Community Chat

[morganjen]

My stepdaughter has a phone interview for a job on Monday. It's been eons since I participated in a job interview. Anyone have any tips or suggestions I could pass along to her? She has passed the qualifications round, next is this phone interview. I'm sure she'll do fine, but any positive thought would be appreciated.

[Peaches McPhee]

While it might be tempting to not dress "up" when doing  a phone interview, it is a good idea to.  You don't have to wear your best work attire, but don't wear your pajamas either.  Dressing the part will put you in the right attitude, which will improve your performance.

[karlam]

My son has been applying for  new jobw and has gone through telephone interviews recently.  If your step daughter is using a cell phone for the interview make sure the battery is charged and that she has a good connection.  Speak clearly so that the interviewer can hear her.  Have pencil and paper ready to jot down notes.  Some of my sons phone interviews have lasted only 10 minutes (it was just a short meet and great type thing) and others have laster in excess of a hour (the reason for a full battery charge).

[Yahooey]

I would make sure that the interview is conducted in a quiet place. You don't want to be out and about during the interview. Go to a place where there is good reception. Don't have the TV blaring in the background. You don't want the interviewer to hear noises that is normal in a household. Be enthusiastic and upbeat. 

[Deb1010yetagain]

How to Stand Out in a Phone Interview 10 crucial tips to help you become a phone interview ninja.

By Alison Green

Here are 10 tips to help you become a phone interview ninja:

1. Ask ahead of time how much time to allot for the call. This can tell you what type of interview to expect. If you're told it'll take 10 to 15 minutes, it's just going to be a simple screening to check your basic match-up with the job. But if you're told to set aside 45 minutes or an hour, expect a much more thorough call where you might be asked about past accomplishments and where you might face behavioral interview questions.

2. Make sure you have somewhere quiet to talk where you won't be interrupted. This sounds obvious, but some candidates on phone interviews get interrupted by kids, barking dogs, coworkers at their current jobs, or other calls coming in. Not only does this come across as unprofessional and as if you're not taking the opportunity seriously, but it also will harm your ability to focus.

3. Keep notes in front of you. A major benefit of phone interviews is that you can have all the notes in front of you that you want. Take advantage of this, and prepare notes about the points you want to make. Obviously, you don't want to sound like you're reading a script, but you can use your notes to prompt you to remember pieces of information that you want to cover, or to use language for answering difficult questions.

4. Be prepared. Before the interview, go to the employer's website and read enough to get a good feel for their work and their general approach. Don't leave the site until you can answer these questions: What does this organization do? What is it all about? What makes the organization different from its competition?

5. Know the job description. There's nothing worse than a phone interview where the candidate doesn't seem to grasp what the job is all about and why they'd make a good fit. So before the call, go through the job description and think about how your experience and skills fit with each line. Don't be alarmed if you're not a perfect fit; people get hired all the time without being a line-for-line match. The idea is simply to have thought through how you are a match, so that those thoughts are easily retrievable and can be turned into answers in the phone screen.

6. Think about the questions that you're likely to be asked, and write out your answers to each of them. At a minimum, cover these basics: Why are you thinking about leaving your current job? What interests you about this opening? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What experience do you have doing the major responsibilities of the job? You especially want to prepare for questions that you find tricky, like, for instance, talking about a firing or talking about weaknesses. Write out your answers to these questions not because you'll read them word-for-word, but because doing so will help prep you for the call.

7. Be ready to talk salary. You can try to avoid talking about salary at this stage, but a lot of interviewers are going to insist on it. In fact, part of the point of the phone interview may be to make sure that you're in the same ballpark, salary-wise.

8. Come up with questions of your own to ask. Good questions at this stage are clarifying questions about the role itself and open-ended inquiries about the office culture. Don't ask about things like benefits, hours, or job security. These are important elements but there will be plenty of time to talk about them if you move forward; the phone screen is about establishing whether you're a good match.

9. Pay attention to your tone of voice. On a phone interview, the interviewer can't see your body language or gestures, so your tone of voice matters more than ever. Make sure to sound upbeat, interested, and engaged; not sluggish or distracted. And let your personality come through; after all, a major reason for the phone interview is to get a sense of what you're all about.

10. At the end of the call, always ask about next steps and the employer's time line for getting back to you. That way, you'll know when you can expect to hear something (or if you can expect to hear something), and you won't sit around anxious and wondering why you haven't heard back yet.

[ECBG]

Please tell her to watch her speech and not create time with "uh" or "mmmmmm".  Also, she should have a copy of her resume in front of her to refer to.

I went through all of this with my juniors and seniors.

[LTT1]

@morganjen

I was asked if I had ever had to "sell" anyone anything before. This phone interview was for a teaching position.

When I answered (after a thoughtful pause) "well, as booster club presidents, we had to convince parents to work at the ballpark for profits that would be equally shared among the team members..." She laughed and said something like "my, I will say you DID have to do some selling on that one."  HTH

[Abrowneyegirl]

As someone who has conducted lots of phone interviews I would like to chime in.

Please let her know that silence is okay! People feel the need to "rush" to answer on a phone interview, the silence worries them into a answer.

It is fine to say, "may I think about your question a moment?"  The interviewer will use this time to write their notes.

More than once I had to tell a candidate to "feel free to take a moment" before they answer when I sense they are rushing  and getting flustered.

[chi5925]

I am an HR Manager and have handled lots of phone interviews.  There are many good suggestions offered here and I couldn't agree more with the ones that say:  if you are using a cellphone, make sure you are in a very quiet area with no background noises and that you can hear clearly.

Don't use fillers like "um" or "ah" or "like"

Do research about the company and think of a couple of good questions YOU would like to ask.  Reference the fact that you did the research when answering questions -- this shows us that you really are interested. 

Don't ramble on when answering.  Be succinct and answer the question that is asked rather than going off tangent.

Be enthusiastic without going overboard.  We want to know that you have energy and your voice and intonation really can reflect a lot about you.

Before interview concludes, ask when a decision will be made and when you can expect to hear from them.

Email a "thank you" email to the person you spoke to OR the HR person if the HR person is your main contact.  A short note 1) thanking the interviewer for their time; 2) that you enjoyed getting more information about the position; and 3) that you look forward to hearing from them when a decision is made.

On Monday I had a phone interview scheduled -- here's what happened:

when I called her, she was at a doctor's appointment and in between answering my questions, she was talking to her doctor.  I am NOT kidding!!  After a couple of minutes, I thanked her and said that "..perhaps it wasn't the best time to talk...."  Why she confirmed that the time was good for the interview when she knew she had a doctor's appt is beyond me.  I did email her afterwards and say that if we wanted to continue the interview, I would get in touch - (note to me:  NEVER)

Sorry for the long post -- hopefully I've added some more info that helps.

Good luck to your stepdaughter!

[morganjen]

Thanks all for all your responses! I have compiled everything together and will print it out for her to look at.