How to prepare for technology failing during an interview or important meeeting

jo from careers and employability revisits a recent experience at an online meeting to share some of the things that she has learnt about technology and why it’s really important to prepare and practice. 

during a recent online video meeting, i experienced a number of technical issues at the point where i was due to give updates and present on a few topics. my wifi failed, i then lost connection to both the online meeting and my online work desktop. to top it all off my laptop then froze and i wasn’t in a meeting with colleagues from my own service at the time either so none of the attendees had access to my documents. i managed to regain connection after 20 minutes and gave my updates in the meeting from memory and using my phone which was ok but certainly not what i had planned! on reflection i realised there were a few things i could do in advance next time to prepare for such eventualities. here are a few things i learned from this experience and a few i’ve learned from my great colleagues in the careers service for how you can be more prepared for technical glitches during online interviews or meetings.

 

Documents and presentations, get organised!

 

• When attending online interviews, contact the employer in advance and ask if you can send them any presentation documents / slides ahead of the interview so that they already have them if you face technical issues.

 

 

• Write down on paper all of the details for the meeting, including: contact details such as a telephone number (this maybe someone’s mobile number if they are home based so not everyone will have this or wish to share it) and/or email address of a key contact. Also ID and password for the online meeting is one is required.

 

• Save your documents in multiple places in case one online platform fails. Of course if your technical issue means that your laptop stops working then you need to be ready with your phone.

 

• Send an email to yourself prior to the meeting / interview including all of your documents that you will need for this online interaction. Set your phone up to be able to access your e-mails or at least ensure you can access those online via your phone beforehand.

 

• Take screen shot photos of the different presentation slides / documents and save them to your phone again so you have a visual of your content which you can either send or use yourself to read from.  If all else fails you will have a visual of your documents and can read from them if nothing else works!

Technology, practice and prepare!

 

• If you know in advance which video platform you will be using then practise using it if you can. You could set up fake meeting with a friend / family member and practise presenting and screen sharing.

 

• Also set the video platform up on your phone in addition to other devices such as a laptop or a tablet, this might enable you to re-join the meeting on your phone if you have issues with another device.

 

• Ensure your laptop is plugged in and fully charged

 

• If you are using a mini-wifi / portable wifi hub make sure the battery is sufficiently charged

 

• If possible you could ask others in the house to refrain from using the wifi just whilst your interview lasts.

 

• Check your internet speed, move to a different location in your home if need be.

Sometimes technology just fails and you cannot prepare for every eventuality. Do all you can to be prepared but remember if you do have technical issues stay calm, don’t give up, do want you can to finish the task at hand and the employer will look favourably on your ability to deal with unexpected situations.

Read further advice on how to prepare for video interviews

The Careers Service is also hosting a Q&A panel on 22^nd July which covers preparing for video interviews and virtual assessment centres. Book your place on MyCareer