How do you show up, to work remotely?

It's been fun going to a number of face-to-face business events recently, and it's great to see them returning to the schedule and becoming normal again. But the majority of business encounters in the freelance world still begin and end online.

For anyone seeking employment too, this is still usually the area of first impression, and it's one that so many people continue to get wrong in crucial respects.

I recently worked with a client to support recruitment of a customer success leadership position, a role which would involve the appointed person in extensive online meeting presence, internally and externally. So I was taken aback by the poor way in which several candidates showed up to the interview, not only creating a poor first impression, but in some cases undermining their entire application.

Memorable for all the wrong reasons

One person who took the call outdoors on her mobile phone, which was held in her hand - so the camera was constantly moving around, and occasionally peering up her nose. This immediately raised questions like: Would she take calls to our clients like this? Can she not provide an appropriate remote work setup and location? Does anyone else feel dizzy..? The sound was also affected by background noise, and fluctuating levels as the device moved around - if she really had to take the call outside then at least using/improvising some kind of phone stand would have helped.

Another showed up with a terrible internet connection, so bad in fact that we had to terminate the interview and reschedule. Of course anyone can experience technical failure, but in this case the candidate had no plan B, and got totally flustered.

He also said his connection had been playing up all week... So why on earth did he not make separate arrangements for an important interview, or at least have a handy hotspot ready as a backup? Again, the hirer was left wondering, what would happen if he were dealing with one of our top customers, and the same thing happened?

A third candidate gave quite a good account of herself in response to the interview questions, and had lots of relevant experience. But she left a mixed personal impression, as we still don't know what she looked like. Glaringly backlit in front of a bright window, we could not see her face at all. It was just odd.

Of these three, only the witness protection candidate made the second round, so we will see if she shows up differently next time.

She'd be in a much stronger position already if she had demonstrated in the first interview that she could join a meeting looking professional and attentive, and immediately created an image in the potential manager's mind of how she would appear representing their brand to key customers. It wasn't a dealbreaker, but it was definitely strange - the equivalent of if she had arrived to a face-to-face interview in wrap around shades, or with a bag over her head.

When I had met with the hiring manager and his colleagues the week before as a consultant, I hadn't staged and lit my office as if I were presenting a webinar or video blog. But had I made certain he could see and hear me clearly, in a professional contextual setting, so that we could develop rapport and connectedness by looking one another in the eye. I'd made sure I was using (fully charged) headphones and a mic, so I did my part to protect the audio hygiene of the call - because any static, feedback, background noise or compression would have impacted on the whole experience for everyone. And while my home broadband is pretty resilient, I had my phone handy as always, for a backup source of connection.

Start with sound

If you have a remote job interview or client call coming up, then obviously the content of the call is the most important thing: what you have to say for yourself. But that is only worth anything at all if the other party can hear what you're saying - so it's critical to optimize for audio above all. In fact, I would argue that it's a real discourtesy not to do so. Worst-case scenario in a bandwidth crisis, you could feasibly agree to turn off video altogether and proceed with voice only - not really an option the other way around.

Nobody expects BBC broadcast quality here, and let's face it, even the news networks struggled in the early days of the pandemic, when suddenly all interviews became down the line overnight, and created some memorable clips and memes. But that's all part of the 2020s nostalgia, and we're all used to online communications now, surely? Everyone has had a chance to figure this stuff out, and avoidable friction isn't funny any more.

For freelancers, it's table stakes, a simple hygiene factor.

You MUST make your audio environment as good as it possibly can be, then fix your video context (including what is visible behind you,) to give what you have to offer any chance of being communicated clearly and distinctly.

You need to signal intent in every aspect of your preparation, in exactly the same way as you would do in a face-to-face setting: punctuality, professionalism, appearance, and how you prepare and protect the space for the call.

None of this is rocket science (unless you're applying for a job as a rocket scientist.) Think about it from the hirer's point of view, and show them you mean business, through every aspect of your communication, and you'll set yourself apart from the pack at a stroke.

Wishing you every success with your next interview,

Maya Middlemiss

The Storyteller From The Future