Lesson #15 - Effective Phone Interviews
July 23rd, 2007These days, many employers use phone calls to pre-screen candidates before offering in-person interviews. If you are looking for a job, it is likely that at some point, you will be asked to “chat for a few minutes on the phone”. Many recruiters are straight-forward enough to call it a “phone interview”. Regardless of how they pitch it, don’t make the error of mistaking it for anything than what it really is … an INTERVIEW. And it CAN affect your potential career with an employer. So treat it with all the respect due a full interview.
Phone interviews are often used to screen candidates in order to narrow the pool of applicants who will be invited for in-person interviews. In reality, there is only one purpose of the phone interview, to ELIMINATE candidates from further consideration as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Given that the purpose is to eliminate you, doesn’t it make sense to be prepared as possible so YOU are one of those invited to the next step … a face-to-face interview?
Well, it’s not hard. In many ways, the way you prepare for a phone interview isn’t all that different from the way you’d get ready for a in-person interview — but there are some differences and ADDITIONAL steps you need to take. In this show, we’ll walk you through those additional steps.
Members-Only 
Premium 
Interviewing Series
Stumble it!Trackback URL for this post: http://www.manager-tools.com/2007/07/lesson-15-effective-phone-interviews/trackback/
September 1st, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Given that the next step after a phone interview is a face to face interview, doesn’t it sound funny to close by saying “I want an offer and here’s why.” My fear is that it makes me sound like I don’t understand that there is a lot more interviewing that needs to happen before an offer is extended. Would it be better to say something like “I want to interview with this company and here’s why.”
I can see the other side of it, too. By using the standard close you are merely stating your interest in the company. I’m interested in knowing what others think about this.
Thanks,
Laura Rosen
September 24th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
I haven’t made it all the way through the interview series yet, as I just found Manager Tools last week, but it appears to me that the interviews I encounter may be a bit different from most of what you cover. I’m a VP at a College looking to move up. That means that most of my interviews will be with search committees rather than HR or management professionals.
Many of the committee members will be very inexperienced at interviewing and may not even have a clear idea of what they are looking for. Does this change any of your advice?
Thanks,
Dave
September 28th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Dave-
Nope. They’re lousy interviewers because mostly the decision is made behind closed doors and not based on the interview. The only preparation for that situation is to know yourself…and that’s what we recommend.
Mark
November 16th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Recently had a phone interview. I knew I did not do as well as I could have. That prompted me to spring for the Interviewing series. Boy-howdy!, I did not know the half of my culpability in that fiasco I brought upon myself. You name it, I did it wrong.
Next time! Now,thanks to this series of podcasts and handouts, I got my work cut out for me but I’m more than willing to do it as I have seen the light.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:53 am
I had a phone interview today. My first in 7 years. This cast really helped me. I closed by saying “I want to be part of the final round of interviews and here’s why.” I didn’t have the gumption to say “I want an offer.” but I’m going to say it in follow up thank you card.