Candidate Perspective: "How has the pandemic affected my asset finance and leasing job search?"

​Candidate Contribution by 'Martin'

Whilst the pandemic didn't affect the actual process of searching for a new role, what has been different is the actual interview process itself.

Many companies are currently in the process of initiating some kind of blended or hybrid working patterns, so the interviews that I had over the past few months were conducted remotely via MS Teams or equivalent.

I think that the hardest part about this was getting across your own personality. From traditional interviews I’ve had in the past, it was always crucial to keep good eye contact, make appropriate hand gestures when answering questions, as well as offering a firm handshake before and after - so the rules of the interview have changed somewhat over the past 18 months.

A couple of tips I would give here are 1) to be yourself, and 2) to dress as you would normally for any interview you would have had in person, i.e. smart.

Not only does it make you feel within yourself that you're attending an interview for real, but it creates a fantastic impression with the interviewer and may just give you the edge over the other candidates.

I was eventually lucky enough to find myself a role that's perfect for me and offers a blended working week which comprises three days working from home and two in the office.

This hybrid pattern suited me greatly as I found my previous role of purely working from home (and the main head office being over 200 miles away) created a feeling of alienation and disconnection from my colleagues.

Martin.

Thank you Martin for your valuable contribution.

For further advice on Virtual Interviews – see our feature: Virtual Interviews are becoming the 'norm'. Are you up to speed?