webcam. However if you are on a budget and can’t afford buying clamp lights, you can position two lamps on either sides of your desk. This will give you a good lighting effect.

5. Should You Get a Headset?

The answer is YES! While webcams now come with built-in microphones, they might not do a great job at filtering out background noises which can affect your voice quality. Headsets reduce the risk of your voice sounding distant and tinny. Your voice plays a great role on how persuasive you sound during your interview. If you can’t afford a headset, you should run tests on your built-in microphone to find out the right position to place your laptop for better sound quality.

Conclusion

Always remember to do a run through on your gadget and test out everything you will need before your interview. Check your internet connection, and avoid using a public WIFI or 3G dongle. These are shared by a lot of other users and can affect your video connection during an interview.