My First Sonru Interview Experience

Hey Steemit!

I have applied for a fairly competitive job recently, in which there are roughly nine stages in the recruitment process. These nine stages include the initial application, a Sonru interview, a phone interview, a face-to-face interview, an assessment centre, background checks, referee checks and then acceptance of offer for whichever candidate is left standing at the end of all that.

I have been successful past the first round and this week I participated in my first ever Sonru interview for the job. It is quite a unique experience and so I thought I might write about it in case I can provide insight for any Steemians out there who will go through a similar interview experience.

For those who aren't familiar with Sonru, it is a website/app service that allows recruiters at companies to set a list of interview questions to potential candidates and have those candidates record video footage of themselves responding to those questions. The footage is then saved and uploaded for the recruiters to review.

Here is a video by Sonru explaining the process:

It has been around four years since I undertook job interviews and so the Sonru interview is a good way to get back into the mindset of thinking on my feet and synthesizing answers to interview questions.

For anybody else out there who may have to do an interview like this in the future for a job, I would offer the following advice:

- You can never have enough light.

I used the Android Sonru app and during my practice run I was barely visible in the recorded video footage. I did my practice run in a room with the light one and a giant window with lots of natural light flowing in. This was still not enough light and in the recorded practice footage it was so dark I was only visible as a dark shadowy figure.

In the end, only by recording in my bathroom with the heat lamps and the fluorescent light on could I actually record footage where I will visible.

If you're recording in your bedroom or home office using a computer webcam, then be sure to place lamps behind your computer monitor to illuminate your face.

- Try not to use a mobile phone to do your interview.

It is much better to be able to sit down and do your interview at a computer. That way you can actually relax and adopt a comfortable posture. When I did mine on my phone my arm got sore as I had my arm extended out holding my phone up in front of my face.

- Don't leave your Sonru interview to the deadline - like I did!

It is best to get in and get it done early and not leave it to the end of your allotted time. That way you have time to troubleshoot any problems with lighting or audio that may arise. I left mine til the end because I am extremely busy, so when I had to troubleshoot lighting issues I was left with only an hour or so until my submission deadline, which is definitely not conducive to maintaining a calm mindset!

Thanks for reading Steemians. I hope you find my article insightful and good luck to any other people currently applying for jobs.

Apsis.