Personal videoconferencing is expected to continue to increase in popularity for both personal and business use according to Wainhouse Research, a Boston market-research firm. Videoconferencing has become the fallback approach in job interviews when in person interviews are prohibitive – it’s quick, easy, and free with applications like Skype and Apple’s FaceTime.
However, beware of the siren’s call with this technology. According to a 2008 study in Management Science, people watching someone on a video phone call are more focused on the speaker’s “likeability” than the substance of the discussion. Research shows that it’s easy to become distracted and harder to process what is being said while watching someone on video, just the opposite of in-person communication. The study’s conclusion was that job applicants score lower and are less likely to be hired from a videoconference interview than in person interview.
So, what can you do about it? You can improve your videoconferencing skills by remembering to:
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