More and more interviews are being conducted over Teams, which can be a bit frustrating, because first impressions matter greatly, and I personally feel it's better to be sat two meters from someone rather than be hundreds of miles away, looking at each other through a screen.
Frozen or grainy video.
Poor audio.
Dropped internet connections.
Inappropriate background.
Cat suddenly jumping onto your lap.
We've all been there!
But, they're here to stay, so it's important one mitigates the risk of making a negative first impression by being as prepared as one can be, and this includes testing your IT kit, and dressing for a Teams interview as you would for a face-to-face, so no flip-flops, or pyjama bottoms, or worse - be professional.
Quite a few years ago, I had a client attend my premises to interview 6 sales candidates, back to back, at one hour intervals (remember those days?). About five minutes after the first interview started both candidate and client left together. Five minutes after that, just the client returned. I naturally went and asked if everything was okay and the client explained that he always asked if the candidate looked after their company car. When they answered yes, as they always did, then the client would say, “Great, show me!”. Sadly, the first candidate had been flexible with the truth. His interview was terminated on the car park.
“If I can’t trust him to look after a £20,000 car, how can I trust him to look after a £20,000 customer”. It was a good point, well made.
I feel it's only a matter of time before a client says to a candidate over Teams, "show me your shoes".
Don't wear flip-flops.