Info Centre

Top Tips for Telephone Interviews

Top Tips for Telephone Interviews

Compared to video or in person interviews, making an impression via a telephone interview can be a lot more challenging. Therefore, we have put some top tips together to help you achieve success in your phone interviews.

Why do Companies Choose to Use Telephone Interviews?

The simplest reason companies like telephone interviews is because they eliminate certain candidates straight away. At this stage of the interview process, phone interviews are the quickest and most effective way of screening candidates.

From a geographical perspective it allows candidates from all over to be interviewed, so they don’t have to waste their time travelling if the company doesn’t think they are suitable.

A telephone interview also allows the company to see your communication and phone skills. If you are being interviewed for a role which involves candidate or client communications, you will want to prove your skills and confidence when talking on the phone. Be loud, clear and certain in what you are saying.

A phone interview is most likely the first proper contact you will have with the company, and although you aren’t going to get the job off the back of one phone conversation, it’s the point at which you could easily lose it.

Remember to Research.

Preparation and research are just as important for telephone interviews as they are for any other type of interview.

Things to research beforehand:

• Size of the company
• Company structure
• Its market and competitors
• Website
• LinkedIn profile of employees
• The company’s reputation

Prepare Questions

Ask about:

• The role (duties, salary, perks, etc…)
• The company culture
• Opportunities to progress within the company

Maybe ring a friend or family member and ask them to practise a mock interview with you. This will help you go through the process of physically answering the questions out loud, which will hopefully make it less scary during the interview.

Prepare Experiences

Think about stories and times you have shown your best skill, attributes, and experiences in your workplace. Try and make these skills which they are looking for and others that will make you stand out against other candidates.

Experiences such as:

• When you’ve led a team
• Challenged yourself
• Been successful or failed, and how you dealt with them
• Something you wish you had done differently, and why

Having these experiences already written down in front of you or in your head will make the questions they ask a lot easier to answer and make you seem prepared and organised. When telling them stories, you want to make sure your best qualities are shown.

Have Everything Handy.

It’s important to have all important information handy and together while you are having the interview just in case, they ask you about:

• Your CV
• The Job spec
• Past experiences
• Skills

Having the information, you could possibly need in front of you and ready means you won’t panic if they ask you about something. Additionally, preparing some sort of flashcards, ‘cheat sheet’ may help you gather your thoughts and ideas before the interview itself.

Your Appearance

As odd as it may sound, getting dressed as though you will actually see your interviewer will get you in the zone for what you are about to do. Dressing to impress will really alter your mood and your professionalism in the interview. Try not to role of bed and answer the phone in your PJs and dressing gown. Try and prepare yourself for this interview as you would for any other, and that definitely includes getting dressed and ready.

Smile! Retaining a smile throughout the interview will maintain a happy and uplifting mood, which the interviewer will be able to feel as well. It will help keep you and your interviewer positive and shows them that you want to be there.

Listen to the Interviewer.

Listening is key! Staying alert and on the ball and not zoning out is important on the phone. You want to avoid awkward silences because you weren’t listening.

Equally, you want to avoid interrupting your interviewer. It shows bad etiquette when it comes to contacting and talking to people, and they therefore may not want you to talk to their candidates or clients.

After the Interview

Once the interview is over, it’s always polite to send a thank you note thanking the interviewer for their time.

 

If you need any other advice or guidance about interview preparation or what to expect, then check out our website for other blogs.

Stay Safe,

Team Affecto.