How to BEST Prepare For Your Virtual Negotiations with Haylee Harrison

Hey everyone, and welcome to our Throwback episode. In our Throwback episodes, we are reintroducing you to some of our most popular episodes. This is great for new listeners who want to learn more about the work we've done in the past. And it's a great refresher if you've been a listener for a long time. Enjoy. Haley, thanks for joining us today.

Hey, how are you, Kwame?

I'm doing well, thanks. We're excited to have you. So how about you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Okay. So I am a recruiter for Comp Health's Pharmacy team. And I on the side also edit resumes and cover letters applications for people. Yeah, so I do direct hire permanent placement, which means we find people permanent long term positions instead of like the traveling type of recruiting.

Fantastic. Yeah. And so we had this whole episode planned on how you can negotiate with your recruiter or in recruiting, how you can negotiate effectively. And then the world changed significantly with the pandemic. And now we're recognizing that you have a particular set of skills that can be beneficial in this time as it relates to virtual communication. And so you said part of your coaching that you do with some people involves how to handle virtual interviews. Can you tell the audience about that?

Yeah, sure. So our candidates, we prep them for interviews which will be, you know, face interviews, phone interviews, or now more and more because of the COVID 19 pandemic that we're all going through more video interviews. So there's some tools we have that we like to prep people with and just some basics that aren't really focused more on the interview side, but more on the actual making sure you're. Whether it's any medium of video interview goes well. And so that's what we were going to focus on today.

Exactly. Yeah. And the cool thing is there's a lot of overlap between the things that you need to keep in mind as far as best practices as it relates to virtual interviews, as it relates to negotiating in general using video conference. And so there are so many different things that we want to talk about today. Usually I like to limit it to three, but. But there's so much good stuff that you talked about that I think we'll just let the conversation roll and see where it goes. So where should we start?

I think you made a really good point too though, that this isn't just interview prep. This is things that you can do for any kind of conference calls or any negotiations that you're doing. So first things first, since People can't see your background and what's going on there. There's no reason you shouldn't have some cheat sheets to help you. So whether it's little notes to yourself, like slow down and take a breath, or whether you have your resume out in front of you or answers to questions for the interview you think you might have, but you might as well have all of that information out around you so that you can glance at it if you need it.

Right. And I think this applies again perfectly for video negotiations. And one of the things that you talked about in the prep that I thought was really, really cool was putting notes actually on the computer itself and behind the computer over top, so you could refer to it very quickly without having to obviously look down so people can see you're looking at notes.

Right, exactly. And that kind of leads into another point as well. You want to make sure that you have eye contact during these video interviews. So often I'll put a little post it note right on my screen with a little arrow at the actual camera and a little post it note over my face. Because people tend to kind of look at themselves during these video calls. Right. You kind of look at yourself and you look at the person. But to give that actual sense of eye contact, you want to look directly at the camera, which is really kind of weird to do. So sometimes a little arrow pointing directly at it, or post note over your own face. So at least you've removed that distraction because you still want to see the other person. That can help you figure out how you want to answer questions, what their body language is like. But reduce your distractions because the camera is still looking directly at you. So even if you're looking at them on the screen, that's still a different place. It loses the sense of eye contact.

Absolutely. And so one little thing that I've done in the past to practice is when I'm on regular calls, I would open up my laptop and then look directly in the camera because it's not a natural thing to do at all. But by practicing it more and more, I started to get more comfortable. And so I can hold eye contact with the camera a little bit more naturally now.

Right. And that kind of leads right into another good point is you do want to make sure you're practicing, especially if this is a very big, important negotiation or conference call or interview. Right. You want to practice with somebody beforehand. So that little technical glitches like making sure you answer with the video and the audio both on, or practicing the eye contact part because it is challenging, and sometimes people kind of lose their place if they're looking at the camera instead of maybe looking at the person's face, because it is so unnatural looking at the machine, if you will. So things like that can be really helpful.

Definitely. And one of the things that you mentioned before that I thought was really, really important was being mindful of what it is that you wear. Can you tell us more about that one, too?

Yeah, absolutely. You want to make sure what you're wearing one. You want to dress to impress just as if you were there in person. So if you're in an interview, dress as you would for the interview. If it's a negotiation or if it's a conference call, you know, dress as if you would be there in person in the office. And that includes your pants. Just because they can't see you does not mean that they might not get a peep. If you, like, lean a little to the left or if something happens, God forbid, and, you know, the camera, maybe if you don't have one built into your laptop, maybe it falls. So, I mean, if you're not wearing it, that's when something will happen, and that's when people will see you wear your spongebob boxers. So just be careful there. But make sure you're dressed, you know, from head to toe, as if you normally would. It also helps put you in the mindset, too, though, of. Of the interview or of that important call.

Exactly. Yeah. And breaking it down in a psychological sense, it's priming. You're priming yourself. Whenever you put on a certain type of clothing, your mindset shifts and you get into business mode. Right. It's game time. And so that really has an impact on how you comport yourself during the conversation. Probably your tone and just your overall mentality as it relates to the conversation. You're sharper if you're dressed sharper.

And make sure you're also not wearing stripes or houndstooth. This is more exclusive to a video call, but it can, depending on the quality of the video on the other side, it can look a little funny or almost glitchy with the stripes or with the houndstooth patterns. So stick to a solid color. That's generally just your safe. Go to Same with your hair and your makeup. Do as you would for any interview or as if you were going to go into a day at work. Right. You want to keep it simple. This is probably not the best time to have the big dramatic eyeshadow or your hair done in some crazy fashion. Just keep it Simple.

And what about distractions?

Make sure everybody that you live with knows beforehand that you're doing conference calls. So if there's other people or maybe kids that could run in, then you know. And I think there's a. There's a famous video of a kid coming in during an important video interview on live TV with somebody, and the kid just was playing in the background and wanted to partake in the interview. So just make sure that everybody knows where you are so there's no distractions going on and that you have a good WI FI signal you're plugged into. If you can plug into the Ethernet directly, you'll probably have a stronger signal. If you need headphones, have them on. It's always better if you don't, but it's just more natural. But if you have to have them, utilize them and make sure you have as quiet of a location as possible prior to answering. You don't want to answer, and then have to start setting things up.

With regard to WI Fi, I like to make sure that I have backup options. So I'm in a place where I have an team A when it comes to WI Fi and then a B team. Right. Because sometimes our first strategy doesn't work and then I can downgrade from there. Okay, well, I have a hotspot on my phone. Okay, that was too slow. Let me just use my phone. And so I have some options going down from there. And then another thing with distracting noises, and I think you mentioned this with the things that could pop up on your computer. One thing that bothers me, that isn't necessarily something that makes noise, but I make the mistake of having my email open. And it's not even that I have the email open and I'm looking at the emails, but on the tab, I can see that my inbox is getting more and more full. And I just feel this wave of anxiety that is taking my focus away from what it is I'm supposed to be doing. So I've found a lot of success with just completely closing down my browser because all of those things are pulling attention, trying to pull my attention. And even if I'm not paying attention to it, I'm using mental energy to maintain my attention on this and fight those temptations too. So those are a few things I do to try to keep my head in the game when it comes to these. These important calls.

Yeah, that's a good point. That's been discussed before too. Making sure even if it's not distracting you, it could startle you if you get that ping that you have a new email coming in. Or if you're someone like me for work that does video calls through your computer. Right. It can start ringing and whether you hear it, the other side may also hear it too, depending on the computer and how loud it is. So you want to make sure all those things are turned off, all those kind of audio and computer distractions as well.

Right? Perfect. And you had some really interesting tips for the background. Can you tell the audience about that one too?

Yeah, for sure. So you want to make sure that if you can have a plain white wall, kind of background, or beige, or doesn't matter, solid color wall behind you, that's wonderful. That's your ideal environment. If it's not possible, for example, for myself in my home, that's not possible. You want to have it look clean and tidy. You don't want somebody distracted the whole time thinking, I wonder how long she's had this laundry basket there. Right. You want them focused on you and not your background. So make sure it's clean, things are put away, and that your background is just not terribly distracting. With that in mind, your lighting is also really important. You want to make sure the lighting is coming, if possible. Either you have just a very well lit room or the lighting is coming from behind the computer towards you. That's ideal. I hate to use the word selfie lighting, I really do, because I'm not that person. But it's okay if you are, because you already understand the concept. And if not, it probably still conveys the right thing. Right. You want the lighting coming directly at you, because if it's behind you, if there's some lights behind you, it can possibly look a little ominous. You may look like you're in an interrogation or something. So you want to make sure that people can see you. And with that, you also want to think about where the camera is in relation to your face. It's ideal if the camera is nose line, maybe slightly above, but at your face, face level. Right. Because if it's from below, you can again look very ominous. Think of how, you know, in the movies, the bad. The bad character, you always kind of see him and you're looking up at him. So you don't want to look like that. I mean, unless maybe you want to look like that. But for the most part, especially in an interview, you want to look friendly and engaging. And I think that generally works for most negotiations as well. So you want it to be, you know, eye level, nose level, maybe slightly above, but that's it. But you also, you just want to make sure that you're taking up most of the camera. So be close to the camera if possible. You don't want to be very far away so that you seem like this very small character in the background. You want to be present and what they're focusing on.

Yeah, this is great. That's something I do with the lighting. I actually went on Amazon and bought this little lamp that you can clip onto your table and adjust it. And it's a ring that looks directly onto you. And it was like 10, 15 bucks. So it's not that expensive to do something that's really easy to improve your lighting. And when I don't have that, I just use a lamp. And I think it's especially important if you're somebody with darker complexion. For the listeners who haven't seen my face, I am black. And if I don't have the proper lighting, I mean, I look like a shadow. So lighting is important, I think even. Even more so if you're someone with darker complexion because you lose the features that you have. If the lighting isn't good and the camera is at a lower quality and.

You know what that kind of relays into, I guess, on the opposite end myself, if I have the lighting in the wrong place for this, I will look like Casper. And I don't want to look like the friendly ghost. Because, you know, also then people wonder, how healthy is this person? Do they ever go out in the sunlight? So you also. That's another thing that helps too, with the lighting. If it is coming from behind the camera towards you, it shines your features, as you said, and can help give a healthy look to your skin. If you're on the very pale side.

Like I am, I'm glad we both of us have similar or comparable challenges. Exactly. That's funny.

A last couple of things, I think, make sure since they can see you, it's good if you have your hands out in front of you so people know what you're doing with their hands the whole time. And you can talk with your hands a little. It can help convey your point. You don't want to be way too exaggerated and moving them around. I wish you guys could see me right now, emphatically, as you speak. Right. Spirit fingers, probably not the best place for those. Or jazz hands. Right. You don't want that then. But, you know, keep your hands in front of you and you can use them to talk and to accentuate a point, but make sure you keep it minimal and also don't fidget. You know, you want to be having that eye contact with the camera. So don't, you know, play with your. Your nails or maybe mess with your earring or something like that, because that can convey, you know, a lack of confidence, quite honestly. And so you want to make sure that you are conveying that cool, calm, collected confidence.

Nice. And then what else. What other takeaways should we keep in mind?

A couple other things. You want to make sure if there's a technical issue, address it. You know, you want to make sure you address the elephant in the room. Hey, I think maybe we're having a bad signal. Let me see if I can fix this. And when people are done speaking, give them a pause. Give them a second before you start answering. Because sometimes there's a lag with video communication. So the last thing you want to do is accidentally interrupt or speak on top of somebody. Now, it's probably. It might happen. Probably going to happen at least once just because there is that lag. And if you do. So you want to make sure you address it. It takes a sting out. It's a lot like if you're walking down the street and somebody bumps into you, if they don't say anything, you're like, what a jerk. But if they stop and they say, hey, I'm so sorry, they could have been a linebacker and knocked you over, most of the time you're like, it's okay. Totally okay. It's fine. It's fine. Because they said they were sorry. They acknowledged it, so you don't feel as bad. So it's the same thing if you interrupt somebody, hey, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you there. That really helps. Oh, no problem. You know, it's okay. It takes a sting out. And then also you want to make sure you're doing active listening. And by that, I mean those verbal cues, that you're still there. Because if you're just sitting there silently looking, and maybe you haven't moved because I told you not to fidget, and you're looking directly at that camera, because that's what I also suggest you do. If you're not in some way, you know, giving them the verbal cue, you're still there. Mm, yeah. Okay. Things like that, they might think it's been frozen or maybe the line got dropped or the quality's bad. They're not sure what happened. So, you know, you want to make sure you're giving that. That sign of life on the other end that you're still listening. You know. Oh, that's great. Oh, I like that. Bonus points if you can explain why you like that, because that makes you memorable. But, you know, you want to have these verbal cues that you're still there and that nothing has gone wrong.

Okay. So I know we've gone through most of the items on the list, but I wanted to give you a chance to say anything else that's coming to mind that we might have missed.

Sure. Just, you know, I think it's important to reiterate practicing with a friend beforehand. Right. That way you can make sure that there's no technical difficulties. You can make sure that your lighting and how you appear in the camera is how you want it to be. And also making sure you log on early before the actual day of, because it can always take a couple extra minutes there. So making sure, you know, hey, I did press audio on and I did press the video on for each thing. Every medium is different, so you want to make sure you're well versed. But getting to the interview kind of like you would an in person one, a minute or two early, at least, you know, is a good idea because you never know. And you want to be prepared.

Right. Yeah. This is, this is great advice. Just giving yourself that cushion because it always takes a little bit longer than you think. You might put in the password wrong. And then, you know, it's just chaos. So you want to give yourself a bit of a margin for error, and it'll make you come across a lot more poised and charismatic too, because now you can focus on having the conversation and focus on the other person instead of focusing on the stress that you just went through. Trying to get in on time.

Yeah. And speak with enthusiasm and be clear when you're speaking. Make sure you smile. You know, they can see you. So instead of this being a phone conversation. Right. You have that added advantage of smiling and you know that. That enthusiasm that naturally comes with a smile.

Definitely. Well, perfect. This was really, really, really helpful. I know when we were kind of brainstorming about this, I was actually taking a lot of notes saying, yes, this is great. I have another call coming up. I can use this, and I think this will be really helpful for the listeners. But before we go, can you tell the listeners how they can get in touch with you and remind them again of what you do?

Sure, absolutely. So I am a pharmacy recruiter, but I also edit resumes on the side and you can get in touch with me over LinkedIn. My name is Hayley Harrison and that's H A Y L E E.

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