The Zoom Interview - Is it here to stay?

Before the Covid-19 pandemic journalists used to interview many people face to face, some weren’t recorded and were just noted down while others were recorded.

Doing an interview face to face gave you as a journalist a chance to connect more with your interviewee and gave them less reason to be nervous as you would be there to be able to put them at ease and get them to tell their side of the story in a very simple and easy manner.

However, because of the Covid-19 pandemic this changed to interviews over zoom, skype, Microsoft teams and google meets just to name a few that have been used. Zoom meetings are normally recorded so you can listen back and know what the other person was saying.

What are the pros of a zoom interview?

• You can reach anyone around the world, not just in the UK.

• You can record the call and it will automatically convert.

• You can easily hide identity by them being safe and not having to turn the camera on.

• You can still engage with your interviewee.

• It keeps you from being able to become ill if these people have Covid.

What are the cons of a zoom interview?

• Many people do not want to turn their camera on, which is okay is some circumstance but not in others.

• Internet can easily fail.

• Audio can fail.

• Many people do not understand how zoom works.

• It may not record, that is something to check!

There are many suggestions to say that zoom interviews will stay, not just for journalists but for job hunters as well as many jobs are now remote as some companies have decided to make many people work remotely after realising it may work better for people. for example, those with young children may have found it easier to have worked from home.

Personally, I think that zoom interviews will stay around for a very long time as it makes it easier to contact people from other parts of the world.