Introduction
Good audio quality is absolutely key for a successful HireVue interview.
You might have the best answers, great delivery and an amazing smile, but if all the person viewing your HireVue answers (or HireVue’s AI reviewing your answers!) can hear is a tinny sounding voice under the whir of your laptop fan, the neighbor’s dogs and echoes – you’re in trouble!
Set yourself apart from the rest of the applicants the moment the first word comes out of your mouth with great audio quality!
Follow the 3 simple steps below and later on find out how good your audio quality is on Voomer, where you can get AI-powered feedback before you do your HireVue interview.
Step 1
The easiest thing to do is to make sure your microphone is close to your mouth.
If using a laptop, simply scoot forward or pull the laptop towards you. If you are using a microphone tethered to your headphones, make sure they are turned towards your mouth – I’ve “heard” several people that submitted videos with their microphones close to their mouths but turned away! They didn’t sound very good at all!
Avoid that simple mistake and you’ll be better off than most applicants right from the get-go.
Step 2
Consider investing in a stand alone microphone.
If you follow podcasts or watch Youtube or Twitch you might think that a decent microphone costs hundreds of dollars. While some do, a $10 lapel microphone will probably be better than your onboard laptop microphone!
Using a stand alone microphone almost guarantees you’ll eliminate some distracting sounds like your laptop fan whirring – and yes, we can hear that!
So consider investing a bit in a microphon – your voice will come across loud and clear!
Step 3
This step is surprisingly simple – but many don’t even think about doing this. Record yourself on your computer (with your external microphone!) BEFORE you fire up your HireVue interview.
This will make it clear to you if you need adjust something in your set up.
Though keep in mind, the thing that might need adjustment can be the environment around you.
Be aware of any background noise (traffic, dogs barking, etc). Some people have done their HireVues from the bathroom simply because its was the quietest room in the house!
However, careful with recording in places that are surrounded by hard surfaces (like windows and tiles) since those reflect sound very well and can cause an echo.
Doing a dry run of your HireVue by recording yourself on your computer helps to ensure all of your audio prep is OK and your HireVue answers will come through loud and clear.
Conclusion & final tip
Ensuring your audio is coming across clear and crisply is as important as your answers on the HireVue.
If you can’t be heard well, the person viewing your answers will be dismissed and HireVue’s AI won’t be able to run its analyses on you – pushing your application to the bottom of the pile.
A great way to check if your set up is working is to practice on Voomer. You’ll get AI-powered feedback on how you sound and on top of that, you can practice on hundreds of HireVue style questions broken down by company and role.
Increase your chances of landing that dream job by prepping with Voomer!
If you want to see all of the above steps put in practice in video, check out this link on YouTube.