How do you practice for a video interview?

- You notice how this video isn't called should I practice for my interview? Heck yes you should practice. A few times. And I'm not just talking to the novices here. Even if you're proficient in web conferences and video interviews, you're going to do yourself a real solid if you make sure you're ready to knock it out of the park. If you need to download software, make sure you get it done well before your actual interview. It may take you longer than you anticipate and you definitely don't want to be late. Get logged in and make sure you know how to navigate the platform. If there's opportunity, do an actual practice interview beforehand. So say it's a two-way Skype interview. Recruit a friend or a family member to be your interviewer. You can find some sample questions by doing an internet search on common interview questions or you might even find some actual questions that this company asks over on Glassdoor. Conduct the practice interview and then ask your interviewer for candid feedback on your content, tone, outfit, lighting and background. If it's a one-way interview, ask if you can access the questions in advance which could give you a big leg up on the competition. But if you do that, the only caution I'll give is this. Don't full on memorize every answer. You want to come across as somebody who's conversational and engaging, not some robot regurgitating answers. If you don't have early access to the questions, prepare a few of your own and practice. If you can, record yourself and evaluate how you look and how you sound. Now, that's always a weird feeling to watch yourself on video, trust me I know. But it will help you so much. And then you can fine tune from there. A couple of additional things you want to factor in as you practice. First, work on keeping yourself at least somewhat still through the interview. I'm a monumental hand talker so I get it that you might feel stifled if you don't move at all but you want to find that balance between frozen stick person and wild fidgeter while you're on camera. And also you want to look into the eye of the webcam, not at the middle of the screen. As awkward as this might seem, the interviewer will feel like you're looking her in the eye if you're looking right into the webcam. You'll appear like you're looking down otherwise. I do a lot of Skype consults with my own clients and here's my trick. I put a tiny little sticky note with a smiley face near my camera so I'm reminded of where to look. Trust me, it works.