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AKelley
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Zoom etiquette for MBA Spotlight 25 May 2021, 02:54
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Zoom etiquette for MBA Spotlight


This past few years have brought so many changes. We have gone from face-to-face meetings to online and zoom meetings which are now a part of our everyday lives. This makes your zoom etiquette important.

With GMAT Club’s upcoming MBA Spotlight Fair just around the corner, you will want to make sure that you have proper zoom etiquette so when you meet with the admissions team, student panels, alumni, or whoever you will be interacting with over zoom you will be sure to leave a good first impression.

What to Do:

Check Your Appearance
You most definitely want to put your best foot forward and your appearance is first and foremost the most important thing. Make sure that from head to toe, you are neat, clean, and dressed. I know many people say to dress for business from the waist up, but it does not take much effort to get fully dressed. It shows you respect yourself and more importantly you respect whomever you are speaking with.

Choose the Right Setting
Be sure to pick a place that is quiet and has little or no distractions. Make sure your background is professional-looking and that does not have any distractions in the background. Do not do your zoom session from your bed. This is a bit too personal and not at all professional. Overall, you need to make sure you have good lighting and that you are in a clean and quiet environment.

Set up Computer/Camera Ahead of Time
Think about where you will be attending your zoom sessions. Are you zooming from your home, or are you zooming from your workplace or a coffee shop (I hope not)? Wherever you choose, be sure your computer, wifi, and camera are working properly. When you begin your zoom meeting, be sure that your name is displayed properly. If you need to, you should change it before you enter the meeting. Finally, keep your computer camera on throughout the meeting, do not just be in listen mode.

Use Active Listening
This is a very important step. You should be making eye contact with whoever is speaking. Make sure you remember to nod your head and smile at the appropriate times. Make sure you have a quick introduction about yourself ready to go. Be sure to ask questions, but do not interrupt the speaker. Unless otherwise directed, you should write your questions or comments in the chat. If you do however feel the question warrants an interruption, be sure to use the raise your hand feature that zoom offers. Likewise, it is a good idea to keep yourself on mute when you are not speaking. Background noise is very distracting to the speaker.


What Not To Do:

Do Not Socialize
This does not mean that you cannot make a friendly exchange at the start of the zoom meeting. A friendly hello is always a plus, especially if there is some common ground, but keep it short and sweet. There will likely be other people on the zoom call and their time is as valuable to them as yours is to you, show that you respect that.

Do Not Mult-Task
Do not be looking at your phone or checking text messages. If you are in an environment with other people around you, keep your eyes on whoever is speaking. Stay focused on the meeting at all costs. You will be meeting with admission team members who are there to answer your questions and to help you decide your future. You will not give a good first impression if you are having a conversation off-camera, or if you are writing emails when someone else is speaking and most of all, do not eat. This will not be leaving a good first impression.

Do Not Come Unprepared
This is also an important tip to remember. You need to be ready to be able to introduce yourself in a confident articulate way. Prepare what you want to say beforehand. Be ready to answer any questions asked of you and most importantly, do not be camera shy. If you are on the quiet and shy side, practice speaking into the camera beforehand and get comfortable with talking on camera. Have some questions prepared beforehand. This is your time to stand out and let the MBA program know that you are interested enough to attend this event. They will remember it and you if you come prepared and show your confidence and you can refer to it in later interviews. Use the time wisely!

Be Confident, Not Cocky
You need to be confident and show admission teams that you believe in yourself and have what it takes, but be careful to not come off as cocky or arrogant. It will not show you in your best light and could even cost you the school of your dreams. In an interview with Jibby James, Senior Admissions Manager at the Indian School of Business (ISB), he said, “We do not only look at test scores, but we also look at the person’s overall profile base chart listing.” Jibby went on to say that ISB recently had one candidate who scored 780 on their GMAT and another candidate who scored 620 on their GMAT and ISB chose the candidate with the GMAT score of 620. This is because the person with the higher score believed that because they scored so high they did not need to worry about the rest of the process so their overall profile score was much lower than the person who had a GMAT score of 620.

In short, when you are at a zoom meeting whether it be at the MBA Spotlight Fair, interviewing with a college, or visiting with friends, be aware of how you are presenting yourself to others and remember you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

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Zoom etiquette for MBA Spotlight 07 Jun 2021, 07:40
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Fantastic points that every applicant should take to heart! Thank you for putting this together!