Welch: Handy tips for online job interview

Remember your last job interview? If it wasn’t online, you’re behind the times. Me, I barely remember my last job, much less the interview.

Times have changed. Some jobs don’t even require you to come to work. It makes sense that a two-way video shoot works for an interview.

Oxymoronically, it was an AARP article that spurred my interest in online interviews. AARP as in American Association of Retired Persons, emphasis on Retired.

When inflation shrinks nest eggs, some retirees think about going back to work. Who needs up-to-date job-seeking advice more than a job-seeker who’s been out of the loop for a while? Seniors. Like me.

Except I’m not really planning to get a job. I just like to think I still could.

So how do you make sure an online interview puts you in good light? There’s more to it than sitting by a window. Tips abound from many sources.

Some of the advice is just common sense, but here’s a strategy not everybody knows. It’s based on the old principle “Look a man in the eye.” (Pardon the sexism.)

When you look right into the eyes of your on-screen interviewer, you appear to be a tad off. Look instead into the camera lens on your computer. If you don’t know where it is, find it. Pretend that little lens is the interviewer. You’ll come across as more focused than you really are. It may be just the edge you need.

So, what else? Spiffy up, pick an uncluttered setting, don’t hold Fido in your lap, and discourage children from traipsing through. Right. So much sensible advice makes me yawn. Speaking of things not to do in an interview, don’t yawn.

On second thought, if you want to distinguish yourself from other interviewees, go ahead and yawn. Break some other rules too. Those interviewers probably suffer from boredom. Make their day. Make them remember you.

Decades ago, when resumés vied for attention, I remember one guy saying gray paper was best. Any resumé printed on 20-pound white would get tossed, he said, but something on 28-pound pewter would get read.

So, besides yawning, what can an online interviewee do to stand out? Maybe wear earrings inscribed with the words “HIRE” and “ME.” To really get noticed, put them on the wrong ears.

I jest. But sometimes it’s better to be bold instead of careful. Show your spirit.

Suddenly I’m recalling one of the most important interviews of my life. I was a humble letter carrier. It was my chance to work six weeks as a bilingual guide at the Universal Postal Union Congress in Washington, D. C.

I made the first cut. The final interview was in San Antonio. The interviewer was from D. C. I risked incorporating a big brass and silver Texas belt buckle into my ensemble for the day. I got the assignment. I’ll bet my interviewer remembers my buckle to this day.

I probably looked him in the eye too. It was easier back then.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Welch: Handy tips for online job interview