Current restrictions in the way that we communicate due to COVID-19 has forced us to forego face-to-face meetings and make the most of virtual reality. Unlike in the past, in settling for something that isn’t real we have no choice in the matter but it wasn’t always thus. 

Ever tried instant mashed potato?

Back in the 60’s/’70’s the world was introduced to ‘Smash’, which consisted of a dry white powder added to boiling water. The experience of being mocked on TV commercials by Martians for the laborious way that we Earthlings peeled, boiled and then smashed our potatoes into little bits was enough for many people to switch from the real thing to a synthetic alternative. The fact that the contents were listed as 98% potato is missing the point. Add the other 2% and you’re still not even close but enough consumers were hooked. Certainly in the eyes of the ad industry there’s no denying the success of the TV commercials which were subsequently voted ‘best of the century’ by Campaign Magazine.

Smash still exists, competing for shelf-space alongside various other brands, so clearly the market is prepared to settle for something that doesn’t even claim to be the real thing. If it’s less bother, saves time, reduces washing-up and there’s even a cost advantage what’s not to like? Does it matter if it’s not real?  Is it in fact the new real? 

The technology behind collaborative platforms such as Zoom, Teams and Skype has come of age and proved successful in addressing many of the same problems put across by ‘Smash’ in terms of cost and time-saving efficiencies. However, virtual reality is nothing like as close as the term suggest. It’s simply the best that’s available, and it’s important not to lose sight of what we valued pre-COVID.   

In the context of successful job interviewing the pronouncement: “Ok, I think it’s a good idea for us to meet” used to be a sure sign that you’d successfully passed the preliminary rounds and could have a real crack at nailing the role – or indeed finding out if you really wanted it. Spend 20 minutes on a phone call with a friend and sign off with “let’s have a quick drink later” will launch you into a different realm where everything just said will take a back seat to all that’s about to be discussed. You don’t need to ask “why?” because you know it’s just going to be about ‘stuff’. Don’t you miss all that?

For the sake of argument, even if we assume that everybody on a webinar has the same tech specifications, same signal strength and everything is working perfectly the X-factor is still missing. Nuance can get lost in translation; body-language is indistinct or artificial; reaction lacks spontaneity, and much of value that doesn’t get said remains subliminal. In an interview situation, the manner in which the candidate interacts with the interviewer will be how the latter might envisage the former will behave with proper clients. This will be an adequate test for many roles but by no means all, and for a job that requires steady relationship-building, information-sharing and dynamic problem-solving there’s so much that’s still missing. So much is left to the imagination, there’s so much that must be taken on trust and to make a hiring decision at this stage requires a leap of faith. That leap represents the gap that yawns between today’s normality and pre-COVID reality. As it stands, we have to make do with the next best thing and therein lies the rub. So close can be so far, and it’s worth reminding ourselves what we’ve been missing. 

Imagine you’ve arranged to meet somewhere neutral, and this could be for an interview, client-meeting, sales-pitch or just for a spot of networking. The fact that you’ve both bothered to turn up requires effort from both sides. You may think you know somebody really well until you see them out and about. Have you ever seen them eat? What are they like in a social situation? How do they behave in a crowded room? Do they show any empathy for waiters or other customers on tables? What are they like outside the office environment? Do they use their height advantage to diminish your own presence and input?  Can I actually bear to be in the same room as this person on a daily basis? Without saying what’s right and what’s wrong the point is you miss out on so much that we used to take for granted. 

In reality (there’s that word again) there’s nothing ‘neutral’ about territory online if one of you has better technology, more privacy or a more ergonomic chair. Frequent pauses and moments of silence create negativity. There are real problems when processing non-verbal clues of communication. You can have 3 different screens scheduled for 3 different meetings and due to a tech problem nothing gets done despite best efforts. You find yourself crying out for a real live meeting when everything was easier. 

Right now, and until the restrictions are eased there’s nothing for it but to endure Smash despite all its limitations. 

Oh, and did I mention?  It tasted dreadful.  

I’ve written before about how important it is that we don’t let our phone skills lapse, because there’s nothing like a live conversation for establishing clarity of  information, degree of urgency, tone of mood and (ultimately) the building of relationships.

 A well-written email does of course play its part when it comes to detail but it’s still possible to lose much in translation.  You can’t rule out somebody misinterpreting the spirit in which it was written, and it’s no wonder that the brevity of a text has to be embroidered by a proliferation of emojis and excitable punctuation marks in order to leave nothing to chance.  How often does the re-reading of an email that is sitting in your ‘sent’ box send shivers down your spine?  Often I bet.  It happens; and when it does, how best to put an abrupt stop to any awkward follow-up messages?    

When cutting to the chase there is no more efficient way to lay fears to rest than by picking up the phone, so don’t let this be the last resort.  Often it should be the first, and here’s yet another example of why:   

Imagine a typical scam whereby the recipient opens an email from somebody he/she knows. There’s nothing suspect in the email address, the headline message is brief and beggars some sort of response, eg: “small favour request, please get back to me for detail” and on doing so the recipient is made to understand that the apparently genuine friend needs to send somebody a voucher but can’t because her credit card’s not working.  “Would you mind doing this for me, and of course I’ll pay you back in due course?”

Alarm bells will be ringing I am sure. You’ll all have seen this sort of thing.  You know you’d never fall for it, even if the request was from your best friend and not just because I’ve already told you it’s a scam.  But have a care for those that are so eager to help out that they go ahead and initiate the order process online. 

As luck would have it, in this case the happy ending was because the password wouldn’t work so our scammee decided to call his friend to explain why he was dithering.  Lo and behold, the scam was immediately laid bare for what it was.  A small victory then with a simple act of dialling a number, indicative of the fact that those who devise these schemes are relying on the fact that so few people use the telephone these days to make live calls.    

This is not an email to guard against scams but to re-emphasise the importance of picking up the phone and having a conversation, so take every opportunity you can to do this.

Employers place a premium on those who are prepared to pick up a phone for it implies initiative, confidence and energy.  These are all qualities that you’ll need to display in the workplace but before you get the chance to prove this in interview you have somehow got to convey this in a CV.   Properly written there are ways to do this, but invariably in the application process you are invited to phone a number for further detail…..

WHY WOULD YOU NOT? 

You have nothing to lose. If nobody answers you may even get the chance to leave a voicemail, and the world is split between those who are bad at this and those that have learned how to do this properly (believe me – it’s an art in itself). Often the recruiters are simply curious to see which applicants bother to seize the best chance they’ll ever get to jump the queue. The good news for anybody who is properly work savvy is that so many don’t. 

It’s not just good to talk. Sometimes it can make all the difference.

Virtual meetings such as the ones enabled by the technology behind Zoom, Teams and Skype have proved their worth during lockdown, and if this was a trial for the effectiveness of online collaboration tools they would have passed with flying colours. Cheap and easy to use we know that for conducting meetings, interviews, debates and pure entertainment they are a terrific substitute for the real thing. 

But let’s not forget what that real thing is.  

Even if the internet connection is robust, the sound quality impeccable, the screen perfectly-focused and contributors await their turn to speak with disciplined restraint there is a ‘connection’ missing that you only get from a live face-to-face encounter.  You miss out on nuance.  You miss the tell-tale signs from body-language.  It is harder to gauge the mood and discern genuine reaction to the way issues are being discussed. How do you know if you’re holding the room? Is that a wry smile, a genuine grin or a grimace through gritted teeth? Did you just miss a nod of affirmation or a raised eyebrow which in a live meeting could have been a conspiratorial wink to somebody across the table? 

In short – what were they all thinking?

Mona Lisa as portrayed by Leonardo da Vinci is apparently smiling about something but opinion is divided as to whether the mood is tinged with melancholy, regret, mirth or something else. The traditional interpretation is that her countenance is ‘enigmatic’ which tells us very little, and much as with a screen-grab from a Zoom meeting we’re never going to be any the wiser.  The only way we’d ever know for sure is to have asked the artist and the chances are he’d have wanted us to make up our own minds in any case.        

My point is this:  No matter how efficient the technology there’ll still be a premium placed on face-to-face meetings, and wherever practically possible this is how it should be no matter how the workplace is changing in terms of flexibility and trends for working from home.  It’s no different when it comes to recruitment, so at the same time as preparing for interviews over a phone line or an internet connection your ultimate test could be a live encounter, where presentation skills and body-language can remove all trace of ‘enigma’.   

So, unlike the girl in the portrait, you will have to think about your shoes too.

The world’s trying to return to normal – or a different version of whatever that was pre-COVID. Radical changes to the working environment such as flexible hours, remote offices and virtual interaction have been talked about for a while but until now these practices have been the preserve of the gig economy. Note that this is already a significant chunk of the UK labour-force (c.16%), rather condescendingly referred to as those working in ‘precarious employment’. However, as we emerge from lockdown we will find that having once been a dim silhouette on the horizon these changes to working practice are looming large, their approach has accelerated and some things will have changed for ever.

THIS IS GREAT NEWS.

Change has got to be good because it was far from perfect before. Evolution is inevitable – ask around – and if you were dreading the prospect of life as a daily commuter working 9-5 in an office then as a catalyst for change Coronavirus has done many of us an enormous favour.

We’ve talked about this before in a previous blog (Evolve, or risk missing out Feb 25th) and if there’s a common theme running through all the changes that result from upheaval to the traditional working environment it is that the employee holds many of the cards.

Within the next 5 years, Millennials (those born 1977-1997) will make up 75% of the workforce with the vast majority of the balance made up of Generation Z (anybody born post-1997). Think of all those who are retiring, to be replaced by those with new ideas, new approaches and new strategies. Of course this will always have been the case, but not in an era when the pace of technological change has been so extraordinary, and not when we’ve seen how it might actually work in practice due to an enforced period of experimentation. Employers have known that change was inevitable but if they were waiting to see who blinked first, everybody blinked at once.

Employees are going to have a louder voice. They will have more say in how things get done and management – if it exists at all – will have to put in place a new way of doing things. Collaboration and sharing of information is going to play a major part in deciding where resources are allocated, which projects sink or swim and who plays what role. Employers will save themselves fortunes by reducing office space requirements for working from home is not only doable but has benefits. Gone are the days when everybody needs to be in the office at the same time. Flexible working hours will become routine, the work-life balance will adjust so that people can allocate time and energies to things which are important to them, and this may or may not be salaried duties 100% of the time. One thing’s for sure, it was never the case that employees perform at their best only within traditional working hours.

But remember, if you’re looking for a job some things haven’t changed:

You’ve still got to get noticed, you’ve still got to win that interview and once employed you’re still going to have to deliver what’s expected of you. Requirements for CV structure, LinkedIn profile, cover-letter content and subsequent interview performance are crucial to get right, and with the release of pent-up demand perhaps even more so than ever.

Your exam for the day will take moments. Here’s a random sample of 10 things you might not have thought were important to know. There’ll be billions more examples out there. Get in touch to find out what they are.

https://www.fyrebox.com/play/quiz-may-1st-2020_YodrZj7a9

The lockdown has inspired quiz-masters all around the country to dig deep into the world of fact/fiction and compile lists of questions to challenge the best at the game. With time on our hands, what might once have been considered ‘trivia’ has become rather fascinating. Did you know – for example – that the Statue of Liberty was made of copper? Were you aware that Julia Roberts’ smile is insured for more than her villa in Malibu? Would you be interested to know that only 25% of submitted CVs get read by a human?

You may not care to know the exact age of Sue Barker or being told who was the 5th US President and it’s only when you find yourself reacting with ” good question” that you’re going to be better off knowing the answer. Often this is stuff that you didn’t know you didn’t know. What’s more, you had no idea that one day it might be important.

At the heart of Work Savvy’s mission is to teach people what’s important to know when it comes to entering the workplace. As your ‘Starter for 10’, here’s an example of the sort of quiz that we’d like you to pass with flying colours.

https://www.fyrebox.com/play/quiz-april-26-2020_WDEnNj972

There’ll be others to follow until everybody gets everything right – without cheating. So that’ll be never.