“Wear business professional or business casual clothing if you are to be in a virtual interview,” said John Peterson, editor of Safe Drive Gear. “What you wear represents your individuality. If you want the interviewers to see you as a credible and reliable person, show it on your appearance. Be presentable and prepared. Also, consider clothing that is comfortable to wear and you can use it again or upcycle.”
Watch this short video about an online interview.
You should prepare yourself as if you are going into a physical interview. There is exactly not much difference between virtual and physical interviews- dress your best. The question now is, what to dress the best in an online interview?
The way that you look for an online interview is almost more important than it is in-person because your appearance is the first impression the hiring manager will have of you. There isn’t a way to showcase your professionalism until you begin the interview, so appearance is often used as a snap judgement even though it shouldn’t be.
In general, you want to avoid baggy clothes, athleisure, and anything that wouldn’t be acceptable for that particular company’s culture, whether it’s business casual or less formal. Beyond that, there are a few things specific to interviewing online that you shouldn’t wear for an interview.
Don’t wear pyjamas or leggings.
Just because the camera only shows the top half of your body doesn’t mean you should only be halfway dressed. There are two reasons for this, one psychological and one cautionary.
Psychologically, getting fully dressed in business attire will put you in the right frame of mind for a job interview. This small mental trick is incredibly beneficial when you’re interviewing from your living room. By putting on a full outfit including accessories and even shoes if you’d like, you’ll be helping yourself get prepared.
The cautionary reason is that you just never know what might happen – a pet or child could knock your computer, tablet, or phone off of your table and you don’t want to be caught with your pants down, literally. While the likelihood of this happening is low, do you really want to take the risk?
Avoid stripes or busy patterns.
Wearing stripes or busy patterns on video can create a distortion that’s incredibly distracting and hard to look at. Stripes on the camera end up creating strobe-like, wavy lines. Patterns like houndstooth and chevrons can also have this effect. Busy patterns can come across as blurry, making your wardrobe choice look less professional. You don’t want the hiring manager to focus on your clothes rather than listening to your answers.
This applies to your background as well – keep it simple and solid-coloured. Be cautious wearing white if you’ll be using a light-coloured background as that can end up making you look washed out. When in doubt, stick with solid colours.
Be careful not to over makeup you’re facial.
You can get away with wearing a bit of extra makeup to adjust for poor lighting or lower video quality, but don’t go overboard. Makeup is far less important than overall grooming. As long as your hair is brushed and your clothes aren’t wrinkled, makeup won’t make or break an interview.
Do a test run the day before to get the look you want so you don’t have to stress about it the day of the interview. Always start out with your normal makeup look, then tweak it as necessary to ensure it translates well to video.
As a rule of thumb- don’t wear anything on a video interview that you wouldn’t wear in person. We wish you good luck with your next interview!
