You’re about to do your first video interview. What types of questions should you expect?

A video interview is a relatively new addition to the recruitment industry. It’s designed to enhance the early stages of the interview process by giving potential employers a better view of you as a potential employee and giving you a greater opportunity to stand out from the crowd. As such, questions at the video interview stage tend to be introductory questions intended to get a sense of you as an individual. 

The main purpose of a video interview is to get an overall sense of whether you might be a good cultural fit and your base level capabilities. Therefore, the questions shouldn’t be too difficult or catch you off guard.

The main purpose of a video interview is to get an overall sense of whether you might be a good cultural fit and your base level capabilities.

In most video interviews, you can generally expect about three to four questions, although each employer uses video interviewing systems differently. They can choose how much time to give you for each question and how many opportunities you can have to answer a question.

Types of questions:
Questions usually fall into four distinct categories:

• An introductory question
• A motivation question
• A technical question about your skills
• A personality question

The specific questions depend on the role and organisation. Some examples might include:

1. The introductory question: “Tell us a little bit about you?” A question like this helps recruiters and employers assess how you might fit into their organisation. Talk about your current role and what you do outside of work to showcase who you are as a person. Most importantly, relax and be yourself.
    
2. A motivation question: “Why do you want to work for …?” Tell a story about why you really want the job. The answer doesn’t need to be perfect. A good narrative makes a strong connection through the video.  
    
3. The technical question: “Tell us about a time you have helped a customer?” This question is designed to help employers identify your strengths and determine your potential to grow into the role. Make sure you use the S.T.A.R technique to answer this question – situation, task, action, result. 
    
4. A personality question: “What would you do if you didn’t have to work for a month?” A question like this is about teasing out your personality and seeing if you align with the organisations cultural values.

Video interviewing is not meant to be difficult

Don’t worry if you get a question you’re not expecting. Video interviewing is designed to help employers get a better sense of who you are, so just do your best to answer the questions honestly.

These are just some examples of questions that you may receive. If you want to increase your chances of acing the video interview, it’s a good idea to take some time to prepare answers for most of the most common interview questions.