Telephone Interviews

[Truder]

So, as some of you may know I'm one of those unemployed lot... However, in my quest to gain employment, I have been scheduled for a telephone interview. I'm actually quite nervous about this as I've never had a telephone interview before so, I've been researching about what I should do, how I should compose myself etc. So far everything I've found out is pretty much simple stuff but I'm just wondering what people's experiences of telephone interviews are? Looking at a websites information of the do's and dont's regarding telephone interviews is all well and good but I'm thinking 1st hand experience would be better to look into.

Cheers in advance

[Orava]

Make sure you know who you are going to be talking to (might be several people in a conference call). Write the names down on a piece of paper as well as basic company info.

If it is a technical interview, make sure you have all your notes in front of your.

Make sure you are somewhere quiet, preferably at home. Up the telephone volume if possible so you can hear.

Write down some questions based on your research of the company.

Print out your CV and have it handy.

Think of answers to "where do you see yourself in five year's time" or "can you describe your strengths" and even "why do you want this job".

And try to relax and be yourself... Never easy - I do not like telephone interviews much.

[xan]

I've only had a couple of phone interviews, but they do have quite a different feel to face-to-facers.

I think it's fair to expect less depth than a face to face interview, but don't be surprised if it's still wide ranging and quite testing. My main advice would be:

1) Make sure you can guarantee a nice quiet uninterrupted environment. If you are anything like me then there's nothing so off-putting as a noise or distraction of any sort when you are mid-flow and this is especially true on the phone as your interviewer won't be able to hear it so you will worry more. Take your phone off the hook (obviously not the one you are going to be called on ), let anyone in the house know you need it quiet and pick a low traffic part of the house. I've actually taken phone interviews in my car when I was travelling and this was the best of all, a nice peaceful cocoon all to myself .

2) Get comfy and be ready 10 minutes before. Shut down your web browser, (don't have YY's recent activity open to distract you!) and make a nice cuppa to sip at while you are talking. Don't be surprised if they call 5-10 minutes early.

3) Chill and take it easy. Keep it relaxed and don't be tempted to rush your answers. It's rather weird talking into the phone, especially when giving longer explanations, when you can't see their reactions, and the temptation is to speed up. They should be "uh huhing" along with you but just keep your cool and pace yourself as normal.

4) Be prepared for speakerphone-itis. There's a good chance they'll be on speakerphone in their office with a couple of people in the room. When this has happened with me, I've then had a horrible echo / feedback of myself talking about a 1/2 second or so late which is really offputting (stupid low quality phones without noise cancellation!). Not much you can do about it, just be warned and above all...


DON'T PANIC!

Good luck!

[xan]

Make sure you know who you are going to be talking to (might be several people in a conference call). Write the names down on a piece of paper as well as basic company info.

This.

I'm terrible with names and with no faces to attach to it's even worse, so jot it down at the start, along with their role.

[venusian]

I've had a couple. They're okay. Whilst the disconnect from the interviewer can be disconcerting, especially if you don't much like phones, it allows you to not worry about your nervous tics, sweating and egg stains on your chin. I like to stand up, walk around and stare out the winsow whilst on the phone, something I've yet to try in a face to face interview.

As with any interview you're not a passive subject for their investigation. You should have objectives: mostly telling them why you should have the job. What I found to be helpful was writing out (in big letters so it's very easy to read) a list of things I wanted to tell them. I.e. I am Cool and Clever and Don't Smell. Whenever you make a point about yourself, tick it off. When they ask "any more questions", clean up the rest of the sheet. You can't do this in a face-to-face, so take advantage on the phone.

[Reading that back it sounds a bit patronising and dictatorial. Sorry.]

[xan]

I like to stand up, walk around and stare out the winsow whilst on the phone, something I've yet to try in a face to face interview.

When I wasn't in the car I did this too - it's kind of a habit of mine, I don't like the phone much so I tend to wander round! Quite liberating actually not being pinned in the chair by the usual interview setting.

[Firefox]

Have a good look through their website. Make up some questions to ask them, even if you can sort-of deduce the answers already. Doing this gives them an indication that you're actually interested in them and the job, which will immediately set you apart from a lot of the applicants.

[stealthbanana]

Sit there with your old man out and breath heavily.

[JQW]

I've had a couple that were with non-technical HR muppets, which were naturally awful. One asked a stream of technical questions, but would only mark them as correct if given the exact answer they had in front of them. When I questioned one of these the woman in HR immediately cancelled the interview. (It was with Accenture, by the way).

[OX mkII]

Sit there with your old man out and breath heavily.

Reckon that would work in a similar way to the old comedian visualising the audience naked trick, hell you could go the whole hog and sit on the bog and turn out a chair leg.

[pogo]

Don't tear the ad out of the newspaper, take it along with you. Make sure you have enough coins for the phone booth. Try not to be too distracted by the smell, the graffiti or the curious adverts. Make sure your passport is up to date. Try not to be too distracted by thoughts of what you'll tell your gf, as it starts in a week in Hong Kong and you've never been further than Paris before.

A bit more recently I sat in on an interview with a candidate, and from that I think the main thing is be well prepared. The normal niceties of visiting a company (drink, chit-chat) were dispensed with, so the interviewee had little time to settle in, and as time was of the essence the interview proceeded at a brisk pace. Have your cv and anything else you sent in front of you as they'll be looking at that. Use a good phone (probably not your mobile), so you can pick up things in their voices and don't sound like a robot/aren't at the mercy of the weather at the time.

[Portland]

Have a good look through their website. Make up some questions to ask them, even if you can sort-of deduce the answers already. Doing this gives them an indication that you're actually interested in them and the job, which will immediately set you apart from a lot of the applicants.

This

I interviewed a bloke a couple of years back who had no idea what we did (we were just Telewest Business back then) and was basically there assuming he could just walk in because he'd done call centre work before. It was clear within literally 2-3 minutes that not only was he not going to get the job, he was actually just wasting his time and ours. Wish we'd been able to video it, it would have been the perfect "how not to do it" example.

[Truder]

Well, my Telephone interview was a success! Now I have a proper interview!

[Firefox]

Awesomes!