The Telephone Job Interview

To do your best in a telephone job interview you need to know what to expect and how to prepare. These free insiders tips will help you on your way.

The Purpose of the Telephone Interview

There are two main types of telephone interviews.

1. The Telephone Screening Interview
   
   The purpose of this call is to determine whether you meet the minimum position requirements. The call is usually made during business hours and may catch you by surprise.
   
   
2. The In-depth Telephone Job Interview
   
   This call is also a form of screening. However, it will more closely resemble a face-to-face interview in content.

   The details of the call are usually arranged in advance (often after the initial screening call). That is; the time of the call and who will call whom is determined before hand.

Your goal for both the pre-screening and more extensive telephone job interview is to advance to the next step in the hiring process. This is usually some type of face-to-face meeting.

Regardless of which type of telephone interview you're anticipating, make sure you give yourself an employment edge by mastering everything within your control.

Before Either Call

• Prepare for your telephone job interview by reading and following the guidelines offered in Interviewing Do's and Don'ts as well as those in Common Job Interview Questions, Questions to Ask in Interview Situations and How to Handle the Pay Rate issue.
  
  Invest in yourself by doing this homework early on in your job search. It will prepare you for everything that follows.

• Pre-screening calls will be made to the contact phone number you provided when you submitted your candidacy. And they are most often made during business hours.

  If you're unable to answer the phone make sure there is a way for the caller to leave you a message. And make sure your outgoing message is brief and business like.

  Don't take telephone interview calls on your cell phone while at work. Let the caller leave a message. You don't want to give the impression that you're willing to conduct personal business on company time.

  On the other hand you want to demonstrate a sense of urgency about getting back to the caller. Take a break as soon as you can and call back.

• Collect and store all of your reference material in one handy location. One of the advantages of a telephone job interview is that you can have every piece of reference material you need right in front of you. You'll be able to refer to these things without the caller being aware of what you're doing.

  Materials you need to have handy include:

  • A copy of the job posting or ad to which you applied with a notation about the date you submitted your candidacy and how it was submitted.

  • A copy of the resume you sent. If you have different versions of your resume make sure you know which version was sent to whom. This way you know you're looking at the same thing your caller is looking at.

  • If you filled out an on-line application make sure you printed a copy for your own files. Again, you want to be able to look at what the caller is looking at.

  • Your notes about any previous conversations you've had with company representatives. Keep a log of every contact you've had no matter how trivial it may seem at the time. Jot it down even if you just called to confirm the spelling of someone's name.

    Being able to refer to your "history" with the company may help you down the line. Make a note of the date and time of the call along with who you spoke to; what you learned and any actions you took as a result.

  • Your notes from any research you did on the company; your answers to common job interview questions; questions you want to ask; and your notes on market pay rates along with your estimate of their hiring range and your pay range requirements.
  
  
  Having all this information at your fingertips will do wonders for your confidence.

Control the Setting

• Take or make calls for a telephone job interview in a quiet room alone. You need to make sure you are not distracted and your caller is not distracted from the task at hand.

  You probably know from your own experience it's very off putting when you're trying to talk to someone and they have a lot going on at their end of the line.

  First impressions are lasting. A blaring television or stereo or worse yet loud conversations in the background (as in friends laughing or kids screaming) can work against you.

• If the pre-screening caller catches you in an unguarded moment ask her to hold for a minute while you move to a quite area. Or ask if you can call her right back. This will give you a moment to collect yourself and your reference materials before having the conversation.

  Make the return call as soon as possible. You don't want to end up playing phone tag and getting no where.

Accomplish Your Objectives

• Help the caller like you. Be pleasant and easy to talk with while remaining business like. Smile when you talk. People can 'hear' your smile over the phone making it easier for you to establish a rapport. Smiling will also help you relax.

  Don't talk too fast. Your words will have more weight and you will seem more confident if you speak at a normal pace.

  You won't have the benefit of non-verbal communication tools like leaning forward or having good eye contact. So when you want to emphasis a point stand up. This gives your voice more energy.

• Make sure she understands that your qualifications meet the needs of the position. A well written resume can help you here. So will following the other interviewing advice found elsewhere on this web site.

• Demonstrate that you "get it". This applies during the more extensive phone interview. You do this not only by how you respond to the hiring authority's questions but also by the questions you ask. The questions you ask will also allow you to accomplish the remainder of your objectives.

• Determine whether the position is a good match for you.

• Understand where your candidacy stands. (By the end of the call)

• Make it to the next step in the hiring process.

• Understand the details of the next step.