For a wide variety of reasons, Skype interviews are becoming more and more common. Just because an interview is being conducted digitally, however, does not make it any less important. Carefully preparing for your Skype interview is every bit as important as preparing for a face-to-face interview. In fact, in a Skype interview, you will not have the advantage of many of the subtle cues you give to your potential employer or client the same way you would in person. For example, a firm handshake or making direct eye contact. Having said that, here are 5 tips on how to dress for a Skype interview.
1. Dress for your industry, but dress to impress
If you are interviewing for a job as a computer coder, it is probably not necessary to wear a suit and tie. Having said that, however, your appearance still matters. If you are applying for a tech position, wearing your favorite Star Wars shirt may not be amiss, but it should be free from stains and relatively wrinkle free. No matter what type of job you are interviewing for, you should always appear neat, tidy and put-together – even if you may spend much of your time actually working in your pajamas and bathrobe.
2. Groom appropriately
Once again, even though you may be working from home, you still don’t want to show up for your interview with bed-head and 2-day stubble. If your preferred hairstyle is a carefully coiffed bed-head look, then by all means, do your best. Proper grooming is once again going to be dependent on your industry, but groom and dress as if you were doing an in-person interview. To that end, you might also consider brushing your teeth and applying a small amount of cologne if it’s what you would do for an in-person interview. How well you prepare will actually have a strong bearing on how you act. Feeling professionally turned out and put together will actually cause you to act more professionally in your on-camera interview.
3. Dress from head-to-toe
There is a tendency to believe that because video interviews will generally only show you from the shoulders up. Some say that anything you wear from the waist down does not matter. What you always need to be prepared for, however, is having to stand up at some time during the interview. Whether your interviewers ever see you from the waist down or not doesn’t matter. How you are dressed from head to toe will also affect your behavior. If you are wearing slippers and pajama pants under your dress coat and tie, you will most likely unconsciously act far more casually. This may give the impression of not caring all that much about the interview.
4. Sit on the edge of a straight-backed chair not on a couch or soft chair
While this may not seem to have anything to do with how you dress, it has everything to do with how you appear on camera. On a couch or soft chair, you will inherently slouch. This can give even the most immaculately pressed clothing the appearance of being wrinkled and disheveled. When you meet an interviewer in person, you are often standing when they first see you. Most clothing is most flattering when you are standing rather than when you are sitting. In a Skype interview, you do not have this luxury. In addition to showing your clothing in its best light, sitting on the edge of a straight-back chair will also generally give you better posture. Having good posture is like having a good, firm handshake. It is one of those small details that not many people consciously notice but still speaks volumes about you.
5. Do a test check just prior to your interview
Just before your Skype interview, it’s always a good idea to call a friend with a discerning eye to check and see if anything is amiss. While you may feel you look perfectly appropriate in the small “feedback” screen you can see. A friend viewing you on a full screen may notice small details you may have missed. When you call your friend, be sure and sit in the location you will be sitting for your interview and wear what you will be wearing. They may inform you that your muted satin tie appears blindingly bright on camera or that your bow tie appears to be so tight it looks painful. While you want your clothing to set the right tone and give a good impression, you also don’t want it to be distracting to your interviewers.
There are, of course, a number of other considerations to take into account when preparing for a Skype interview. For example, such as where to sit and what can be viewed in the background. You will also want to find a quiet place with good lighting. Always remember that whether people are aware of it or not, they will be judging you as much by your appearance as by your skill set. In this case, you literally want to cast yourself in the best light. So choose the right location with good lighting to show off your carefully crafted appearance.
