Preparing for Phone Interviews

As more and more potential employers embrace the idea of remote job interviewing techniques, phone interviews are becoming more and more prevalent. At first sound, “we’ll be interviewing you over the phone instead of in person” might be music to a job seeker’s earsand with good reason.

After all, you won’t have to stress over putting together the perfect outfit for your interviewer. You won’t have to worry about getting caught in traffic or figuring out how to juggle your job interview with your child care schedule. However, it’s still important to note that this type of interview has its own protocol when it comes to preparation. Below are a few phone interview tips to ensure success:

Get Prepared With a Thorough Checklist

As is the case with a typical job interview, you can drastically increase your chances of acing a phone interview by making sure you’re adequately prepared ahead of time. Since your interview will be over the phone, be sure to take advantage of the fact that no one will be the wiser if you decide you’d like to have notes by your side.

Research the company you’re interviewing with ahead of time and jot down key ways your experience, goals, and level of expertise make you an ideal hire. Be sure to refer to them during the interview and bring them up at the most opportune time. Also make sure you have a copy of your resume handy in case the interviewer decides they want to ask you any questions about anything on it.

Prepare Yourself for the Questions You’ll Be Asked

Modern job interviews are notorious for the way they throw job seekers curve balls right and left in regards to the ground the questions cover. Recently, mega search engine company Google decided to do away with some of theseor brainteasers—because the company felt like they were a waste of time. But, not all companies have adopted the same policy.

Don’t let your guard down just because you’ll be interviewing over the phone! The questions will no doubt be just as tough. Be sure you’re prepared for all of these possibilities and more:

  • Culture fit questions: Most companies will want to know more about why you’re interested in working for them in particular, as well as what you bring to the table that the other guys can’t.
  • Personal Questions: Also be prepared for questions about you, your personal values, and your goals. Most interviewers these days will expect you to be able to discuss your personal weaknesses, as well as your strengths, with ease and confidence.
  • Background questions: Be prepared to eloquently discuss why you’re leaving your current job, what you’ve been doing with any downtime between jobs, and so forth. You may also be asked about how you handled specific types of situations at past jobs.

Preparing for Technical Difficulties

You’ll want to make sure that, if at all possible, you use a landline for your phone interview to prevent any possible dropped calls or interference. This is especially true when you don’t have the number to call the interviewer back. Turn off your call waiting and eliminate distractions to the greatest possible degree in order to assure that things go smoothly.

Preparing for a phone interview is far from rocket science. All it takes is a little careful planning in order to make sure you ace it with flying colors.

Posted: July 7, 2013 by Recruiter.com