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After all, it is a bit difficult for two people to shake hands when they're more than 1,000 miles apart. Beadle was in St. Paul, while Ylagan, a senior at the University of Virginia, was at the Charlottesville school's career center. Both sat in front of computers equipped with cameras and speakerphones. So when Beadle offered her hand, Ylagan could only watch it bob up and down on his screen. Chuckling a bit, he too shook his hand in front of the camera.

Ylagan, a commerce major, was one of 200 students chosen from 19 schools nationwide to take part in the world's first virtual job fair. Dozens of employers spent a week in November interviewing candidates for 150 job openings. Employers had selected the interviewees based on their resumes, and more students were chosen from U.Va. than from any other school, says a proud Lawrence Simpson, director of career planning and placement at the university. Of the 200 applicants nationwide, 70 were from U.Va. And some students, including Ylagan, were interviewed by more than one employer during the virtual job fair.

The job seekers showed up at the career center, sat in front of the computer, and called prospective employers. The entire process was very simple and, Simpson says, convenient. "We can do an interview with Singapore as easily as with Richmond," he boasts. "Also, we can be doing interviews until 10 p.m."

The equipment is very basic, Simpson says, and he expects it to become commonplace at corporate conferences very soon. "It's a regular computer with a Pentium chip, an Intel ProShare video board, a small camera, a speaker and a microphone. ... The whole thing is less than $4,000. By mid-1997, there's a good chance PCs with Pentium chips will come automatically with that camera."

From a technical point of view, very few difficulties arose during the virtual job fair, Simpson says. "The only problem for practically everybody was that this was the first time they had done it. Some people weren't able to adjust the sound properly or get the right light."

Ylagan's interview with 3M was his first virtual interview. It was Beadle's fourth, so she already felt like a pro. But there were still some minor kinks. The camera transmits images at 17 frames per second. Compare that with television, which flashes 30 frames per second, and it's easy to understand why people on the screen appear to move in slow motion.

Also, the speakerphone created a slight delay between voice transmission and reception. Every couple of minutes someone would have to stop and say, "Sorry, my fault. Go ahead." It was just weird, Ylagan says. "I had to wait. I couldn't say things right away." One of the hardest things, he says, was not being able to throw in little acknowledgments such as "uh-huh" or "OK" as Beadle spoke, so he compensated by nodding more.

Twice during the interview, Ylagan's voice faded. Beadle could see him, but she couldn't hear him. Luckily the screen had a public pages sheet, so Ylagan began typing away to answer Beadle's questions. Such problems can be expected with any new technology, but this audio glitch couldn't be blamed on the system. Each computer has a volume control, and Beadle, it turns out, had inadvertently muted Ylagan.

Although Ylagan says he prefers a conventional interview, he appreciates the convenience of the high-tech hookup. "I think it's very appropriate for a first round of interviews," he says.

One potential advantage of the virtual interview is the ability to watch yourself in one corner of the computer screen. "It makes you more conscious of yourself," Ylagan says. "If I lean my head, I can see it and straighten up." But seeing the mirror image is also distracting, he admits. "You lose your train of thought."