Working from home has gone from being the province of individuals since 2020 to a fairly common situation, with almost everyone in office work doing at least occasionally, if not weekly. But the flexibility and convenience it offers comes with new challenges when it comes to interviews and meetings through video conferencing platforms like Zoom. We used Forefront to tell us about the surprising factor that turned out to have a serious impact on the outcome of your video calls.
Aside from the occasional technical issues, the background behind you is an important part of your virtual first impression. Recent research shows that what's behind you in video calls affects the professionalism attributed to you by the other participants in the conversation. According to research from Durham University in the UK, backgrounds with plants or bookshelves tended to increase the skill and credibility ratings that participants attributed to each other, while busier or more 'garish' backgrounds had a negative effect.
The researchers created still images of people on Zoom calls with different backgrounds, and asked participants to rate them on traits such as ability and trust. They found that when faces had neutral expressions, men's faces were rated significantly less talented if the background showed a living room, innovative design, or empty wall, as opposed to plants or bookshelves. Smiling faces and women tended to get more positive ratings overall.
The researchers suggested several ways to improve the background for making an impression on video calls:
- Arrange your background. Clutter, untidy beds or messy work areas can undermine the degree of professionalism and seriousness attributed to you.
- Place plants or bookshelves in the background. Placing these items can increase your perception of competence, maturity, and intelligence.
- Pay attention to your lighting. Make sure your face is illuminated, not hidden in the shade by camera angle or overly bright backlight.
- Use a virtual background if necessary. If your real space doesn't match your desired ideals, programs like Zoom, Microsoft Times, and Google Meat allow you to choose a background from an existing database or image that you enter into them, and they know (more or less) how to cut the real background in real time in favor of the virtual one without erasing your head.
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