Introduction
Have you been ever been on a Zoom or FaceTime call and the other person was barely visible due to a lack of light or so backlit you could only see their outline?
Those issues are caused by bad lighting – and it can happen on your HireVue as well!
It doesn’t matter if the company you are applying to uses HireVue’s AI analysis system or only allows humans to review videos – bad lighting can destroy your chances of getting a job in both situations.
This is an extremely easy issue to fix, and it will set you apart from the other applicants before you even open your mouth to answer the first question.
Read on below to find out how, or use a platform like Voomer to get AI-powered feedback on your lighting set up.
Step 1
Make sure your face is well lit by placing lights behind your camera.
This makes sure your facial body language is picked up by HireVue’s AI or the human reviewer quickly – they don’t have to struggle to see whether or not you are smiling or grimacing.
Furthermore, having your face well lit demonstrates to the reviewers that you took the time to plan your HireVue interview in advance and are a serious candidate for the job.
Step 2
Remove or turn off any lights that are in front of the camera.
This prevents overexposing your background – that’s when your background is a very bright white. Overexposed backgrounds can be very distracting, especially as your camera will usually try to automatically compensate for this and reduce the exposure of the entire frame – which brings the brightness of your face down.
As we discussed in step 1, the most important issue on your HireVue lighting wise is to have your face well lit! So a bright background negates that benefit.
Keep in mind that windows and mirror behind you (like in the middle picture below) also can cause your background to be over exposed.
Long story short – no lights behind you!
Step 3
Use as much natural light as possible.
Natural light looks great on anybody and helps to brighten up an environment almost uniformly. So open up those curtains!
Just keep in mind step 2 above – if your windows are facing the camera, keep the curtains closed or – even better – angle the camera away from the window so you can still use natural light.
Conclusion and bonus tip
Thinking for just a minute about your HireVue lighting will put you ahead of everyone that didn’t think about their lighting set up before even answering the first question. Believe me when I say that the vast majority of applicants submitting HireVue intervews don’t even realize that lighting is a key deciding factor in whether or not your HireVue interview will be sucessful.
Use a platform like Voomer to check if your lighting is up to scratch. You’ll get AI-powered feedback on your lighting and recommendations on how to improve it.
On top of that, with Voomer you’ll get access to hundreds of questions asked in HireVue interviews broken down by company and role. Start practicing for your HireVue interview on Voomer today!