You might need to go through a telephone job interview on your way to profitable employment. It might be a simple discussion to establish an initial meeting, or it could even be a preliminary screening.
Of course, you should also use one of the basic job interview techniques and make a follow up phone call after the job interview, and use the situation to reinforce the good impression you made at the interview itself.
But what if the phone interview is the first or even the only one you get? Whatever the situation, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the telephone job interview is any less formal or any less important than a face to face discussion.
How to Prepare for a Telephone Job Interview
If you’re making the initial contact by phone rather than by letter, or if you get some warning of an upcoming telephone job interview, here are some telephone interview tips to help your preparation, just as you would prepare for a physical meeting. You want to score as well over the phone as you would face to face.
- First of all, eliminate or at least minimize distractions.
- Make sure the interviewer won’t hear your dog barking, your cell phone ringing or domestic noises in the background (vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, TV or radio).
Choose the right schedule for a telephone job interview
- If you can, schedule the phone job interview for a quite time and in a quiet place so that you don’t have to fight distractions. You need to be as focused as you can so that you can answer as well as you would during a normal interview, and you also don’t want to distract (or worse, irritate) your interviewer.
- You won’t be able to watch the interviewer to see how the interview is going, so you must rely on other cues. Listen carefully for changes in tone and inflexion.
- Use your voice like a musical instrument. Change tone, pace, and level to make sure you don’t sound monotonous. Concentrate on sending your personality over the air. Use appropriate and professional language; avoid slang and “in” words such as “cool” or “dude”.
- Be concise and precise; remember that boredom can set in more easily over the phone than during a personal job interview.
- Keep copies of your resume, qualifications and references handy, as well as a notepad so that you can write down information that is given to you by your interviewer.
There is one good thing about a telephone job interview; you can refer to your notes without the interviewer having the slightest idea that you are doing so.
Remember to Follow Up Your Telephone Job Interview
Follow up the telephone job interview after a few days, both by phone and with a Thank You letter (in which you could highlight once again your potential value).
Follow these procedures and acing the telephone job interview should be a piece of cake, helping you to get that prized second round of interviews.
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