{"id":20504,"date":"2020-05-01T22:15:26","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T22:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=20504"},"modified":"2020-05-01T22:15:26","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T22:15:26","slug":"pants-or-no-pants-tips-for-virtual-job-interviews-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/pants-or-no-pants-tips-for-virtual-job-interviews-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Pants or no pants? Tips for virtual job interviews from home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth C. Tippett<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

If you have the good fortune of scoring a virtual job interview in the middle of a pandemic, the initial euphoria of potential employment may soon be replaced with anxiety over what to wear \u2013 as well as putting your home life on display for a potential employer. <\/p>\n

And with good reason. Social scientists have found<\/a> that traditional<\/a> interviews \u2013 without set questions or scoring metrics \u2013 are poor predictors of job performance. <\/p>\n

When this happens, interviewers make subjective judgments based on irrelevant information, like physical appearance and nonverbal cues<\/a>. Illegal stereotypes<\/a> based on gender and race may also be at play.<\/p>\n

And unfortunately, employment litigation has not succeeded in tamping down these practices. Although many companies were successfully sued<\/a> in the early 2000s for making subjective employment decisions in hiring, pay and promotion, a Supreme Court ruling<\/a> in 2012 made those claims nearly impossible to bring as a class action. As a result, companies have little incentive to ensure their interview practices relate to on-the-job performance. <\/p>\n

That left job candidates focusing much of their energy<\/a> on making a good impression instead of demonstrating important job skills. And that was before the pandemic, when applicants had the benefit of a neutral conference room as a backdrop. Adding the personal details of your home environment and quarantine companions to the mix \u2013 whether human or animal \u2013 doesn\u2019t make it better.<\/p>\n

My advice as an employment lawyer and law professor<\/a> boils down to this: You are under no obligation to introduce your prospective boss into your home life through video chat. In other words, there\u2019s no shame in attempting to recreate that conference room environment at home.<\/p>\n

What should you wear?<\/h2>\n

Pants. <\/p>\n

Definitely wear pants, even if you think they can\u2019t see the lower half of your body, like the unfortunate half-dressed reporter<\/a> on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d whose bare legs were exposed on national television. You wouldn\u2019t want to be violating that workplace harassment policy right out of the gate. <\/p>\n

Basically you should dress the way you would for an in-person interview, which may be varying degrees of formal depending on the industry and the role you are interviewing for. When I worked in a law firm, it was common for prospective lawyers to wear a suit to the interview, even though the office itself was business casual and people dressed however they liked when working from home.<\/p>\n

If anyone in your social network currently works in the industry \u2013 or for the company \u2013 don\u2019t hesitate to ask for their advice on what to wear. <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n A great example of the \u2018Drake method.\u2019<\/span>
\n Basak Gurbuz Derman\/Getty Images<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How should I set up the camera\u2019s background?<\/h2>\n

Traditional job interviews are a contest of wills between a candidate\u2019s desire to conceal their true qualities and an employer\u2019s efforts to suss them out, through not-so-subtle questions like, \u201cWhat are your weaknesses?\u201d <\/p>\n

Ordinarily, you can expect a little help from the law in this regard, since companies shouldn\u2019t be asking questions that hint at a discriminatory motive \u2013 like your religion<\/a> or whether you have a disability<\/a>. Some states also place restrictions<\/a> on asking about criminal arrests and convictions before making a job offer.<\/p>\n

Virtual job interviews upset the balance by revealing the contents of your home. This is fundamentally unfair in the interview concealment tug of war. It\u2019s not like your boss, let alone a potential boss, would show up at your doorstep and demand to see your apartment \u2013 though Henry Ford used to send inspectors<\/a> to do just that, in exchange for a pay raise if you passed the inspection.<\/p>\n

You, dear prospective job applicant, are getting no such inspection bonus and therefore need not offer your interviewer a portal into your personal life.<\/p>\n

That is why I use the \u201cDrake method\u201d for zoom meetings. I set up my laptop to point at a bare corner of wall, like Drake\u2019s Hotline Bling video<\/a>. That way, I reveal nothing about my questionable interior decorating and life choices.<\/p>\n

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