5 Telephone Job Interview Tips To Help Get Through The Next Round

The preference for phone interviews by corporate recruiters has been a well-established trend for quite some time. Phone interviews are preferred as a preliminary way of screening candidates before the shortlisted ones are invited over at the company offices in person for the final rounds. It is an effective way to go through and screen large candidate pools wherever the number of applicants are more than, say, fifty.  As many of the recruiters in the organization may be working remotely, a telephone call may be the most convenient way of interviewing candidates and assessing their potential.

Phone interviews are as challenging for the recruiters as they are for the candidates as many direct communication cues and visual overtones are absent, and the recruiter has to rely solely on the verbal communication between him / her and the candidate.

Following are some tips to decode the phone interviews and guide the candidates advance through the interview process.

1. Interest in the opportunity

The candidate must explicitly confirm and maintain his/her interest in the role for which the interviews are held, once his/her basic profile and core skills required for the role have been matched positively by recruiter. The recruiters have a limited amount of time and may have to reach out to hundreds of prospective candidates, so this piece is information is the one important thing that they want to clarify positively and get over with at the beginning.

2. Reasons for job transition and seeking the new role

Once the candidate has demonstrated his/her interest in the role to the interviewer, next he/she must be precisely clear about the reasons that would prompt the switch to the offered role and how does this transition fit in the career path sought by the candidate. The candidate should have clarity on his/her mission, and list out some relevant life goals that are in line with this transition and thus reflect a deep interest in this opportunity.

3. Succinct communication

The candidate must be succinct, compelling and calculative in his/her communication when opening about skills and experience. This is to make sure that the recruiter catches each and every detail attentively without being distracted. E.g., when asked “Tell me about yourself.”, candidates must answer this question with pertinence to the job role under consideration and not ramble too much on unimportant details. One practical way to answer this is to divide one’s career into stages and then concisely highlight each of those roles. The key is to highlight core aspects of the candidates’ experience succinctly. The candidate must also avoid any scripts for recital as that can be appropriately sensed by the interviewer.

4. Simulate a Real Interview Environment

For best results the candidates are advised to recreate a real interview environment as that shall bring out the best in them. In other scenarios, candidate’s casual communication and lesser energy levels hamper their focus on answering interview questions succinctly and thus their chances as well. 

Therefore, it is important to simulate a professional environment (e.g., using a home office desk, and dressing accordingly) as the simulation enables the brain to process changes accordingly making communication more relevant and ensuring that the right sitting posture makes your voice clear.

5. Asking the right questions

Candidates are advised to ask the right questions at the end of the interview. The questions one asks serves as an indicator of aspects of this opportunity that the candidate is eyeing and holds important. Focus should be on high-value questions like business prospects, management issues, production schedules, etc. These would resonate well with the interview board and will also better prepare you for further rounds.