Why telephone interview

Prepare for a phone interview just as you would for a regular in-person interview. Compile a list of your strengths and weaknesses , as well as a list of answers to typical phone interview questions.

In addition, have a list of questions ready to ask the interviewer. Take the time to match your qualifications to the job description so that you can speak to why you're a strong candidate for the position. Review your resume as well. Know the dates when you held each of your previous jobs , and what your responsibilities were. You should feel comfortable and ready to discuss your background and skills confidently during a phone conversation.

Have a copy of your resume nearby, so that you can refer to it during the interview. Also have a copy of the job posting and a copy of your cover letter if you sent one. Consider creating a draft email or a new Word or Google file with all of the relevant information. That way, you'll have all the details—notes on the company, key points you want to emphasize during the interview, your cover letter, the job posting, and so on—in one spot. Talking on the phone isn't as easy as it seems.

As with an in-person interview, practice can be helpful. Not only will this help you rehearse answers to common phone interview questions, it will also help you realize if you have a lot of verbal tics, fail to enunciate, or speak too quickly or too slowly. For practice, have a friend or family member conduct a mock interview and record it so you can see how you sound over the phone. Once you have a recording, you'll be able to hear your "ums" and "uhs" and "okays" so you can practice reducing them from your conversational speech.

It will also help you spot if you have a bad habit of interrupting or rambling. Additionally, listening to the recording will help you pinpoint answers that you can improve. If you don't have someone who can help, practice answering your own questions. You don't need to memorize answers, but having a sense of what you're going to say will help reduce your nerves and make your responses sound more natural.

Before the call, confirm all the details, including the date, time, and who you will be talking to. Be sure you know whether the interviewer is calling you or if you need to make the call. If something goes wrong and you miss the call , or the recruiter doesn't call on time, take a deep breath and try to stay calm.

You should be able to get the call back on track or reschedule if need be. Use a quiet, comfortable, and private space with no distractions so you can focus on the interview.

If you'll be using your cellphone, make sure it's fully charged, and you are in a spot with good reception for the call. You may also find that standing during an interview helps you sound more energetic during the call. Phone interviews are a great way to secure top sales talent , but come with their pros and cons - as we've kindly listed below. Evidently a phone call is easier and much less costly than an in-person interview — especially if travel is involved for you and the employee, where commonly candidates expect the employer to pay for the travel costs that have incurred for them to attend the interview.

If an applicant appears to fill the requirement but lives a long distance away, you can reduce your spending by telephone interviewing before spending a large amount of travel costs. This can be particularly relevant if the applicant is currently based in another country. It is merely a means of learning more about the candidate and allowing the candidate to learn more about the employer and position available before both parties commit to the time and expense of an in-person interview.

A number of different people can be reached in a relatively short period of time enabling you to be able to efficiently thin out applicants for further interviews. When screening candidates prior to an in-house interview there are a number of common interview questions for phone interviews that can be used.

Telephone interviews not only test the potential verbal communication skills and telephone technique but they test the potential employees ability to cope with the unexpected this refers to both the unexpected phone call itself and unexpected questions.

Rather than discarding promising jobs to applicants who live a long distance away — employers can now use telephone interviews an an acceptable and informative method of making first contact. Due to high levels of unemployment where employers are receiving vast amounts of job applications, telephone job interviews are becoming more the norm.

It is often difficult to narrow the field down to a manageable and reasonable number through written applications alone. However, once this has happened the first step can often be a telephone interview where you as an employer are deciding whether or not you choose to look further into an application. This can work as a satisfactory and effective thinning out process.

The inability to read body language is a major disadvantage of not having a face to face interview. With a telephone interview is it very hard to make a judgement on how attentive they are. It really is a case of flying blind. A major disadvantage of telephone interviewing is that the respondent could unilaterally terminate the telephone interview without any warning or explanation by hanging up the phone this could be for what seems as no apparent reason? It is very difficult to use visual prompts during telephone interviewing.

However, in some cases these may be used for example by sending through the prompt materials prior to a pre-arranged interview time by couriers, email etc. Without face to face communication and interaction it is often hard to indicate if you and the candidate have chemistry that would possibly turn into a binding work relationship.

For great advice on the complete hiring processhead to our 'Top Tips when Hiring' article. We've drawn up a neat guide on video interviews you may want to eye over.

Telephone interviews can benefit your company by helping to cut down on your costs of interview venue, travel and subsistence allowance. You are then able to select potential candidates from CVs submitted, hear them speak over the phone, and further cut down on the size to a manageable number.

Telephone interviews can help screen your potential candidates so you can then plan a one on one interview. You may want to scan our 7 top tips for conducting brilliant interview s, to brush up on that perfect interview style. Published: 26th March How to Competency Interview. More info. Milton Keynes Birmingham Bristol Leeds Giles Phillips is a rare find in the minefield of sales recruitment; an honest and thoughtful recruiter who considers the needs of both the client AND the candidate to create perfect role matches.

I look forward to working with him again in the future. We appointed Aaron Wallis in February and the successful candidate, out of the six which Aaron Wallis introduced, was able to join Alphametrics before the end of April. The whole process took less than three months.

Rob is a true recruitment professional that goes the extra mile that I have never experienced from any other recruitment agency before. If you need sales people call Rob or someone in his team, as they really are experts in sales recruitment. Aaron Wallis has continuously provided us with suitable candidates that have been proactively sourced. Having used countless recruitment companies, Aaron Wallis are the only company that I can count on to deliver. Semi-structured telephone interviews — consist of a mixture of closed and open questions to gather quantitative and qualitative data.

In-depth telephone interviews — consist of mainly open-ended questions to gather qualitative data. These interviews are longer in length and a discussion guide of topics is often used instead of a structured questionnaire.

What are the benefits of telephone interviews? There are a number of benefits to conducting telephone interviews over other research methods: Questions are properly understood — The interviews are guided by an interviewer. This ensures that the questions are understood as intended.

The interviewer can clarify any misunderstandings, leading to higher quality data being collected. Dual Enrollment. About Asbury Expand Navigation. Meet Our Family. Academic Excellence. Spiritual Vitality. Life at Asbury Expand Navigation. For Parents. Mobile Secondary Navigation. Event Calendar. My Asbury Login.

Support AU. Student Services. Career Resources. Job Search Resources. Job Interview Resources. Preparing for a Phone Interview. Contact Visit Apply Now. Navigation Menu. Job Interview Practice Questions. Job Interview Tips. Preparation Research the job and the company so you are prepared to discuss the company and your role if you were to be hired.

Confirm the Interview Before the call, confirm all the details including the date, time and who you will be talking to. Choose an Interview Space Use a quiet, comfortable, and private space. Have a glass of water close by, in case you need a sip or two during the conversation.