Zoom Interview Tips & Best Practices

To ensure that the video from our Zoom call is usable and editable, please follow the guidelines below so you’ll look and sound your best -

• Make sure that there’s enough light on your face that it can be clearly seen and doesn’t have dark shadows.
• If you’re indoors, a desk lamp or two, or natural light from a window usually work well.
• If you’re outside, stand facing the sun (if you can do that without wearing sunglasses and without squinting). If the sun is behind you, your face will be in shadow. Try standing in a shady spot if the sun is too bright.
• Please make sure you’re in a quiet location without a lot of background noise. It can be difficult to hear your voice clearly when there are other sounds in the background. If you’re outside, try to stay out of the wind; although you may not notice it, microphones pick up wind sounds easily.
• Check what’s behind you. Try to place yourself so the background isn’t too bright, cluttered, or showing anything you don’t want others to see. And that it doesn’t look like there’s something sticking out of your head!
• Position yourself so your eyes are about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the screen and you’re looking directly into the camera. This is called the “power position.” You may need to adjust your seat, your computer/laptop, or your camera to make that happen. If you’re looking down at the camera, you’ll look half asleep. If you’re looking up at it, you’ll look uncertain or less credible.
• If you wear glasses, try to make sure there aren’t a lot of reflections on the lenses; it’s difficult to see your eyes if there’s glare off the glasses.
• If you’re using a mobile phone or tablet, please make sure it’s as stable as possible. Try propping it up on something or using a tripod. If you have to hold it, try not to move it around too much while you’re speaking.

Before we get started -

• We’ll do a sound check before we start recording. Are there annoying background sounds? Is it windy? Can you be clearly heard? Not all desktop or laptop microphones work well…
• We’ll also make sure there’s nothing else showing on the screen or behind you. We may ask you to change your Zoom settings, camera location, etc.