How to Succeed at a Telephone Job Interview

You may be interviewing for a job in another state or competing for a vacancy with a large number of other applicants where the employer pre screens applicants. In both of these situations employers can use telephone interviews to determine if you are a likely candidate to hold a final in-person interview with. The following steps will help you make the most out of your telephone interview.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 1. Answer the question that was asked. One of the most common mistakes applicants make is not answering the question asked by the interviewer. The applicant may say a lot, but they never actually address what the question is asking about. Always make sure you understand what question is actually being asked. Don't hesitate to ask the interviewer to repeat the question. Take a moment to think about the question before answering. Too often the applicant starts forming an answer in their mind before the question has been fully asked, and this leads the applicant to give an answer that misses the mark.

2. 2. Give real life examples when appropriate. Past performance is one of the best indicators of future behavior. Applicants who can give examples from their lives when answering interview questions will score much higher in the interviewer's mind than someone who answers the question in more general terms. Remember the interviewer is trying to learn as much about you as possible in a short amount of time, so examples from your past are critical to help them understand who you are. Work related examples are best, but non-work related examples are fine if you don't have a work example that fits the question.

3. 3. Don't ramble on. One of the more difficult parts of a telephone interview is that you can't read the body language of the person conducting the interview. Therefore, it is much easier to keep speaking long after the question has been satisfactorily answered, because you don't have that non-verbal confirmation from the interviewer that the question has been answered. Answer the question to the best of your abilities and then move on to the next question.

4. 4. If your mind goes blank ask to come back to the question. Telephone interviews are stressful situations, and it's not uncommon for an applicant to draw a blank when trying to answer a question that they'd normally be able to answer. The key is not to panic and try to rush an answer that does a poor job of addressing the question. Instead ask the interviewer if you can come back to the question later. This buys you some extra time to think about your answer, and hopefully will clear your mental block regarding the question.

5. 5. Do some research before the interview. Most employers have web sites that provide the background of the company and the products or services they provide. A wise applicant researches the company before the interview, so they can ask intelligent questions about working for the company and when appropriate try to include their knowledge of the company in their answers to interview questions.

6. 6. Conduct the telephone interview in a quiet environment. Before starting the interview you want to be in a quiet place where your full attention is on the questions being asked. Pets, kids, and co-workers are the three most common distractions faced by applicants during a telephone interview. All of these distractions can throw you off your game, and make the employer wonder why you did not take the interview more seriously.

7. 7. Don't search for answers on the internet or in books. During an in-person interview you'd never break out your laptop to help answer a question, so why would you do so during a telephone interview. Remember interviewers have listened to numerous answers to their questions, and they know what the typical answer to each question should be. Therefore, "text book" answers stand out like a sore thumb. Plus, the clicking of keyboards or the turning of pages is a dead give away. Cheating during an interview is a sure way to have your resume end up in the garbage.

[mattsaboy]

on 9/5/2009 Great article with 5 stars and a recommendation.