8 Essential Tips to Excel In Skype Interview

In today’s technological world, more and more employers are conducting initial job interviews over Skype, Live Messenger or other video chat services. This saves the time and money of both, the employer and the candidates.
Also, it is much easier and quicker way of finding perfect candidates for an organization. But interviewing well through video requires a different type of preparation.
Below given are the 8 essential tips that will help you excel in Skype interview:
  • Test the Tools In Advance
When it’s a matter of giving interview using your PC and internet connection, you should be ready for the unanticipated. You must test all equipment in advance, and make sure that your internet and Skype connection is working properly.
Before giving the final interview, download Skype and become familiar with majority of its features. Then, try to Skype one of your friend and take feedback about yourself. All this is important to do beforehand; otherwise it will be difficult to have a proper discussion if there would be any technological interruptions and difficulties.
  • Prepare Your Surroundings
Your backgrounds can be just as important as your individual appearance. Whether the interview is being conducted from your home or any other setting, the interviewer doesn’t want to see you sitting in front of a pile of junk.
So, you must pick a quiet place for the interview (i.e. no phone ringing, no one walking in and out of your room, no children playing or shouting, etc), clean up the room, and remove anything distracting behind you.
  • Treat It Like Face-to-Face Interview
Whether you are going to give a phone interview or an interview on Skype, you have to be prepared as you do for a face-to-face interview. Research about the company, read the job description, go through your CV and be prepared to answer some frequently asked interview questions.
Don’t take a chance by being less prepared, thinking that it’s just a video chat between two parties.

  • Dress-Up
Always dress-up yourself, whenever you are going to give any type of job interview. Dressing-up professionally will prepare you physically as well as mentally for the Skype interview. You might feel silly to dress-up professionally at home, but it will make all the differences and make you look presentable to the interviewer.

  • Look Into the Camera, Not At the Picture
As it is normal to look at other person’s face while talking to them, most people look at their computer screen while video chatting. But, if you look at the computer screen, you will not be able to maintain eye contact with your interviewer.
Hence, the only way to maintain direct eye contact with the interviewer is by looking directly into the webcam.
  • Don’t Get Distracted By Your Own Image
While giving an interview on Skype, you may find a small image of yourself in the corner of your computer screen. You don’t have to look at yourself instead of the interviewer.
 If you get distracted by this, you can change your settings to remove that small window completely, or you can cover it with a Post-It note.
  • Create Professional Username
Whether it is your e-mail id, Skype, or any other videoconferencing application, you must have a professional user name that you sign in with. Always create a professional user name instead of something like pizzalove or prettybabe. If you are not able to use just your name because it’s already taken, try your name combined with your profession or company (for example, Sneha_manager).

  • Close Other Programs on Your Computer
Getting Facebook notifications during your Skype interview is unprofessional and may distract you. Therefore, before interview, make sure all other windows on your computer are closed.

7 Things NOT to Do When Starting a Business

So, one day you will decide to start your own business but you do not really know how it all works. The first thing to do it this case is to search the Internet. You can find great and inspirational success stories, tips for beginners and what do you need to start your own business. Although, when you are new to all this, I think it is really important to know what NOT to do to avoid mistakes and inconvenient situations. It is always better to learn from somebody else’s mistakes. So, let us take a look at 7 things that will help you to start successful company.

1. Do not think about the money
Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that money is not important. But one of the biggest mistakes people do when starting a company is that all they care about is money. Nothing is going to work if you make money your number one priority. Because you begin to think that when you will have your own business setup, you will earn millions, but in fact, you won’t. That will make you sad and angry, you will think that nothing is working the way you planned and you will more likely give up. The point is to pick the right business, that kind of thing that will make you happy. Do what you like and then you will begin to make money from it. But never focus only on money.

2. Do not plan everything
Sounds crazy, right? Like how can you successfully run a business, even a small one, if you do not have a plan? But what I mean is try not to plan everything from beginning to the end because you never know what is going to happen when you will actually begin to work. Moreover, a lot of people are so focused on planning that they forget that they need to take action. One singer once said that many newcomers among musicians spend so much time making up a name for the band, thinking about the cover of the album and all that organizational things that they forget to write music. The same thing happens with business. Start acting! Plan a little bit, the most important things and go make your small first steps.

3. Do not waste money
We are all good at wasting money but not all of us are good at making them. Another mistake that beginners make is thinking about the way to spend their money and not about the work. Who told you that you need to buy an expensive website, buy a good car to look more successful or make millions of business cards. All you need is you, your ideas, your desire to make it all work. Go out there, talk to your customers, spend your time but not your money. Firstly, you need to earn some.

4. Do not be a loner
Yes, you might be confident, you might think that you do not need anybody’s help but you are wrong. Let people help you, whether it is somebody who has ideas for your company, or if you are a student, somebody who can help you out with your studies so you can have more free time to begin working on your plan. Starting a business as a student is especially hard, so you need help. When I need to write my paper and I just do not have time for this, I always know that there are people I can trust with this. Also, do not be afraid to go online and reach out to people, find friends and volunteers. The Internet is a powerful thing.

5. Do not jump into the partnership
Partnership sounds great. Being surrounded by people who are working on the same idea, having the same hopes and dreams about this business, what could be better? But wait. The partnership is a serious step, like marriage or decision to have a baby. You are going to spend most of the time with these people, you are going to work on something you dreamt of. That is why, before making any life-changing decisions, you need to make sure you can trust these people and that you have the same vision for the future of your company, you must have the same values. And the best way to find that all out before you start a business with them. is to work on some small projects together, see it you can even work side by side, if you get along. Give it a time, pick the right person.

6. Do not think that you know everything
Yes, it is your own business and it might seem like you know better than others what to do with it. And a lot of people failed because of thinking this way. You are just starting, so let people who already have some experience guide you a little. Read success stories, watch videos where people explain what to do to start your own business, if you are a student, read articles where you can find information on starting your own business as a student. There is so much information, just use it! Learn from people. It does not mean that you need to apply every single advice you hear or read, use that to analyze your strategies, use them as inspiration. There is no end to improvement.

7. Do not forget why you started it
Always remember why you decided to start your company at a first place. The more you work on your business, the easier it is to forget why have you started it anyway. Especially if things do not go your way. But if you already in it, you made it your second home, you have a goal you wanted to reach, then go for it. Do not stop, do not give up. It will take a lot of time and you will need to put a lot of effort but it will be all worth it.

Scientific Fields That Don’t Require a PhD

If you are looking to get into a science related field but don’t have your PhD yet, or don’t want to go that far with your studies, you are in luck. There are a lot of things that you can do. Let’s take a peek at a few of them.

Biological Storage

You might decide that you don’t enjoy working around a lot of people and that is fine. You have many options that won’t require that. One of them is working at a biorepository. A biorepository is a biological storage facility. Someone working in a place like this would physically receive and then store biological samples and retrieve them when necessary.  You might also ship them at times.  You can get a job at a biorepository with only a bachelor's degree as well as some experience in sample management, shipping and receiving, and data entry.

Stem Cell Research

This is one field that offers people career options in medical science that are lucrative. This is currently one of the most viable options for young people looking to get into a science related field. Stem cell research is often called the “Future of Modern Medicine”. New discoveries and advancements are being made in stem cell research all the time. What does it actually involve? This is a level of scientific research that is advanced and carried out by people from a variety of science backgrounds in order to locate efficient and innovative therapies for a variety of ailments. Some of this work is done in a clean room.

Sonography

The people in this field are thought of as sort of scuba divers for the human body. No, they don’t literally go inside of people, but they do use ultrasound tech to see all of the organs that are hidden below the surface of the skin. This high - tech job requires people who can help doctors assess and even diagnose injuries and diseases. Like some of the other jobs in the medical field, you can get into this field in more than a single way. You can get an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in sonography or if you already have training as a nurse, you might be able to take a one year certificate program to get you ready for a career as a sonographer.

Environmental Scientist

This type of scientist can be thought of as a sort of problem solver for the environment. Depending on what specialty you choose – health, chemistry, or protection – you might be gathering field data in an effort to restore wetlands that are polluted, come up with recommendations to slow the depletion of the ozone, or try to come up with plans to ensure that our air remains safe for us to breathe. To get ready for a career in this field, you need a bachelor’s degree in one of the natural science fields, such as chemistry or biology. If you want to get into the field before you get your bachelor’s you can become an environmental field technician as long as you have your associate’s degree in a field that is science related.

Geotech

We, as a society, rely on gas and oil to fuel our vehicles, heat our homes and run some of our appliances. Geotechs – shortened version of geological technicians, are now on the front line when it comes to exploring and being able to extract new areas of these natural resources. Sometimes employers will hire people who only have their high school diploma, but most of the time they prefer people who are aspiring to be geotechs and as such have a minimum of an associate’s degree in a field such as chemistry or geology.
Remember that you don’t need a PhD to make a change in the world. There are plenty of things in the STEM fields that you can do. The ones listed here are just a few of them. What other ones can you come up with?