Ah, the job interview. It’s not everyone’s favorite thing. You’re trying to make a good first impression while also assessing if you would even want to work with whoever is interviewing you — it’s challenging. And here’s the kicker: you’re doing it online.

Not to worry. There’s homework you can do and tips you can follow to succeed in a remote interview.

With the pandemic far from over, many employers are trying to figure out how to navigate remote and in-person work. As a result, you may find yourself in a hybrid role, balancing time both in the office and remotely each week. After working from home for more than a year, this may seem like a huge change. So, how can we adjust to a hybrid work model?

Work life has changed dramatically for the millions of people who are now working from home. According to recent Gallup statistics, 33 percent of employees in the United States are always working virtually, and 25 percent are working from home as part of a hybrid business model.

You made it through school, you landed that job, and you are working your heart out. But there’s that nagging feeling — the whisper inside saying you don’t really belong or deserve your success.  

Though she didn’t know it at the time, Dr. Serra Hoagland’s upbringing put her on a path to becoming the only Native woman with a PhD to work for the U.S. Forest Service. Growing up in Placerville, Calif., a small town west of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Dr. Hoagland just knew that she wanted to be outdoors. “My biggest thing was to finish my homework and go outside — that was my goal for the day,” recalls Dr. Hoagland, this year’s winner of the Most Promising Engineer or Scientist Award.

When Laura Smith-Velazquez was eight years old, her parents got her a telescope. The dark sky over Dorr, Mich., made for the perfect laboratory for Smith-Velazquez, an especially curious child. “I was fascinated with the sky,” she recalls. “It was so beautiful and I had so many questions.” 

One of Frances Dupris’ fondest childhood memories is having chicken pox. No, it wasn’t because the illness was fun. Rather, what she remembers with such nostalgia is that having chicken pox meant that she got to spend an extended period of time with her grandmother, Louise Eagle Tail Quick Bear, and great-grandmother, Rebecca Quick Bear, who took care of her while she was sick.

When Sandra Begay was an 11-year-old attending boarding school, she knew she wanted a career in engineering. It wasn’t that she was taking an engineering course in elementary school, but rather it was when she realized there was a problem that could be solved. 

When Brendan Kinkade was a young kid growing up in Oklahoma and Texas, he wanted to know how things work — a concept he now refers to as “practical physics.” At the time, though, the pursuit of practical physics translated into completely taking apart and then reassembling motorbike engines on his back patio. “Every screw and washer had a place, and if you deconstruct things, you have to know how they go back into place,” says Kinkade. “It taught me to be systematic and process-oriented. And to understand that there are many pieces that make up the whole.”

The countdown is on. It’s almost time for the AISES National Conference, an annual highlight for thousands of Indigenous professionals throughout North America and beyond. The conference will be making its virtual debut on a 100 percent online platform, giving participants new ways to make the most of three action-packed days. This year’s all-virtual format will include opening and closing ceremonies, a keynote address, a talking circle, expert-led topical sessions, research presentations, mixers, and Indian Country’s largest College and Career Fair.