It’s unprofessional. I don’t want to see your Spider-Man underoos, but I should see a professional top and clean face and brushed hair. There no way I’d interview someone with the camera off. Our organization doesn’t do that at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is truly bizarre to schedule a Zoom or Teams interview and not turn your camera on.

If you want to do an audio only interview, either schedule a phone call or tell the candidate it is audio only.

That is so weird and disrespectful of the candidate's process that I think it's a red flag, personally.

My company schedules all calls (including audio only) through Teams. So no, not truly bizarre.

Audio quality is so much better through Zoom/Teams than a normal cell call.

No, it's not

Anonymous wrote:It's polite for the organizer (for any meeting) to say what the camera norms are. If you know you will be off camera, tell invitees ahead of time that you'll be off camera and they can do the same. If you expect cameras on, tell them.

I prefer cameras off, but I hate putting on makeup and office clothes for something I thought would be video and its not.

Agreed! Especially an interview where you're trying to look your best.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, this is rude to me. If you (the hiring manager) don’t want to be on camera, schedule a phone interview.

Agree very rude. Schedule an interview over the phone.

+1. And if the interviewer insists that their cameras remain off, the same option should be extended to the interviewee. Also agree, with just making it a phone call. Duh.

Op, I feel you. I had a panel interview last spring like that, and it was a terrible experience. For starters, I wasn't given a heads-up about the format, so when I logged in, I heard voices but saw nothingness, which threw me off for the entirety of the interview.

I'm unsure who thought that layout was a good idea, but it was terrible. I felt like I was part of an experiment vs. an interview. Almost like the managers thought they weren't being interviewed by me too. As a reminder, interviewees have to feel like the company is a good fit too, so I want to see and get a feel for who I'd be working with.

I bombed but was so turned off by the layout that I decided I didn't want to work for the weirdos.

Anonymous wrote:Our panel uses the camera. However, we indicate at the very start of the interview that use of camera by the interviewee is optional because it is optional for non-management at our organization. Just interviewed about 40 people and FWIW, not a single one opted to not use the camera. We use the camera on our end because we believe the interviewees are (or should be) interviewing us as much as we are interviewing them. We make it optional for them because it is optional once they onboard and because we want all interviewees to be comfortable.

Which means, in a sense, it's not really optional. Do you explain the policy to interviewees? Have you considered telling them in ADVANCE of the interview what the protocol is? Are you leaving the camera on? I'd feel really inappropriate if the interviewer left the camera on and I didn't as a candidate.

Also I think this is a strange policy - so 'management' uses the camera but their staff don't?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is truly bizarre to schedule a Zoom or Teams interview and not turn your camera on.

If you want to do an audio only interview, either schedule a phone call or tell the candidate it is audio only.

That is so weird and disrespectful of the candidate's process that I think it's a red flag, personally.

My company schedules all calls (including audio only) through Teams. So no, not truly bizarre.

Audio quality is so much better through Zoom/Teams than a normal cell call.

Anonymous wrote:It is truly bizarre to schedule a Zoom or Teams interview and not turn your camera on.

If you want to do an audio only interview, either schedule a phone call or tell the candidate it is audio only.

That is so weird and disrespectful of the candidate's process that I think it's a red flag, personally.

My company schedules all calls (including audio only) through Teams. So no, not truly bizarre.

Anonymous wrote:People who have their cameras off are weird. I hated being on camera at first, but now find it suspect and odd if the person is NEVER on camera.

I work with one person who does this and early on no one would have thought twice about it, but now it seems odd. You also can’t tell if they are looking at the screen and we often have to re-explain things. Someone else I work with has a team member who is apparently always out walking her dog and can’t read documents on the screen so everyone has to repeat things and over explain things.

Anonymous wrote:People who have their cameras off are weird. I hated being on camera at first, but now find it suspect and odd if the person is NEVER on camera.

We’re you similarly suspicious of people on phone calls that you couldn’t see?

We start with cameras on, but then say we all will turn them off, so the applicant doesn’t have to worry about their body language and doesn’t get disconcerted about the fact that we’re all taking notes rather than looking at the camera. We are upfront with people about this.

We do it because we hope it relieves some sources of anxiety.

People who have their cameras off are weird. I hated being on camera at first, but now find it suspect and odd if the person is NEVER on camera.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, this is rude to me. If you (the hiring manager) don’t want to be on camera, schedule a phone interview.

Agree very rude. Schedule an interview over the phone.

It's not rude, and the manager invited the applicant to turn off their camera. As others have noted, many companies have switched to video capable systems for all their telecoms.

Then give the interviewee the dial-in instead of the Zoom link, or at least have the decency to say ahead of time that it’s audio only.

^ I didn't read the whole post. If they told you you could turn off your camera I'd have turned mine off and said something like "Oh, it's so refreshing to not always use the camera - thanks for letting me know!" But if they said nothing I'd be super weirded out.

It is truly bizarre to schedule a Zoom or Teams interview and not turn your camera on.

If you want to do an audio only interview, either schedule a phone call or tell the candidate it is audio only.

That is so weird and disrespectful of the candidate's process that I think it's a red flag, personally.