So, after you’ve gone over your notes and popped on some smart clothes (at least on the top half of your body) have a look at your video preview or over your shoulder.

There are also artificial intelligence tools which allow you to virtually “tidy up” or add a little sparkle to your background space. As our findings show, if you don’t have much control over your background, smiling can help. You may have to share a home office (or desk) with a flatmate or partner, or have construction going on nearby. Of course, a downside of working from home is that many factors are out of our control. Our research shows that there are small tweaks you can make to help make a good virtual first impression: Put some plants behind you, or turn your desk so you’re framed by a bookcase. But much of what our webcam actually picks up is what’s behind us. Most of us put a lot of time and effort into our appearance for a Zoom meeting or interview. Zoom backgrounds may give an impression of someone’s heritage, disability or socio-economic status, so interviewers must still make an effort to remain unbiased. However, we know from other research that subconscious bias about race, class, and disability can affect how job applicants are viewed.

However, the male faces were rated as significantly less competent if in front of a living room, novelty background or blank wall.Īll the faces in the database we used are white, thus avoiding race becoming a confounding factor and allowing us to just focus on the effect of the Zoom backgrounds. When we looked specifically at faces with neutral expressions, we found no gender difference in ratings of trust or competence when they were seated in front of the plants and bookcase.

Virtual background for zoom free