Video interview?!!..What to expect?

kaneda187

I have a video interview that has to be completed by Sunday the 11th, I haven't done one of these before and I'm freaked its for a customer support role in a games company. I haven't done an interview in about 3 or 4 years is their any new questions I should prepare for and any advice anybody could give me.
I generally want to know what to expect?
What should I ware?
Possible Questions?
Any advice would be great!! Thanks!

Mr E

Are you a gamer? Get familiar with their games (especially their current and upcoming games). Even a basic knowledge shows a certain level of interest (better than going in there not knowing anything about what they do).

As with any interview, dress smartly.

Good luck!

Lister1

Bioware I would assume. I did this interview a while back and it isnt very difficult. You get a practice question at the start of the interview which you can review and when happy continue to the interview proper. It can be a bit unnerving having to answer to a camera(with the video of yourself on screen!) so maybe make yourself comfortable with this before you do the interview proper. Ensure that there are no distracting noises in the house(dogs are not present) and best if you have the house to yourself so that nobody interupts you. When the interview kicks off proper you have about 2 minutes after you have seem the question to gather your thoughts and come up with a response.

From what I can recall there were no game specific questions in the video interview so dont fret too much about these(a basic knowledge of their products will be all thats required for the face to face interview). It is likely the customer service position you are going for so focus on this aspect and prepare accordingly.

I passsed this stage and despite the face to face interview going well I didnt get the job(and also know of another in my position). During the f2f interview I had stressed that I would be pushing myself for promotion to a higher position which didnt seem to go down to well with the interviewer as they seemed to be interviewing for the junior positions and hence didnt want people who appeared to ambitious. Also the job would have involved myself relocating but for what ever reason I didnt manage to bring this up during the interview(my fault) so I felt they may have had doubts on my ability to commit to the company and long term prospects of being employed there.

If you have any other specific questions post here or pm and I will check back to provide answers.

Best of luck and do let us know how you get on.

kaneda187

Lister1 wrote: »

Bioware I would assume. I did this interview a while back and it isnt very difficult. You get a practice question at the start of the interview which you can review and when happy continue to the interview proper. It can be a bit unnerving having to answer to a camera(with the video of yourself on screen!) so maybe make yourself comfortable with this before you do the interview proper. Ensure that there are no distracting noises in the house(dogs are not present) and best if you have the house to yourself so that nobody interupts you. When the interview kicks off proper you have about 2 minutes after you have seem the question to gather your thoughts and come up with a response.

From what I can recall there were no game specific questions in the video interview so dont fret too much about these(a basic knowledge of their products will be all thats required for the face to face interview). It is likely the customer service position you are going for so focus on this aspect and prepare accordingly.

I passsed this stage and despite the face to face interview going well I didnt get the job(and also know of another in my position). During the f2f interview I had stressed that I would be pushing myself for promotion to a higher position which didnt seem to go down to well with the interviewer as they seemed to be interviewing for the junior positions and hence didnt want people who appeared to ambitious. Also the job would have involved myself relocating but for what ever reason I didnt manage to bring this up during the interview(my fault) so I felt they may have had doubts on my ability to commit to the company and long term prospects of being employed there.

If you have any other specific questions post here or pm and I will check back to provide answers.

Best of luck and do let us know how you get on.

Thanks for getting back to me.
So how long should the whole thing take?, I've been really busy in work at the moment so haven't really had a chance to prepare...to be honest I'm stressed out about the whole thing. Its for the customer service side of things and I know I'm good at that but I just hope I can get it across in the interview any other tips? Bioware are one of my fav developers it would be a dream job! Do i need to know much about the company? I already do really :rolleyes: how long ago did you do the interview?

Lister1

kaneda187 wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me.
So how long should the whole thing take?, I've been really busy in work at the moment so haven't really had a chance to prepare...to be honest I'm stressed out about the whole thing. Its for the customer service side of things and I know I'm good at that but I just hope I can get it across in the interview any other tips? Bioware are one of my fav developers it would be a dream job! Do i need to know much about the company? I already do really :rolleyes: how long ago did you do the interview?

I think you are given about 3 minutes to answer each question but if you are finished answering you can procede to the next question. For this part of the interview from what I can recall no questions about the company were asked. Approach the interview from it being about customer service and treat it as you would any other interview for a CS position with another company. They want to hear about how you would treat their customers and not how you love computer games so remember that!

I did the interview about 3 months ago and wouldnt think anything has changed in that time.

Chessala

Heya, I had one of those not too long ago for a different games company, customer support as well. As it wasn't for Bioware I hope this will be helpful for you. Worked for me as I got my job in the end (now happily employed there since May)

It took about 20-30 minutes and in general it's just like a normal face-to-face interview. Generally they go that route to get to know you and save you and themselves the hassle of going there in case you don't *click*. In my case I was asked about specific experiences I had made with an angry customer so you should have an example of that ready (always popular I believe).
Questions were also about telling them about a situation were I helped solve a problem and how I went about that.

I doubt you'll get game specific questions. If possible let your passion for gaming shine through if it's appropriate and expect to have some questions about the company in general.

A question that I was asked in all 3 interviews for the company was were I see myself in a few years. For me saying that I imagine myself being settled in a company and, if possible, be in a team-leader position seemed to impress them quite a bit.

As Lister1 mentioned appear ambitious but not too much! I think it's a good idea to ask about career possibilities in the end when you're asked if you have questions. IMO it shows that you have interest in progressing in the company but doesn't push the alarm button.

Also make sure you dress appropriately! It's a video interview but you wouldn't want to screw it up because of your clothes. Dress as if you would go to a face-to-face interview.

Also make sure to sit down in front of the computer like 15 mins before the interview starts and work our the right light and angle of the camera so they can see you well.

During the interview make sure to look into the camera every now and then instead of just on your screen, especially when you answer a question. This will get the "eye-contact" effect and will make them feel more that you actually talk to them!

Good luck tomorrow!

kaneda187

Well good news for me....I absolutely blew it on the video interview! and just got a call back for a face to face interview next week.
Im shocked because I didn't do well in the video interview at all I mean I froze up for about a minuet and could barley speak after I was shaking nervously, my laptop screensaver kept coming on and it was all round terrible. I did feel I ended it well so maybe that's what saved me.
Anyways thats made my day Ill keep ya posted on how it goes.
Wish me luck!
And Thanks so much for the replies and advice!!:D

Lister1

Best of luck with the face to face interview and remember the advice you got here. Keep customer service to the forefront as this is what they want to hear about.

One last thing to note....is that the interviewers will be in their casuals rather then suited and booted so anyone that walks past you in the office could possibly be one of the people interviewing you.