All of us are getting used to doing much of our work with other people through Zoom meetings. Yes, it is not as good as being together in person, but it is necessary given the current problems with COVID-19. People need to stay home to stay healthy, so teleconferencing is an excellent solution to keep in contact with our coworkers, friends, and family.
However, I recently received a great lesson about the limitations of Zoom through one of my clients. He is a young man, recently graduated from college. He works hard, is easy to talk with, smart, fun, and thoughtful in his work. He had tremendous success with high school football, which resulted in his receiving many scholarship offers.
We had a couple of Zoom coaching calls, both of us at our desktop computers. I could see his face and shoulders, and he could see mine. On camera, he looked like a completely regular guy!
But in one conversation, he mentioned that, because he is large, sometimes people make assumptions about him that are not true.
So I asked him, “How tall are you?”
He replied, 6’ 7”.
Yikes, that really is tall! At the end of our call, he stood up so I could see his full height. Moreover, he was a football player, not a basketball player. So, he was also massively built!
It was funny and strange at the time. If we had met in person, his size would have immediately been one of my first impressions of him. But with Zoom, I had missed that basic fact about his height without even realizing it.
It served as a reminder that we can only see parts of ourselves and others within the limitations of remote virtual communication. It’s a drawback, but we will need to learn to live with it as this type of communication is here to stay.
I have been helping people get new jobs for twenty years, and will continue to do so in Zoom! If you have concerns about issues involving Zoom and other teleconferencing apps, particularly around interviewing, you can schedule a FREE consultation with me to discuss!