With skilled professionals highly in-demand, companies have also placed a higher importance on screening potential hires for soft skills, demeanour, and presence, on top of one’s technical skill. While there has been a growing trend towards virtual data science interviews in your earlier interview stages to get through the process quickly, the current pandemic situation has also left us with no alternatives. So, if you’re reading this post, you’ve probably have a scheduled interview for your dream Analytics and Data Science job. Here are some tips and suggestions to stand out in your next virtual Data Science interviews.

Research About The Company You’re Interviewing With

Of course, this is standard practice for any interview, but you may want to dive a little deeper into how their company culture and policies may have changed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Have they switched to a remote-only workforce? Employed a hybrid office model? Knowing what to expect will help colour your impression of the company.

Have A Copy Of Your Resume Handy

You have probably made your own resume and know it inside out. However, keeping a copy of your resume around will offer key talking points during the interview. Another piece of advice would be to stick some notes around your laptop and carry related information, including some tech buzzwords that you can use while giving the interview. These notes can also contain some data science-related thoughts of your own which could help you score some brownie points when speaking with your recruiter.

Testing Tech Set-Up & Minimising Distractions

As the saying goes – what can go wrong, will go wrong. Therefore, it is critical to examine or conduct test runs on your devices before you do your virtual interview. Test your internet connection, and confirming that your camera and microphone are working well are some basic pointers. This prevents any hindrance caused during the interview which may gives off a vibe to the interviewer that you are not adequately prepared for this interview.

Additionally, while you are testing your devices, do check the environment that you will be doing the interview in. Setting up a neat surrounding creates the impression of being detail-oriented and organised. When the right environment is set up, make sure there are no distractions around as well.

Be Prepared

A data science interview will have some difficult technical questions, and being in front of a computer does not mean that you can access the internet to look for answers. Instead, the only way to confidently answer them is through adequate preparation. During any interviews, you may be asked common data science questions about data cleaning, linear and logistic regression, normal distribution etc. These common topics must be kept in mind while facing an interview. Also, understand that giving a virtual data science interview is not as easy as it looks – you still need to be just as well-prepared.