4 Tips for Speed Interviewing Online

Miller Mosaic co-founder Yael K. Miller had a new online experience thanks to the University of Pennsylvania, which hosted an online mentoring event for Penn alumni (Yael graduated in 2005) and current students interested in the media and entertainment fields.

The online event was announced via a Penn LinkedIn group. And the online platform used for the event was brazencareerist.com, which is in beta on its functionality. Unfortunately, as Yael said, "The concept is in alpha."

How this worked:



The concept is called network roulette, and it revolves around matching pairs of employers and prospective employees online for a five-minute online chat. The Penn event was for mentoring rather than employment purposes, but the experience highlighted the basic flaw in the concept.

The main problem, as Yael experienced, is that most people do not type fast enough to enable any kind of worthwhile conversation in less than five minutes of typing back-and-forth.

Additionally, the typed conversations on this platform are saved and are then available to be reviewed. Thus all the problems that quickly typed questions and answers might reveal are preserved.

Yael's feedback was that either the interview time needs to be lengthened or voice interviews rather than typed interviews need to be utilized for a five-minute time slot.

Now for the four tips for this type of online speed networking, which may become popular even though the issues discussed above are not resolved:

As the author of the soon-to-be released 3-ebook series for teens and young adults, I see this new interviewing platform as yet another opportunity to distinguish oneself – or shoot oneself in the foot.



1. Ahead of time – type some well-thought-out answers. Use these when appropriate to speed up the conversation by copying and pasting the answers from the Word doc.

One student that Yael was advising kept typing "I see" to everything Yael wrote. The response "I see" over and over again does not project a professional image.

If the student had not prepared some answers ahead of time, she could have at least varied her responses by typing, for example, "That's a good idea" or "I like that suggestion."

2. Do the same thing ahead of time for questions – prepare some well-thought-out ones. This way you will again appear professionally – and you will have time to correct any spelling or typing errors.

The opening question from each of these students to the different alums could have been: "What positions have you held in the media or entertainment field?"

Depending on the response from the Penn alum, the students could frame their next question more directly to those positions.

3. Ask about internships. Often unpaid, internships are a way to learn about career paths without asking someone for a paying job.

By immediately asking about internships in the specific field, you can demonstrate that you are willing to start at the bottom in order to enter this field. That willingness can serve you well.



4. If there is a warning that the quick online interview is about to end, express appreciation for the opportunity. Most people enjoy being thanked for their time and input.



Bonus tips:



While this particular site is still in beta (and needs more than a quick tune-up to function smoothly), other speed-interviewing online sites may pop up. Therefore, it is a good idea to start practicing now to quickly and accurately type with all your fingers (not just your thumbs on a smartphone).

And while you can keep a generic "prep sheet" as a foundation for each online interview, you should add ahead of time specific questions relating to a specific field and position before having the interview for that position online. You want to come across in five minutes as professional and engaging -– not amateurish and blah!

© 2012 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which is now WBENC certified and helps clients effectively use social media and other online marketing strategies.

Check out Phyllis' books and other projects at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com