Seven Tips to Nail a Skype Interview Reading Answers

Jan 7, 2023

Seven Tips to Nail a Skype Interview Reading Answers comprises a total of 6 questions. This IELTS reading passage has been taken from the book IELTS - The Complete Guide to General Reading. The IELTS reading topic: Seven Tips to Nail a Skype Interview Reading Answers requires candidates to answer the mentioned number of questions within a provided time limit. This is an IELTS General Reading topic. This IELTS reading topic Seven Tips to Nail a Skype Interview Reading Answers contains one type of question which is choose the correct option.To practice more such reading passage candidates can refer to the IELTS reading practice papers. The practice papers will help the candidates excel in the IELTS reading examination.

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Section 1

Read the passage to answer the following questions

Seven Tips to Nail a Skype Interview Reading Answers

Look the Part

Do your research: Check out the company's website, Facebook page and Twitter feed to get a feel for how employees dress and behave, then take your cues from that when prepping for your interview.

Next, clean up. If your at-home appearance leans towards the casual, take some time to polish up. It's always better to err on the side of freshly-scrubbed-even if you're an aspiring trek leader, carefully dressed in her best khakis.

Assuming your bottom half will be hidden under a desk, you may be tempted to wear your favorite sweatpants, but it's best to dress from head to toe. What if you have to stand up to adjust your equipment?

Prepare Your Surroundings

Take your call in a quiet, businesslike setting, ideally in a room with a door. Look behind you, because that's what they'll see. A cluttered background may distract your audience, not to mention send the wrong idea of your organizational skills. Also, rid the area of personal items no need to share too much information. A blank or neutral background is best, with a well organized desktop.

Be sure to inform anyone else at home about the meeting; you don't want to be interrupted by a sudden blast of stereo music or someone bellowing your name.

Practice It First

Your first few video calls are bound to feel awkward as you figure out where to look, what to do with your hands, or how loudly to speak. But it's easy to work out those kinks ahead of time. Conducting a practice interview with a friend can be very helpful; record it so that you'll have an accurate idea of how you come across on video," advises Cheryl Palmer, career coach and owner of Call to career, a career coaching service.

Don't Forget to Smile!

At an in-person interview, you'd naturally smile upon arrival, and try to keep a pleasant facial expression for the duration.

It's more difficult to do this with a remote interview. Lacking a 'live' person in front of you, and sidetracked by thoughts of equipment or cameras, you might be less likely to smile reflexively. If that's the case, you can seem like you're staring wide- eyed at the camera. Smiling is the best way to break the ice and develop rapport with your interviewer.

Stay Present

One may suggest interjecting listening sounds ("hm," or "yes") as your interviewers speak. In addition to making your conversation more pleasant, it also reassures the other party that the technology is functioning correctly and you are, indeed, still listening. And even though they can't see you, never tinker with your computer during a call.

Go Ahead and Cheat

One advantage to a video interview is that you don't have to remember everything you want to mention. You can have notes in front of you-without your interviewer knowing. Place your resume in front of you, news about the company, questions you want to ask and potential talking points.

Of course, you don't want to be reading off the page verbatim, so make sure you're familiar with your material.

Address Tech Problems Immediately

When you're relying on video equipment, there's a good chance you'll experience a technical glitch: a weak connection, interference or garbled signals.

You may hesitate to draw attention to the problem, but you don't want to give an inaccurate answer because you didn't understand the question. If you're getting too many blips, it's good to stop the call and redial.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 22-27:
Choose the right option for each of the questions below.

When dressing for the interview

(a) Since the interview is from home, you may dress casually.
(b) Check how the company employee dresses at work and get an idea from there as to how to dress for the Interview.
(c) Although you will be seated, it is good to wear formal, laced shoes.

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: Do your research: Check out the company's website, Facebook page and Twitter feed to get a feel for how employees dress and behave, then take your cues from that when prepping for your interview.
Keyword: dress, interview
Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, 1se sentence
Explanation: As per the passage, the author says that one should do the research before the interview. They will get an idea about the dress code and hence, they can dress accordingly for the interview. This makes B the correct answer.

For your surroundings during the interview, you should:

(a) Lock the door to keep interruptions out
(b) Ensure the background is not cluttered, because it could be distracting for you and your audience.
(c) Inform others at your home that you will be at an interview.

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Be sure to inform anyone else at home about the meeting; you don't want to be interrupted by a sudden blast of stereo music or someone bellowing your name.
Keyword: inform, anyone else, home
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, last sentence
Explanation: As per the passage, you should inform others at home about the interview. This is because no one interrupts in the middle of the interview. Hence, C is the correct answer.

As you practice the call, you may find:

(a) Your friend with whom you practice is very helpful.
(b) All the kinks can be rectified before the actual interview.
(c) Initially you will not know what to look at.

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: But it's easy to work out those kinks ahead of time.
Keyword: easy, kinks
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, 2nd sentence
Explanation: The author directly says that with practice, it is easy to work out on kinks. This means that the kinks can be rectified.

The point about smiling during an interview is:

(a) It develops rapport with the interviewer.
(b) It is not more difficult to smile during a remote interview.
(c) Since you are side-tracked by thoughts of cameras and equipment, you are only able to smile reflexively.

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: Smiling is the best way to break the ice and develop rapport with your interviewer.
Keyword: break ice, develop, rapport
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, last sentence
Explanation: We can see that the passage talks about smiling during an interview. The author says that smiling is the best way to build a rapport with the interview. It breaks the ice means it reduces the awkwardness of the situation.

One advantage of a video interview is:

(a) You can cheat the interviewer.
(b) Since you cannot read off the page verbatim, you should commit the points to memory.
(c) You need not memorize all that you want to ask.

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: One advantage to a video interview is that you don't have to remember everything you want to mention.
Keyword: advantage, video, interview
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, 1st sentence
Explanation: Here, remember means memorize. The author states that one advantage of video interviews is that you do not need to remember everything you want to ask. Hence, option C is the correct answer.

The thing about technical glitches during video interviews is that:

(a) They should be fixed immediately before they get worse.
(b) You should hesitate before drawing attention to the problem.
(c) If there are too many blips, it is better to stop the call and re-dial.

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: If you're getting too many blips, it's good to stop the call and redial.
Keyword: too many, blips
Keyword Location: last paragraph, last sentence
Explanation: The author says that there might be blips during the call. Blips means glitches. So if there are glitches, it is better to stop the call and then redial. This makes Option C the correct option.

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