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Subject:Skype Interviews and Screen Sharing From:Gillian McGarvey <gillian -at- wheelhouseeditorial -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Tue, 14 Jan 2014 12:44:50 -0500
I work with a company in South America and we regularly have Skype
meetings. They also interviewed me via Skype when I was a candidate for the
job.
For the job interview, I got all dressed up including shoes just to make
myself feel more professional. Then it turned out that the video did not
work on my end so they never saw me, but I think it helped. So I do
recommend paying attention to your background and to treat it like a
face-to-face meeting in an office.
One way to see how you will appear is to open up Photo Booth if you are on
a Mac. It's important to see that because sometimes if your computer is on
the desk, you are looking down and that looks kind of weird to the other
person. So you might want to raise your computer a bit so you are looking
straight ahead or up a bit. Also pay attention to what's behind you. I once
had a meeting and realized that a drying rack with clothes on it was in the
way, way background!
For our meetings, we sometimes do not use video bc it can mean a faster
connection, but it is helpful to see the people you are talking with, at
least once. I think it is, anyway, and the folks at this company seem to
agree. You can easily share screens in Skype. Google "how to share screens
in Skype" to see how. You click a little plus sign button and then you can
share it easily.
Skype has been a great, free way to meet easily with this client. I don't
use any special headphones or cameras... just my 5 year old MacBook Pro. It
seems to work just fine.
