After receiving your standout resume and cover letter, the hiring manager at the company wasted no time in requesting a Skype interview.  Here are 6 tips to acing it:

• Choose a professional username.

  Your username should be your first and last name, or something similar.  This is not the place to be cute, babyqueen.

• Practice makes perfect.

  Do a dry run with family or friends the day before the call to make sure your microphone is in good working order, the lighting doesn’t make you look like you’re under police investigation, and your Internet connection can handle a Skype call.  (Doing this minutes before your interview = guaranteed stress, so give yourself plenty of time in advance.)

• Treat it like an in-person interview.

  Same rules apply:  Do your homework, both on the company and the person with whom you’ll be interviewing. Have the key points you want to highlight from your resume down cold.  Dress as you would for an interview, but choose a color that contrasts well with the wall behind you—in other words, not a white shirt against a white wall.  Sit up straight and speak clearly.  No gum.  Make eye contact with the camera, so it looks as though you’re making eye contact with your interviewer.

• Avoid awkward interruptions.

  Nothing can torpedo an interview like a hung-over roommate stumbling in from last-night’s questionable decision.  Turn off all ringers, give your barking dog to a friend for an hour, and silence the TV in the next room.

• Background check.

  Take a look behind you.  Do you really want the interviewer to know you A) love the Jonas Brothers B) didn’t make your bed C) are the owner of 27 kitten figurines? No. Your surroundings should be as pulled together as you are.

• Make sure the call is really over.

  Save yourself and your interviewer from an embarrassing situation by properly ending the call before you move on to doing anything else (like picking your nose or worse).   

  Remember, the Skype interview is an essential hurdle to clear—especially if you’re interviewing with a company in a new city.  Put your best screen forward.

Andra Newman is a co-founder of QuadJobs.  She previously headed recruitment for J.Crew and Abercrombie & Fitch and ran her own search firm, Winokur Newman.