How to Prepare for a Phone Interview
With the recent normalizing of screen- and remote-based interviewing, onboarding and working, job seekers across the country are rightly asking whether phone interviews - that most awkward and hard to judge of interview formats - will be consigned the bin of job hiring history.
No, is the simple answer.
Phone interviews, especially for Sales professionals, are absolutely vital in judging your suitability for moving your further down the recruitment channel, and to make a value judgment on suitability for a role.
The vast majority of the time, phone interviews are held prior to any remote or in person interview, such as for HR departments or recruiters to “pre-screen” you ahead of an interview, or, if there are genuinely hundreds of candidates, to make a quick-fire assessment of your suitability for further assessment.
It can be cut-throat, and phone interviews can be awkward, but many employers may along the line want to have a “quick chat” ahead of any interview, even if it’s just to sort out details for an interview.
You still have to prepare as you would for a face to face interview.
Again, to reiterate, you don’t get a second chance to make a 1st impression. If you’ve worked in Sales before you will understand the power of a phone call - the rapport building, the information gathered and inferred, the personality and the power of conversation.
Why do employers use phone interviews, and what kind of interviews should I expect?
The Screening Call
- Although this is ostensibly to “disqualify” you from a large list of candidates for a role, this is a vital chance for you to flex your qualifications and character. Screening calls are short, sharp and generally focus around quick-fire role suitability questions, availability and reasons for applying.
The In-depth Call
- This is your pre-interview bread and butter, and should be considered a starter before the main course. If you are “of interest” it may be than HR member or hiring manager may want to make introductions and nail down your suitability. This will be a hybrid interview where you will be able to expand on your personal reasons for leaving, your long term career goals, and of course you’ll be able to ask questions of the interviewer too.
The Recruiter Call
- Recruiters deal with hundreds, if not thousands, of potential candidates a week. A call, for a recruiter, is a fact finder - to pre-assess you for live roles, to discuss representation and to get to know, and you job search, better. Recruiters are hard working and super organized, so they’ll need to book a slot to make sure your representation is legal and more importantly for you to understand how they work and ask questions of them.
The Committee Call
- A secondary version of a “screening call”, this is a large group call with multiple hiring managers who can make value judgements on hires quickly and as a group.
How to ace the phone interview.
Surprising as it may sound, your body language and the environment you do your phone interview in are as important as your voice control or preparation for questioning or qualification quizzing.
Here is what you need to do to make sure your phone interview goes off without a hitch:
- Hold the call in a quiet room. Inform your household of your call, and reduce distractions,
- Have your resume and, where relevant, the job description in front of you for reference,
- Have a pen and paper, for questions and notes,
- Remember to smile as you talk! The tone and sound of your voice improves, and sounds more positive, when your body language reflects it,
- Don’t walk around as you talk. Focus on the moment: walking around encourages you to ramble,
- Speak succinctly - without gesticulation and eye contact, your words carry more weight, so be specific and timely, and try not answer questions with clear punctuation of sentences,
- Listen. This is probably the most important one: listen to their questions, listen to their answers, listen to how the interviewer is asking you to speak and answer, and try not to interrupt,
- Don’t let any awkward silences make you feel like you have to fill the gap with noise - you don’t need to,
- Remember, the person at the other end of the line is human - they are not some infallible robot communicator, they too will be figuring out how best to communicate with you and other interviewers, so don’t worry too much,
- If you’re unsure if you’ll make the call, set a professional voicemail message.
- Remember to ask questions, and sound interested in the role and what it offers.
- BE POLITE!