Author: humayumc

Pre-recorded interviews: What are they and how can you succeed at them?

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Image result for pre recorded video interview

By: Marissa Humayun

As we move into Post-Spring ICE season, students are beginning the interview process for many companies. True to the age of innovating the world of business through technology, many firms, like EY and J.P. Morgan, are beginning to conduct pre-recorded interviews.

As a tool for cost efficiency, firms are now prompting applicants a series of questions, and applicants must record themselves answering the questions. From here, you are given a certain amount of time to give and upload answers. While you may be thinking, “Oh sweet! I can wear my pajama pants and do this interview!”, pre-recorded interviews are a lot harder than what meets the eye. You are tasked with remaining personable through a camera lens, not having someone else’s energy in the room to play off of, and on top of that, you must answer some tough questions with poise.

Here are some tips when trying to have the most successful pre-recorded interview:

1. Dress for success

While a pair of flannel pajama pants and your high school track hoodie sounds like the epitome of comfort, you should dress for the job you want! Wear a suit and look the same as if someone was right in front of you asking you the questions. It will show the interviewer that you take the interview seriously, and it will give you a boost confidence knowing you look your best!

2. Practice!

Practice makes perfect as they say. When given your questions to answer, take a minute and write down some key points and practice moving through each point, and how it connects to your question. Some good things to remember are to give specific examples to an interview question, and the CAR (context, action, result) response structure to interview questions. Another thing to keep in mind is to if possible, practice with your given software beforehand, giving you the best opportunity possible for being prepared. EY, J.P. Morgan, and many other firms in financial services are using Yello as their platform.

3. Be a person, not a robot

Do not read off of a script. Make your answers genuine and fresh. While it may be tempting to write out a detailed response to a tough question, that is definitely not how an in-person interview would go. Show your personality through the way you answer the questions (just be yourself! Something to be e aware of is your web cam/camera angles and lighting as well. Lights, Camera, Action!

4. Speak at a normal pace

As you would in an in-person interview, take pauses, speak loudly and at a normal pace. The cadence of your speech is an indicator of your personality and make you unique, do not lose that because you are behind a screen. If you are given the interview questions beforehand, practice with another person asking you the questions. Looking at another human asking you the questions will help you realize the importance of maintaining your personality.

5. Look on the bright side

The opportunity to do a pre-recorded interview can be a positive thing! You can prepare as much as you’d like, you will not have to deal with in-person interview nerves, and you can conduct it in the comfort of your home.  

Overall, we hope this guide will help you if you are asked to do a pre-recorded interview!

[photo: Goldman Sachs]

[content: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-tips-help-you-tackle-pre-recorded-job-interview-amy-edwards/]

EQ is the New IQ: How to Develop Emotional Intelligence to Benefit your Future Career

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By: Marissa Humayun

What is EQ?

According to an article published by the Entrepreneur entitled “Why You Need Emotional Intelligence to Succeed in Business,” a study found that 70% of the time, people with average IQ scores outperformed those with the highest IQ scores.

What could possibly explain this phenomenon?

The answer: Emotional Intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence (or EQ) is the intangible part of us which affects the way that we behave, navigate social situations and make decisions. No two people are the same when it comes to emotional intelligence. To break down this concept, EQ is split into two competencies: personal competence (the way in which we control our own behavior) and social competence (understanding why others act the way that they do).

So how does this relate to business?

Given the opening statistic, the idea of basing a person’s success on IQ scores alone has been disrupted with this discovery of EQ. A quote from the Entrepreneur sums this up nicely.

“According to emotional intelligence, or EQ, success is strongly influenced by personal qualities such as perseverance, self-control and skill in getting along with others.”

A businessperson with high emotional intelligence is someone who is…

  1. Self-aware – meaning you understand your own strengths and weaknesses (Check out the “Know Yourself” section on our website for more details on self-awareness!)
  2. Constantly regulating themselves – controlling your emotions and tailoring your responses to your audience
  3. Motivated– doing things for your own satisfaction, rather than the satisfaction of others or a title
  4. Empathetic– practicing compassion/understanding for others
  5. Personable – being a relatable person

Finally, how does this relate to college students preparing to enter the workforce?

Recruiters place a high value on EQ, but are you aware of how important EQ really is?

When it comes to relating soft skills to your college career, your EQ can come in handy, especially within collaboration efforts (i.e. group projects, case competitions etc.) and interviews. These are the perfect environments to begin growing your skills of self-awareness, self-regulating, and self-motivation. It is so important to be aware of yourself and your responses when collaborating with others, but also maintaining motivation to complete delegated tasks. As well, when collaborating with others and encountering an obstacle of diversity in thought, it is important to channel your empathy, and put yourself in another group member’s shoes to understand their point of view. Finally, when beginning to interview for internships/full-time opportunities, having an elevated EQ can prove useful in reading your interviewer’s personality/conversation style. Here, you can self-regulate/tailor your responses and maintain a personable attitude, in hopes of further proving your skills to the recruiter.

As you can see, emotional intelligence can be extremely useful in a variety of business situations. Make sure that as you go about your time in college, you do not forget to develop these important professional skills to have a great EQ now, and an even better EQ in your future workplace.