Introduction
Most of us have all been in an awkward situation who calls first during a scheduled Skype interview. Don’t worry. We’ve you covered. After our intensive research, we’re proud to state that calling is for the interviewer as texting is for the interviewee. Don’t be confused yet. Below, we’ll give you a summary of what we mean.
The big question is; during a Skype interview scheduled at a particular time, should you call the employer first or wait for them to call you and initiate the interview?
It’s the duty of your employer to call, not you. It’s only in a very rare situation that an Interviewee can initiate a call. This situation can only happen if it was agreed beforehand between you and the interviewer. Let’s say in a Skype interview scheduled to be by 12 pm, and you got yourself buckled up waiting patiently for the time to arrive, and eventually, it did. You got a call from your employer on Skype, and here goes your interview, but what if you waited many seconds, minutes, and hours and no call yet from your employer? What are you supposed to do, are you supposed to call in immediately? Probably they forgot or got busy with another interviewee or keep calm? From our findings, we’re bold to say that you dare not dial the call button and happy to state that the law of ethics forbids that.
What should you know?
As a person in this confused state of mind, you’ll have to wait for few minutes, but we recommend just 10 minutes before you’ll ping a text to them via your Skype and wait to get a reply. On the other hand, if the reply didn’t come as expected after 10 minutes, we advise that you forward a message to them via their email and probably ask for a rescheduling of the interview. From experience, most employees do reply.
Important to note here is that you should never dial the call button!
Skype works excitingly in the sense that you connect online. It makes you obviously know if the other party is available online. It is normally recommended that you send a message when the interview is meant to start or just beforehand to say that you are ready. Often they will send a message asking, “are you ready to go?”
From our findings, some of the reasons you should never dial the call button includes:
- Probably, there was an enlargement of time for an interviewee that came before you and unluckily it spilled to affect your own scheduled time. You’ll be a nuisance if you call!
- Probably, there was an urgent meeting the company is handling at that point in time and you dialed in to solicit why you haven’t been called yet. Just know you’ll be a nuisance if you call
Either way, we advise that you should never dial in but rather follow the polite steps already stated above. Just know that some jolly happy interviewees have got their interview or appointment lost at this point. Some were never called back again ever after this attitude. Been the first to call goes against the rules of ethics, and objectively, it’s never to be done!
Some important points to take home from the above:
- Get ready for your interview before the time.
- Patiently wait to be called by your interviewer.
- Never call first unless it was prior agreed between you both.
- At most, leave a message on Skype after a few minutes of waiting
- Send your interviewer an email after waiting for 10 or 15 minutes and hopefully wait for a call in or reschedule of interview
Conclusion
In conclusion, many instances can prevent you from being called immediately during a scheduled interview but in any circumstance, NEVER CALL FIRST!
Frequently Asked Questions
- What if I called in and they pick up apologizing that their inability to call was because they forgot. Will it still matter to obey your principles above? The principle above is a general one, that should be applied in every situation. That you called in and they well-received your call doesn’t mean it’s the best thing to do.
- During a Skype interview or interviews generally, how are you supposed to address the questions asked you? From experience, I believe you should try as much as possible to make your interview environment interactive and most times avoid direct answers to questions asked. Another important issue we need to tackle is how to start a Skype interview. Firstly, when both parties are present, it’s the duty of the employer to welcome you and properly check if everything is working. These include; Checking if the employees’ video is enabled, Checking if he can be heard perfectly well by the employee. After the check above is confirmed, the employer starts with the initial statement and this is majorly a brief summary of how the interview is going to be, coupled with suiting words to calm your nerves down or make the environment a pleasant place to be in. Usually starts with welcoming and checking if everything is working. Usually, a recruiter is calling the candidate with or without a video option after adding the candidate’s Skype ID to contacts. Then the recruiter is welcoming the candidate and checking if the candidate has a video (if enabled) and if he/she can hear the recruiter correctly. Also, the recruiter makes sure that there is good quality audio and video (in enabled) on his/her side. If everything goes well then the recruiter is starting an initial conversation – usually asks some casual questions at the beginning to comfort the candidate and later explains how the interview is going to look like. After that, the recruiter starts to follow the described steps. The manner to dress in a scheduled Skype interview. It’s important to let you know that the first thing generally noticed everywhere in you, especially in an interview setting is your dressing sense or appearance as the case may be. We generally advise an employer to appear properly dressed and in a very conducive environment. It’s a very big red flag to neglect your dressing sense and environment during an interview. Some have been shut off and denied a job because of their appearance. Furthermore, it’s very important to solicit the nature of the interview, if it’s going to be via a video call or audio, so you can carefully choose your environment and appearance beforehand.
- How long should it take before I can seek for rescheduling of the interview? As we stated earlier, 10 to 15 minutes of your employer not getting in touch with you is enough time to seek for rescheduling of the Interview. If it’s a phone interview, I usually suggest that if the interviewer is late by 25% of the allotted time, you should reschedule (If the interview is scheduled to be 30 minutes long, if the interviewer is late by 8 minutes, then reschedule. Hour-long interview? Wait 15 minutes, then email them to reschedule). Not only is your time valuable, but you want to have the benefit of the full 30 minutes to build your case and ask your questions—and giving up 25% of the scheduled time pretty much ensures that you won’t have that opportunity.
Remember, the interview is not just about them sizing you up. It’s also an opportunity for you to get information from them. You may lose the job opportunity, entirely especially from an employer who thinks that the interview is all about them and that you’re lucky to be interviewing with them. Still, then you also have to make a judgment call about whether you want to work for a boss who thinks about his workers that way.
In General, here are some important tips to help you conquer your Skip interview:
- Always establish a conducive environment. As we stated earlier your environment should be conducive notwithstanding the nature of the interview. This is to avoid the interviewer or you from getting distracted.
- Practice they say creates perfection. Always simulate an interview on Skype with friends. In that way, you’ll appear much more prepared to conquer your interview.
- If you haven’t been using Skype, you need to get yourself familiarized with the skip tools. This will ensure easy flow between you and the interviewer.
- It’s also very important to have a list of well-structured question(s) to ask the interviewer at the end of the session. In that way, the employer will know how passionate you’re to work with them.
- Then make sure your Skype account appears professional. This has to do with your profile picture and username. This is because it’s the first thing an interviewer ever sees before calling
