Acing the Telephone Interview

by Ross MacPherson, President, Career Quest

We all want to get that phone call from the recruiter, manager, or HR person for an interview. However, sometimes, before they officially decide to interview you in person, they’ll want to conduct a quick interview over the phone.

First, fear not! Winning the telephone interview simply requires the same type of preparation as a regular face-to-face interview, along with an understanding of how you can address the challenges inherent in using the phone.

With your usually solid preparation and a few added tricks, I’ll show you, you’ll be well on your way to acing your next phone interview.

Why Telephone Interviews?

There are a number of potential reasons that a telephone interview might be required. For example, if it is a position for which good telephone skills are required, hearing your telephone skills right up front makes a lot of sense from the employer’s standpoint.

However, more often than not, a telephone interview is designed to narrow down the employer’s list of candidates to interview. Obviously, from their perspective, it’s unrealistic to interview 25 candidates — it would take too much time and cost too much money. This is especially true if the position is some distance away and they would have to pay for your travel. The interviewer is simply trying to narrow down the list of quality candidates to a more manageable number to interview. Think of it as a trial run for the face-to-face interview, and your objective is to win that face-to-face interview!

Because it’s a numbers game, the telephone interview is therefore designed to screen people out… but that doesn’t mean you can’t “wow” them so much that they immediately screen you in.

The Challenge

Regular interviews can be nerve-wracking enough, but telephone interviews have added a new level of stress and complexity to an already discomforting process. The challenges are obvious:

• You can’t see your interviewer face-to-face, and therefore can’t read their body language, see their eyes, or get other non-verbal cues.
• Likewise, they can’t read your fantastically positive body language or see your brilliant smile — you have to make a great impression with the only thing you’ve got on the phone… your voice.
• If they call you “out of the blue,” you haven’t had a chance to properly prepare and psyche yourself up.

How to Prepare

If at all possible, I always recommend having a dedicated space in the house where you work on all your job search activities. This spot should be quiet, ideally has a door that closes, and is somewhere you can easily talk on the phone. Have this area available and at the ready with your files of what jobs you’ve applied to. Tip: if you really want to be ready, create a small file for each position you apply for, including the job posting (with highlighted key points), a copy of the resume you sent in (if it was modified for the position), and any potential objections or shortcomings that might come up if they ask. Like any other interview, know what you have to market about yourself — know the top 4 or 5 qualifications that you offer and be well practiced in talking about them.

Because they may be trying to screen you out, you have to be well rehearsed in handling any potential objections they might have. What questions would you hope they don’t ask? What skill gap did you identify in the job posting? Are you lacking any specific experience? If ever there was a time for these issues to come up, it’s now, so you need to be ready to address them.

Keep a pen and paper at the ready to take notes. Write down the interviewer’s name when you hear it, and don’t be afraid to ask again for clarification (they would much rather you asked again than get it wrong). You might also hear something important about the position or company that you could refer to later, so take notes.

What to Do When the Phone Rings

If this telephone interview was set up by a recruiter or search firm, there’s a good chance that you will know when the call is going to take place. This is obviously the best scenario, because it gives you an opportunity to prepare. Do whatever works for you to get yourself into that state of confidence and in interview mode (I have even known people to get dressed up in their suits, fix their hair, and otherwise prepare for any other interview simply to get them into the right headspace for this very important phone call). You know what works best for you, so get yourself ready.

You could, however, also get a call completely “out of the blue” and they’ll expect to interview you right then and there. Your first step, be calm! Say something like “Terrific… could you give me a moment to go to a room where we won’t be interrupted?” or “Could you give me just a moment to close the door?” When they agree, cover the voice piece on the phone and go to your quiet area where you have all of your job search material prepared, take two or three deep breaths, and then continue.

The worst thing you could do is panic and try to conduct the interview where you are, especially if you’re not prepared. You are not going to be at your best standing in the laundry room, just getting out of the shower, or otherwise not in professional mode.

If you are genuinely tied up or it is simply not a good time — you’re feeding your 2-year-old, the laundry machine just overflowed, or the dog is frothing at the mouth — politely ask if you could call them back. As long as you’re polite and professional about it, it should be no problem.

Tip: telephones have a tendency to amplify background noise. If you think you might need to shout at your kids to be quiet, yell at your husband, put away cutlery, or otherwise do anything very noisy