Phone Interview Tips
In today’s busy world more and more companies are relying on telephone interviews to save time and reduce the number of job candidates before setting up a longer, in-person interview--so some savvy phone interview tips can help get you off to the right start and gain you that all important in-person meeting.
One of the great advantages of doing a phone interview is that the person conducting the interview cannot see you. That means you can have all the information around you that you want and can check it at any time. You can have lists of questions you want to remember to ask, a list of points you want to be sure to make, your resume and other previous job records for easy browsing, and you don’t have to deal with the nervousness that comes when someone with the power to affect your future is sitting across from you.
For you, the primary goal of a telephone interview should be to get an in-person interview. That means you must be prepared for an unannounced phone interview call on any day at any time. Prepare in advance by setting up the area in which you will take the call and make sure that all family members, if any, are aware of the importance of not being disturbed during this phone call.
If you have a home office, this is the place you want to be when you take the call. Make sure it is set up in advance with all of the materials you are going to need during the call--material about the potential employer, your resume, any samples of previous projects you want to talk about, lists of your strengths and weaknesses, and a list of questions you wish to ask the interviewer. Try to speak clearly and slowly and if you are concerned about how you might sound on the telephone, ask a friend to do a little practice interview with you.
Because phone interviews do take place at home it is necessary immediately to switch your focus from the family to the task at hand. This is also harder if there is little room for privacy and you have to do the interview on a phone where your materials need to be spread out on a kitchen counter of dining room table. Wherever you have to take the call, make sure that during this period of time there will be no noises, disturbances or distractions. Make sure you have plenty of paper and pens with which to take notes.
If you have the advantage of being able to set up the time for the phone interview in advance, you can look up some phone interview tips, and you can do several other things in preparation. Here phone interview tips should include making sure that you have gotten the children, if there are any, occupied with activities, put the pets outside or shut them off in another part of the house, and turned off any music or background noise, such as the TV, radio or stereo. You can have your area set up in advance with all the materials you are going to need, and maybe even a glass of water should your throat get overly dry and you are afraid of coughing.
However the phone interview ends, make sure to say you look forward to meeting and talking to the interviewer in person. Make sure you end with the most positive impression you can make. And lastly, make sure to send a thank you note to the interviewer.