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Job Interviews During Covid

This week, the UK government announced the third lockdown to combat covid-19.

This sensible approach to beating the pandemic, has left career professionals asking how the lockdown will affect the job market?

All job sectors ride the rollercoaster of economic growth and decline, which directly affects the number of employed professionals working, or required, in a particular industry. Covid-19 has had a large effect on people working in multiple industries, similar to the banking crisis of 2008.

Covid-19 has had a negative impact on low paid and low skilled positions, including the retail, hospitality travel and tourism sectors, to name a few. But not all low-paid jobs have seen a negative reaction to Covid; Deliveroo has seen a serge in customer orders increasing the demand for delivery drivers.

The pandemic, which has directly affected the job market (the number of vacancies) in 20/21, isn’t the only driver of change. Many factors affect the job market; globalisation, government policies, supply and demand, technology and demographics – people living longer.

Covid has also been a driver for positive change, increasing vacancies in a wide range of job sectors. Since March 2020, there has been a skills shortage in the UK, mainly in the professional level sector; managerial, professional and highly skilled roles – job positions that often require a university degree.

Job roles that have been hard to recruit for have included (source; prospects):

  • Nurses
  • Design Engineers
  • Human Resource officers
  • Vets
  • Programmers

We know there are employers looking to recruit new employees during Covid-19, requiring hiring managers to plan how they will interview candidates during the lockdown.

Therefore, job seekers need to prepare for the 2021 Covid-19 job interview.

Covid related job interview questions

Job interview preparation, simply put is the ability to predict the job interview questions and prepare answers that will meet the job criteria, in a way that showcases an applicant’s competencies and unique selling point.

Interview questions, in the main, are embedded within a structured process with most questions relating to competencies;

‘Give me an example of completing (job criteria)’

‘How would you deal with a situation where you had to (job criteria)’

The pandemic has shown the need for personal strength as employees move to working, alone, from home. With this in mind interviewers are asking questions based on resilience;

‘How have you shown resileince during Covid?’

‘What has working during the pandemic taught you about yourself?’

‘Give an example of making an adaption during the covid-19 pandemic?’

Covid-19 related questions, as are all interview questions, are asked as the employers aim is to hire a career professional who has the skill, knowledge and experiences to complete the job duties within the workplace environment and company culture, which for many is now working from home or a blended work-office environment.

Preparing for a Covid virtual job interview

99% of job interviews will be virtual during the next 3 months.

Applicants, therefore, need to prepare for an online job interview.

Online job interviews come in two guises; a live video stream interview or a computerized AI interview.

Live video interviews, simply put, is a Q&A session with a ‘live’ interviewer. This is this general job interview that most job hunters are use to.

The above link (online job interview) will explain the technical preparations an interviewee needs to make for a video interview, including camera angles and framing.

In addition, many employers are opting to understand the industry knowledge level of an applicant through an interview presentation.

Delivering presentations as part of a recruitment process has been a long-established practice in certain job sectors, but recently we have seen an increase in employers from various industries adding a presentation as part of their interview selection process.

Presenting information is one to help an employer understand the level of industry knowledge an applicant has. In addition, many employers, due to job interviews being online, feel the opportunity to present, as well as answering interview questions, helps the candidate to relax during the abnormal online interview experience.

Robot Interviewers

A pre-programmed system that asks a job interview question before allowing the applicant to record a live answer (on average a 60 second – 2 minutes answer).

The video answers are then reviewed using a computer algorithm. This system is often used at the early stage of a recruitment process, decreasing the number of successful applicants who will then be required to attend a ‘human’ interview.

Creators of artificial intelligence interviewers will, most likely, have ambitions for the bots to be the go-to system for job interviews in the future, with cost-saving benefits to potential employers.

These high-tech systems can be used to scan applications, social media feeds and other data, to predict if an applicant is suitable for the job role or not, but also if they are likely to leave their current role for the new opportunity.

Equal opportunity leaders are worried about potential bias, inaccuracy, and lack of transparency when using an artificial intelligence recruitment system, believing that the system uses deceptive trade practices.

To pass a robotic job interview, applicants need to ensure interview answers reference the job criteria, giving examples of previous successes. Stating industry models and theories, also helps here, as stating the elements of a model ensures a high number of keywords have been used, and therefore pic up by the robot.

Interview anxiety

Research shows how a lack of job interview confidence has a direct impacts on the outcome of the job interview.

Anxious candidates will self-disclose weaknesses, have reduced eye-contact and increase the use of filler words. This combination of indicators reduce the level of knowledge and experience an applicant can express, successfully, to an employer.

If an interviewee fails to highlight how they meet the job criteria, they will score low on the interview scorecard, resulting in a job decline response.

A high number of people fear the job interview, in fact, being the center of attentions is one of the highest phobias when peoples fears are polled. The increase pressure, created from having to complete an unknown experience, of the video interview increases anxiety in the job applicant.

This double effect of anxiety; interview anxiety x video anxiety, can be disastrous to career professionals who rarely attend job interviews.

Interview confidence can be increased quickly in the main through repetition of practice. The following activities will help build up job interview confidence:

  • Understanding the structure of a job interview
  • Preparing job interview answers that state the job criteria
  • Recording a list of job related strengths and successes
  • Attending a public speaking or improv class
  • Increasing the number of online webinars, with interactive elements, you attend
  • Counting the number of urm’s and ah’s you use during an interview (as this reduces them)

Job Interview Advice

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What interview questions will I be asked during covid?

Understanding the job sector during Covid

The Covid19 pandemic has impacted not only the way a business operates, but the recruitment process of an organisation.

It has been precited that around 24% of the UK workforce is at risk due to Covid, with low skilled job sectors being hit the hardest.

Government policy has affected particular job sectors differently. Hospitality, as an example, had a 73% of their employees furloughed due to the closure of restaurants and bars. Whereas, the education sector, with the government keen to keep education institutes operational, has kept staff in work.

In comparison, other low skilled jobs have seen an increase in staff recruitment. Amazon, due to an increase in online shopping recruited over 15000 warehouse and delivery staff and supermarkets collectively interviewing and recruiting 50,000 new staff members.

The STEM sector has been affected in different ways with data showing the potential of growth and declining job roles within the STEM sector. Renewable energy, as an example,  looks strong as 46.4% of UKs electricity being generated from renewable energy sources which will create jobs in this sector.

Other areas: computer programmers, project managers, and accountants are currently recruiting for new staff, as Covid isn’t having the same effect on staff turnover as it is in other job sectors.

Companies like Amazon warehouse have a pre-set of job interview questions, but due to changes in working conditions, with many career professional now working from home, employers are asking additional Covid-related job interview questions.

The Covid Job Interview

Two things have changed, in terms of the interview process, during Covid;

1 Most organisations have moved to a virtual hiring platform with 80% employers surveyed saying they are now using a video platform to interview candidates.

2 Interviewers are now asking Covid-related interview questions as part of the recruitment process

The following list of Covid interview questions will not be asked in its entirety, rather employers will ask sector related interview questions in the main but will also choose one or two of the questions below, embedding them into the job interview.  

In short, job applicants need to be prepared to answer Covid-related job interview questions.

Covid-Related job interview Questions

How would you ensure you met your deadlines and targets while working from home?

This interview question is all about self-management.

Pre-covid, when all employees worked from the company premises a manager would check-on, support and coach employees to meet deadlines and targets.

Good managers, seeing an employee struggling would go-over and offer support. Now most employees are working from home, a manager has to support their teams remotely. Even with regular checks, virtual meetings and catch up calls, employees more than ever before have to self-manage.

To answer the self-management question, employees can use the ME(model/example) job interview formula; explain a time a management model such as the urgent/important model, and follow this up using an example (ideally while working remotely)

The example should explain;

The situation – an example of having various tasks and deadlines

The Actions taken – using the model give a realise account of what was prioritise, why one task was more urgent than another and how you reviewed each task/target against the deadline.

The outcome – explain the feedback you received for achieving multiple targets/deadlines

How do you stay motivated while working from home?

It is easy to become demotivated or distracted while working from home. Even high work ethic employees struggle when they don’t work within the company premises.

The explanation, though, is relatively simple. Explain to reduce distractions that you have set up an area dedicated to work (this could be an office, or the end of the dining room table) and how in this area you only have work related equipment.

Next, go on to discuss how you plan breaks so the routine of the day matches the routine of working in the company premises. And how you use to-do list, calendars and the urgent/important model to prioritise tasks.

End, by explaining how research shows that having exercise and plenty of fluids decreases anxiety, so with that in mind you go running once a day.

What changes have you had to make while working from home?

On the face of it employees haven’t made that many changes since they have moved to a remote working environment, apart from the obvious – they are now working from home!

This interview question isn’t really asking about physical changes IE you have set up an office in the spare bedroom, even though you could start the interview answer explaining the ergonomics of working from home.

Instead, the question is asking what do you do differently to complete business as usual tasks. If for example the job role is a call agent, and in the office the employer used automatic calling system, the employer wants to know what you now do to meet any targets?

To answer use a 3-point structure:

Point 1 – explain any differences ‘I don’t have access to an automatic call system…’

Point 2 – discuss actions you took to improve your current situation ‘…. instead I have manually inputted all the numbers onto a spreadsheet, that I can then click to create an automated call…’

Point 3 – point out the pro’s and con’s ‘…initially this took some time, but once I started to make calls I could do this as fast as being in the office…’

What considerations do you have to make when communicating from a home office?

The communication covid-interview question is mainly asked ion job roles where employees need to contact customers, give regular updates to the board, deliver online training sessions, etc.

The employer wants to do if an employee is planned and prepared. The answer would vary depending on the job role but in the main the interview answer should cover:

  • Reducing background noise
  • Planning for a break in internet connection
  • Talking slower with better diction as this translates better online
  • Stopping interruptions from family members entering the room
  • The background (no messy houses) and outfit (some people think its fine to wear casual clothes in important meetings because they work from home)
  • Technology – using conference call share the screen, comments box etc

Give an example of handling stress during Covid?

The whole situation of covid has been a stressful experience for most people.

When answering the stress interview question, applicants could use covid as an example. But ideally, be more specific. What parts of working from home and the job role could be potentially stressful? What can you do to overcome this?

An example of this could someone working in supply-chain management There day-to-day stress of this job role is getting the chain to work smoothly, which includes the collaboration of suppliers. This ‘stress’ has been increased with many suppliers reducing workforces or working from home – all creating delays in communications.

Once a job related ‘stress’ has been explained, the interviewee can then share their plan to manage the problem and therefore manage the ‘stress’. In this case the plan could include bring suppliers onboard well in advanced of an order, asking for regular meeting slots with commonly used suppliers.

What employers are looking for is an employee who can predict stress points 9these can be personal) and actions they can take to reduce stress.

What has working from home or working during Covid taught you?

Covid for many people has been stressful, but also it has taught many people new things about themselves that they weren’t aware of; resilience, organisational skills, creativity, motivation levels. Some employees are unaware of their skill set because of the way they are managed or because of a process driven job role.

The pandemic, initially, had a gap where employers were unsure what they could do, how they can create output with their team working from home. Some employees sat back and waited for direction, while others suggested ideas, took the initiative, found creative solutions to industry problems.

When discussing what you learnt about yourself, first detail the problem covid created within your company. Explain what it was you did to make a positive difference and how this action was then replicated within the larger team, having a bigger impact on output.

Are you willing to work from home as part of business-as-usual?

Employers have found that a resilient workforce can have the same output as they do while working in the company premises. The bonus for an organisation is a reduction in overhead cost. More businesses are now looking to increase the number of working from home employees even post-covid.

This question is checking that the applicant is happy to work from home long-term. The answer depends on the individual and if they actual are happy working from home, if not, this position isn’t most likely the right one for you.

Are you happy to return to the office fulltime post-covid restrictions?

The opposite to the above question is being asked if you are willing/ready to return to the office premises.

Some staff have had to take on extra, as an example, caring responsibilities. Some employees now only want a job where they can work from home.

The employer here, knowing that they require a company premises based team need to ensure they are hiring an employee with the same mindset.

Job Interview Advice