Phone Interviews

Some organizations and businesses prefer to conduct initial telephone interviews. Below are some tips for telephone interviewing:

• Find a nice quiet place - sit at a desk or table and not in a common area if you have roommates.
• Remove distractions. Turn off your cell phone, pager, and the television. Disable call-waiting; tell family and friends not to call or come by; do not smoke, chew gum or pop open a soda during the interview (they can hear everything!)
• Use a land line - do not use a cell phone or speaker phone. You are completely depending on your ability to hear and be heard. Do not risk a cell phone that may cut out on you or a speaker phone that may not have the best transmission.
• Answer the phone yourself! Do not let a roommate answer - you should be the one to answer.
• Have your materials within reach including your résumé, job description, printed company research, etc.
• Demonstrate that you are listening carefully. Listen and speak clearly and slowly. If you didn't understand or hear something, ask for clarification. When you respond, remember your voice is doing ALL the work so pay attention to sounding enthusiastic. Put a smile in your voice!
• Don't ramble - the interviewer is most likely writing down notes, so there may be a moment or two of silence after you have completed your response. Don't just fill up the silence! If you have answered the question completely, simply sit quietly and wait for the next question. If you are not sure you have answered the question completely, ask! "Have I answered your question?"
• Acknowledge that you are listening. When you are listening to a detailed response from the interviewer (such as an overview of the company or the interviewing process), do provide some kind of acknowledgement that you are listening. "Yes", "Mmm Hmm", "I understand" etc. This lets them know you are still on the line and that you are listening to what they are saying.
• Consider dressing for the interview in business casual attire. It puts you in a more professional frame of mind to conduct the interview. At the very least - be showered and dressed for the day.
• Have a glass of water available. You will likely be nervous and you may end up needing a small drink of water. Be sure to move the speaker away from your mouth when you drink. Also, have some tissues handy. If you have a cold or you sneeze for some reason, you'll want to have a tissue close by!