Telephone Interviews – harder than face to face?
- 1 Jul 2010
- Interview Techniques, Job Search Advice
- 6 Comments »
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Telephone interviews can be quite the ‘norm’ for some businesses or recruiters. Some use them as a sounding board for whether they should meet you. Others may want to verify a particular area in your skill set that was not clear in your resume. Whatever the reason it is important that you take this interview just as seriously as a face to face meeting. Your communication skills will be tested!
Some helpful hints if you have a telephone interview:
Background noise – make sure you are not caught on the hop and that you are in an environment where you will not be distracted. If need be ask if you can walk to somewhere quiet or call them straight back. You want to be able to actively listen to the questions and respond clearly.
Speak clearly – Being able to communicate over the telephone is far harder than face to face. The listener is not able to watch you speak and observe your body language. If you have an accent you may speak really fast and the caller may not be able to catch certain important words or comments. So be mindful to slow down, speak clearly and seek confirmation that they have understood what you have said.
Be prepared – A recruiter or employer may call to find out a bit more about your skill set or may schedule a time to telephone interview you as they are short of time or have the luxury of multiple relevant candidates. Be prepared to answer interview questions in just the same structured, thought out way as if you were face to face. Be succinct and confirm that the listener has the information they were looking for.
The process – Ask what happens next. After the telephone interview find out when you might hear from them just as you would if you were meeting face to face.
You may be reading this wondering if telephone interviews really differ from face to face interviews. Well they do not really.
The only key difference by not being present is that you are not able to show off how well presented you are, your manner, your handshake, the walk to the room where you get to build rapport with the interviewer. The upside of a telephone interview is that when you do perform and are called in for a meeting you already know they are keen on your experience; the rest should be easy, right!
What are your experiences?
I absolutely hate, hate, hate telephone interviews. I have been on both the job seeking end and the employer end of this process. I avoid it like the plague but sometimes it happens.
I notice that your first tip has to do with background noise. Amen to that, sister. You can’t believe how many women try to do a phone interview with children screaming in the background. I fully realize that when you’re not working, you can’t afford childcare, and having your kids home with you is not only practical but a wonderful mothering opportunity. But when you have a scheduled phone interview (and that is almost always the case with professionals), you need to find a friend or neighbor who will take your children OUT OF THE HOUSE for an hour.
As an aside, do you notice that men NEVER have this problem? I am yet to have a phone meeting with a businessman who has to deal with small children screaming in the background or interrupting to ask for water.
On the other hand, sometimes you can’t control when and where the interview will take place. A couple of years ago, I was called by a potential employer who needed my services quickly and got my phone number from a board member who had recommended me. The call came on my cell phone when I was in WalMart with my Cancer-ridden mother. The employer insisted on talking right then and there, and I was in no position to push my mother’s wheelchair outside in the rain to get a quieter environment. So we conducted the phone interview in the housewares department. Yikes! Clean-up on aisle seven……
Thanks for the good tips. We may hate phone interviews but they are an unfortunate fact of life these days so it’s good to be prepared.
Kay Lorraine
Nonprofit Executive
Honolulu, Hawaii
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Sally-Anne Blanshard Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 7:22 am
HIlarious Kay but some very true points in there!
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Hi, popped over from the Linkedin discussion. Thanks for offering so many free articles. Look forward to reading them and seeing my job search come to an end.
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Sally-Anne Blanshard Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 9:29 am
You are welcome – hope you find the articles useful and can find some new ideas!
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I used to be a corporate spokesperson so I gave lots of media interviews to people all over the world by telephone. And you are right – the telephone doesn’t afford you the opportunity to establish rapport. Top overcome this, (especially if I was picking up the phone to talk to someone that I expected to be hostile), I always blessed them first. That simple act allowed me to take a deep breath and enter the telephone interview with a much more relaxed demeanor. I’m sure it showed up in the tone of my voice and things always went more smoothly.
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Sally-Anne Blanshard Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Thanks for your comment Betty-Ann so a bit of positive thinking there to influence the call.
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