Companies are global in today’s market place. Businesses have operations all around the world and are also looking beyond their geographic limitations to find good help to make them grow. Years ago, as the economy boomed, the companies were more willing to fly an applicant down to an office to do an interview but with the constant cost cutting that is being seen throughout the world, this is no longer a cost effective solution.
To compensate for this more and more companies are turning to phone job interviews rather than in person interviews.
The way you prepare for phone job interviews is drastically different than the way you would for in person interviews.
Here are some quick tips and pointers as you pull together material for phone job interviews.
- Know the time and place to call: Too many times phone job interviews are missed because one of the parties has a miscommunication of where the call is going to be held and who will initiate it. It gets much more complex when you start to throw in multiple time zones. Make sure everyone understands how to get on the call. Have a backup ready in case your phone dies.
- Get a headset: You should have your hands free at all times on a phone job interview. You should be taking notes, you should be able to look up stuff online. This is a lot easier if you don’t have to worry about dropping a phone.
- Silence is golden: This Is not relating to how you should speak! You need to speak up but you also need to have the call in a quiet place. Put a sign on your door, and let your friends know that you will not be free at that time.
- Take notes: It is important to always take notes during an interview session so that you have a good recollection of what happened on the call but don’t spend so much time taking notes that you lose the meaning of what is being said. Remember these questions are about you and you don’t want to have to catch up taking notes to answer a question.
- Prepare some notes: You should have a copy of all of the material you have sent the company before phone job interviews. You need to be able to talk about his material. It is also not a bad idea to have some sample questions that you think you will be asked with some good answers already drawn up in advance so you can answer challenging questions without stumbling.
- Listen: While you do not have the ability to see facial expressions if you listen to the direction of the question and the way questions are being asked you can get a better feel for what the interviewer likes and dislikes.
- Read the news: This is something you should do for all interviews but I find it especially important to do before a phone interview. Know what is going on in your field within the past month.
- Practice: I cannot stress this enough. Phone job interviews are different than regular interviews. You need to practice answering questions on the phone, you have to learn to slow down and be able to breathe.
- Follow up: More than ever with a phone job interview you have to send some type of follow up note. These notes will help you solidify a position in the minds of the interviewer. Most likely they are interviewing a variety of applicants very quickly and they will eventually end up running together in the interviewers mind.
Phone job interviews are becoming more common place. They are seen by too many as being scary when in reality they can be easy and more comfortable. You have the ability to be in a comfortable setting and you have more resources at your fingertips.
Take advantage of what you have access to and let it work in your favor.
- Author: RJ Sherman
