I completed my application with United on Sat. October 24th and received the video interview invite quickly on Mon., October 26th at 1pm Mountain Time. You have 5 days to complete the interview so I completed it on Sat. Oct 31st at 9am just before that 1pm cutoff. I really wanted to do this interview on a Saturday morning because it's when I'm most fresh and rested after a full week of work. I also wanted the natural light, which, if I did the interview after work, I wouldn't have any natural light.
I went to the local library and asked for a private study room due to my home internet not being reliable and I didn't want to take any chances. I had some natural light coming from a window and a white wall was behind me. I was wearing a black business suit with plain non-collared black shirt underneath and a dark blue scarf around my neck. I was also wearing pearl earrings, my hair was in a sock bun, my nails were painted red, I was wearing a nice watch, and my makeup consisted of foundation, mascara, light brown eyeshadow, and red lipstick. No eyeliner.
The room was a bit "echo-y" which was not preferred, but had to do. I practiced a few times with their HireVue system, as it allows you to do. I had also been recording/practicing at home however on my webcam which I feel had benefited me the most. To my dismay, I lost internet FOUR times during the interview process. I felt that the library was the one dependable place I could go for internet, so I was a bit disappointed. It was after I submitted my video answers that internet was failing, so fortunately I believe they took. I was, however, very impressed with the HirVue system because every time I did lose internet after (almost) each question, it immediately redirected me to where I had left off, the next question. The confirmation e-mail you receive after you're finished also states that IT will contact you if there were any technical issues. My phone was not compatible was HireVue.
There were 6 questions total. All questions I had at least were found on Glassdoor and I've posted them below. I had to combine question 5 and 6 since Glassdoor wouldn't let me add a 6th interview question. I felt as if I was naturally nervous for that first question. I also dreaded the open-ended "Tell me about yourself" question which was incorporated in this one. My answer was not as good as it could have been. You are able to see yourself when you're answering: the picture of yourself is on the right and the question is on the left hand side of your screen. You do have the option of turning off the video so that you cannot view yourself as you're speaking. I just left it on and didn't look at it. Instead, I looked at my camera the whole time I spoke as if it was a person. Otherwise, it will appear as though you're not looking at your interviewer when they review your responses. You have 30 seconds to prepare for each question once you've viewed it and 3 minutes to answer. I feel as if I typically took 2 minutes to answer each question. After I got over that hump of the first question, I feel I did very well for the next 5 questions.
Some say that the HireVue process is awkward because you're not speaking to a real person. I actually really enjoyed it and after that 6th question I wanted some more! I finally felt warmed up at that point. I think it truly is a great way for United to gauge first impressions of their potential employees. What's better than introducing a potentially uncomfortable situation and seeing how he/she responds? Some might feel as though they don't need to practice the same interview etiquette since they are not responding to a real person at that time, but that thinking is incorrect! I would encourage others to practice on their webcam or a camera at home several days prior to practicing on the HireVue site. It'll help you practice gathering your thoughts and organizing them. I would also practice your "closings" for each question.. again, just as if you were speaking with someone. Good luck to all candidates. I will post back when I receive either a positive or negative response.
Update: 11/02/15: After completing my video interview on Friday 10/31/15, I received my invitation e-mail two days later on Monday 11/02/15 to schedule my face to face interview. They're giving me until Friday to call and schedule. The e-mail clearly states that you need to commit to attending a training class within the month if you are given a conditional job offer. Unfortunately, I'm unable to commit to such a fast timeline and was hoping training would be starting after the new year, so I'll be withdrawing at this time.