Most people find interviews to be awkward. Neither party knows what to expect from the other. It’s all so unclear. There’s the somewhat bearable phone interview, the semi-awkward yet personal face-to-face and then there’s the dreaded Skype interview.

I think it’s way more comfortable interviewing over the phone. They can’t see your clearly nervous demeanor and you can have all the notes you want in front of you. Oh, and you can wear whatever the hell you want.

Face-to-face interviews aren’t my first choice, but they come in as close second. Yes, you have to dress the part and actually show up, but you get the moments of shaking the interviewer’s hand, introducing yourself and making small talk about the office or your walk/drive over. It gives you a chance to loosen up and get comfortable with the interviewer.

The first thing my friends told me when I asked what to do for my first Skype interview was “look nice on top, and you don’t have to wear pants!” I put together some notes for myself and went to put on a blazer and my glasses. At first, I left my sweatpants on, but I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror and be okay with that. I started thinking about all of the possible scenarios in which I would have to stand up at some point and the interviewer would see my sweats. I went with leggings.

I set up shop at my friend’s desk after I decided that my smoke shop tapestry wasn’t the best background for a professional anything. In the 20 minutes from when I sat down to when the interview started, I learned a lot.

My findings:

1. 1. If you are making a list of talking points or things not to forget, it MUST be on your computer screen, NOT your phone. You can’t be looking at your phone during a Skype interview just like you can’t be looking at it during a face-to-face interview.
2. 2. If you are wearing glasses, know that the interviewer can see whatever is going on on your screen through the reflection. This means you have to be careful about switching between being online, looking at your notes and especially be careful with pulling up websites related to the interviewer.
3. 3. It’s really awkward when you are looking the interviewer in the eyes, but he/she thinks you are looking somewhere else on your screen because you have the video image of him/her in the bottom left corner of your screen. Pull the video window up and as close as you can to the camera and try your best to uncomfortably and unnaturally look into the camera instead of the image.
4. 4. Silence all devices. You don’t want your phone blowing up from group chats during the interview because you can’t reach over and stop it. Also, put headphones in. This way the interviewer can’t hear any unwanted background noise or his/her own voice in the video delay.

So next time you have a Skype interview, don’t panic. Just check yourself before hand and take all of the necessary precautions. And do yourself a favor, wear pants — you never know when you’re gonna have to get up.