Saturday, October 8, 2011

Phone Interview Dos and Don'ts

My job is to conduct phone interviews. Day in and day out, I talk to people throughout the United States to conduct phone interviews. It simply amazes me at the things people tell you on the phone, the personal information they throw out there, and the absolutely awful answers they give for the simplest questions. If you have a phone interview coming up, you may want to take a few things into consideration before you prepare.

  • The most important thing is to avoid having a bad attitude. Don't be rude, don't be snotty, and don't be negative. If you want a job, how do you expect to get one if you treat the interviewer poorly? Even if you're having a bad day, you're fighting with your significant other, or if you aren't feeling well, do not tell the person interviewing you about any of these things! Be upbeat! Be excited! Be likable! In the words of my co-worker, your personality should be more than that of a wet blanket.
  • Do not ramble or give excess information. I understand you only have a set amount of time to get information about yourself out there and set yourself apart from other candidates, but the second you start to ramble and get off-topic, you are going to lose the interest of your interviewer, and you will quickly join the category of candidates we call "the ramblers." You'll be the one to throw off our interview schedule for the rest of the day because you started talking about your work history dating back to 1972 or telling a ridiculously long story that took 10 minutes and should only have taken two. Keep your responses clear, concise, and to the point. Answer the question you were asked, and nothing more.
  • Don't talk about your age. In most cases, your age can't be held against you when it comes to a job anyway, so stop bringing it up. I know that I personally never take that into consideration, nor do I make a note of it in my interview notes. Don't make things awkward by revealing your age or making assumptions about the age of your interviewer. (For example: "I've been working in customer service longer than you've been alive").
  • When asked why you left a position, do not launch into a story about how you were taking care of a family member with cancer and that person passed away or how you had a disagreement with your employer. Trust me. (My mom passed away from cancer, so I am certainly not being insensitive here). This will make another awkward situation, and everything can actually be summed up in two simple words: "Personal reasons." That's what we will write anyway, so that's what you might as well say.
  • If asked about the job description for the position you applied for, a good response is never that you applied for so many jobs that you can't remember. Read the job description. Know what you applied for. Heavens, take notes if you have to.
  • Generally, if you can't answer a question, you probably aren't going to pass. So, you should at least make an effort to think of something instead of automatically saying you can't think of anything.
  • Questions are good, but you should never ask too many questions. I would say keep it to five questions or less, unless the phone interview happens to be the very last step of the process. Especially if it is early on, asking a lot of specific questions is unnecessary, because you haven't really made it all that far yet, so there may not be a lot of specific information available at that point.
Once the interview is done, it is fine to follow-up. However, do not check excessively. Try calling or e-mailing one time. In many cases, when you don't hear back, that means they aren't going to move forward with you. In other cases, a decision has maybe just taken a little longer to be made. In any case, do not harass the person you are trying to contact. That certainly will not help to speed up the process, and it is most likely out of their hands anyway.

At the end of the day, we don't want you to fail your phone interview. We want you to pass. So, think smart, don't ramble, and be pleasant. If you don't, you are most likely going to remain jobless, because someone else out there will have listened to this blog post when you didn't. =)

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