Possible reasons for being rejected after a video interview

[ginevrafanshawe]

Hi everyone! I got to the video interview stage for Willkie Farr, and was rejected afterwards. I know that they assess each stage individually so my rejection was entirely due to the video interview. What are some possible reasons why this could have happened? I'd like to think about them in advance of my next interview, and also this thread could be helpful for anyone who has a video interview coming up and wants to be aware of any potential pitfalls.

I'll start with some possible reasons I've considered - I'm not sure if these are things that recruitment would reject someone for but they seem like they could be a problem:

- Lack of eye contact with the camera / clearly reading from something offscreen
- Lack of clear structure in your answers, ie rambling
- Unprofessional presentation, eg clothes and background
- Lack of confidence in presenting your answers / awkwardness

Thanks in advance for anyone who helps me add to my list!

 

[CorpLawyer00]

Hi everyone! I got to the video interview stage for Willkie Farr, and was rejected afterwards. I know that they assess each stage individually so my rejection was entirely due to the video interview. What are some possible reasons why this could have happened? I'd like to think about them in advance of my next interview, and also this thread could be helpful for anyone who has a video interview coming up and wants to be aware of any potential pitfalls.

I'll start with some possible reasons I've considered - I'm not sure if these are things that recruitment would reject someone for but they seem like they could be a problem:

- Lack of eye contact with the camera / clearly reading from something offscreen
- Lack of clear structure in your answers, ie rambling
- Unprofessional presentation, eg clothes and background
- Lack of confidence in presenting your answers / awkwardness

Thanks in advance for anyone who helps me add to my list!

I find video interviews incredibly awkward no matter what I try

 

[Fil]

Another reason could simply be the content of your answer. Although it may not be wrong, it may not have been up to par with the rest of the candidates - Willkie has many applications for very few spots. In my experience, asking for a feedback call is the best way to answer your question. I did just that and was told that the sole reason for my rejection was that in the interview I did not add anything extra to the 'Why Willkie' question compared to my written application.

 

[ginevrafanshawe]

Another reason could simply be the content of your answer. Although it may not be wrong, it may not have been up to par with the rest of the candidates - Willkie has many applications for very few spots. In my experience, asking for a feedback call is the best way to answer your question. I did just that and was told that the sole reason for my rejection was that in the interview I did not add anything extra to the 'Why Willkie' question compared to my written application.

Thank you very much for your answer because I now realise that's exactly what I did! I wrongly thought that if they were asking the same question twice they must not mind people giving the same answer twice, so I gave pretty much exactly the same points. At least now I know for my next interview not to do that again!

 

[NatashaS98]

Hi everyone - I am a video interviewer at TCLA and wanted to offer a couple of thoughts in case these help:

- I would generally echo all of your points @ginevrafanshawe. As @Fil has also pointed out, content can also really affect your answer.
- VIs can be really subjective but as a rule of thumb you might want to think about your Composure (e.g. eye contact, nervousness), Communication (eg. overly scripted, hard to hear, stumbles), Content (e.g. content that does not answer the question or unpreparedness) and Delivery (e.g. poor lighting).
- Utterances and fillers can hamper the fluidity of your answer.
- With scenario-based questions, it is common for unsuccessful applicants to focus sometimes more on the scenario at hand and less on the actions you took and the result. This is often because they run out of time to elaborate on their actions and results – so I would say time-management is also really crucial here.
- Energy is everything. I remember doing 2 VIs pretty much one after the other- one VI I felt I had done well in terms of the content of my answer. The other I was less certain about. However, the VI I thought went well I received a rejection for and for the other I passed through and eventually went on to get a TC at that firm. When I think back, I think one of the reasons I might not have got past the VI for the one I thought I had done well in was because my delivery was a bit flat. In my successful VI, my points were perhaps less good but I was really enthusiastic and smiley. Given graduate recruitment are reviewing lots of video interviews, as such they aren’t assessing you just on your points but also on how you come across/make them feel. I think coming across as personable is really important.