Interview Tip: One Big No-No for Online Interviewees

Are you confident with your face-to-face interview skills? What about your online interview skills? Are they at par with your offline interview skills?

There may not be that much of a difference with the interview questions and how they should be answered. But the media used in online interviews can make a big difference, especially if the interviewee is not that Internet savvy or has acquired certain habits.

If you’re just starting out as a freelancer looking for online gigs especially through freelance marketplaces, I recommend oDesk Insider’s interview tips. The email interview tip that won my nod the most is “remaining polite throughout the interview and professional as buyers do not want to work with people who “rub them the wrong way”. As for the instant message interview tips…

One recent major online interview boo-boo that I’ve committed is trying to win two online interviews conducted simultaneously. This is one of those initially seemingly good choices that are actually recipe to multi-tasking failures. Case in point:

Interviewer: Can you point me to similar projects you’ve done in the past and for whom you’ve done it?

Me: Yes, do you know [insert name of a past client]?

Interviewer: Who is he?

Me: It is a client. I did him

Me: … site’s SEO.

OMG, right? Do you think I got the project?

demotivator from Despair, Inc.