Is this what your Skype setup looks for your interview?

A series of experiments by Princeton psychologists reveal that all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face, and that longer exposures don’t significantly alter those impressions.  Yikes.

In this amount of time you haven’t had a chance to even say your name.  That first impression is primarily a visual impression and this is why I think I can help you.

I suggest going to a hair stylist and getting the best style you can for your features.  Maybe find a stylist to help you with your wardrobe.  Remember you only have tenth of a second to impress.

Simplify the backround and add some lights to either side of the monitor and for those of us older folks, I would add a light under you chin as I have done here.  The lower light softens those wrinkles.  You can see television anchors use this light–you just have to look to see it.

I chose white as a background here, you might want to choose blue as a background.  It is used a great deal at press conferences like the White House because it is complimentary to the skin.  The basic idea is the clean up that background of clutter.

The cool thing about a Skype interview is you can have your notes on the screen to read just like a teleprompter and keep your eyes engaged with the audience.  Don’t use notes that you have to look down or away from the computer screen.  You want to engage your audience.

Here is a good typical set up of lights.  You can just use a household lamp on either side. To get the light effect under your chin you can just use white card board that you can buy anywhere to lay on the table to bounce the light up.

The benefit from using the additional lights is if you wear glasses this can actually cut down on the reflection of the monitor in your glasses.  The brighter you make those lights on the side the more the reflection of the monitor will disappear.

Most of today’s new computers have pretty good microphones and cameras built in.  As long as you are sitting close to the monitor you should sound good.  Test it out.  If your friend has trouble hearing you, then go and buy a small microphone.

Be sure you wipe off any dirt or smudges from your camera lens.

To be really sure you make a great first impression–don’t do what I did in these photos and not smile.  Smile a lot.  Practice a few times with your friends.

Share your screen

Another cool thing about Skype is you canshare your computer screen instead of them seeing just you.  This is great if you want to show something on your computer to them.

Remember while you need to practice with some friends and smooth out your presentation, it is still the tenth of the first second they will make a lot of judgement just on how you look.