Send Your Job Interview Answers BEFORE the Interview – Emerging Trend or Gimmick?
Among the many requests I receive to review job search related products is one for “Audio Job Interview” that came in last week. Audio Job Interview is a new iPhone app that “allows job candidates to create an actual audio interview they can record from their mobile device and send via a unique URL to employers.” The company producing this app bills it as one of the more popular apps in the Business category. It does seem to have some good initial feedback, both from job candidates (users) and hiring managers.
So, I downloaded the app and played with it a little bit. It seems easy to navigate and records good quality audio. You can custom select which questions you want to answer and store up to three interview versions. The app will then allow you to email a link to one or multiple prospective employers directly from the iPhone.
The jury is out regarding the effectiveness of such a tool, but my first impression is that it could provide a strong differentiator for candidates. At minimum, it may arouse curiosity in the hiring manager’s mind, thus bringing the candidate’s executive resume to the top of the pile for review.
I can see a good use for the app even if one were hesitant to actually send out the recorded interviews… It could serve as an extremely inexpensive ($.99 at present) yet functional interview practice tool. With the ability to play back and listen to your answers before saving them (you are limited to 3 saved interviews), you can work to improve the pleasantness and energy of your speaking voice as well as to refine the content of your interview answers. This could make the app an invaluable asset for honing your interviewing skills before the actual face-to-face or telephone job interview.
One major caveat I can see is that a candidate could potentially shoot him or herself in the foot by sending out a poorly done audio interview, when they might have won a telephone or in-person interview otherwise. So having one or more objective listeners give an honest critique first would be an important pre-launch step.
You can learn more about the app at:
http://www.vimeo.com
… or just search the iPhone Apps Store.
A final note: One question I realize I do not have the answer to is whether you can attach your resume to the same email through which you are sending the audio job interview to your contact. On the video demo, I did not immediately see anywhere one could “click” to attach a document to the email, so this might be less than convenient. A possible workaround would be to email the interview to yourself and then forward it to the recruiter along with your executive resume file.
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