{"id":6590,"date":"2019-02-01T14:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/?p=6590"},"modified":"2019-02-01T22:49:24","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T22:49:24","slug":"how-to-ace-a-phone-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/how-to-ace-a-phone-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Ace a Phone Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Companies conduct phone interviews for a number of reasons, generally: They\u2019re a cheaper and more practical way to interview out-of-town candidates or remote workers, and they serve as an initial screening to weed out potential interviewees who aren\u2019t a good enough potential fit to bring in for an in-person interview. That doesn\u2019t mean you can afford to treat the phone interview as anything less than a real interview: you won\u2019t get the job<\/a> from just how well you do on the phone interview, but you definitely won\u2019t get the job if you blow it. So don\u2019t sleep in and skip breakfast just because you can do this one in your pajamas. Here are some more tips for getting past the hurdle of the phone interview.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Figure out who you\u2019ll be talking to<\/b>\u2013 Your contact will let you know who will be conducting the interview, which gives you time to figure out who they are and what their role in the company is. They\u2019re probably not going to be anyone you\u2019ll be working with directly, as it\u2019s more likely you will be speaking to a hiring manager. But go to LinkedIn and get what information you can. Remember, that\u2019s a real human being on the other end of the line, and they\u2019ll glad to hear you did your homework.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Scour the original job posting for talking points<\/b>\u2013 Chances are the original job posting contains all the information you\u2019re liable to get at this point about the job you\u2019re shooting for, so scour the posting for whatever information you can to arm yourself for the interview. And plan out illustrations of a few job tasks you\u2019ve had in the past that correlate to the new tasks you would be responsible for in the new position.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Keep your resume in clear view<\/b>\u2013 You\u2019re human, and they know you\u2019re nervous, but you want to try to keep the stumbling and bumbling to a minimum while you\u2019re being interviewed. So take your resume and prop it up in front of you so you can see it and easily access it: it\u2019s the same document the interviewer will be referencing, so you want to make sure you\u2019re always on the same page.<\/p>\n

What to Include on Your Resume in 2019<\/a><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Find a quiet spot<\/b>\u2013 Since the form of communication is so impersonal, you want to make sure you don\u2019t handicap yourself by taking the call in a noisy room and further distancing yourself from the other person. So find a quiet room in a different part of your home from the dog, cat, children, television, etc.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Find a land line<\/b>\u2013 While you\u2019re looking for that quiet spot, see if you can find a land line, too. Dinosaurs they may be, but with a land line you don\u2019t run the risk of a bad connection or a dropped call. You don\u2019t want to lose your momentum thanks to a technical hiccup.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Identify yourself professionally <\/b>\u2013 You probably won\u2019t recognize the number when the interview call comes in, so you\u2019ll want to make sure you answer all the calls you get around your scheduled interview time as professionally as possibly: Say hello and state your full name when you pick up the phone.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Stand up and smile<\/b>\u2013 The interviewer can\u2019t see you, of course, but experts say standing up is the best way to project the kind of strong, clear voice you want to project for a job interview. So don\u2019t slouch! Same goes for smiling, which also adds a pleasing, confident sound to your voice.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Don\u2019t cut the interviewer off<\/b>\u2013 A phone interview can be a very frustrating experience due to the limited method of communication. You can\u2019t make your eyes big or raise your hand or shake your head to help get across what you want, but make sure that you don\u2019t attempt to make up for that by becoming overly eager and cutting your interviewer off. It\u2019s their show, and you\u2019re probably not the only interview call they\u2019ve got scheduled today. So let them set the pace and keep it.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Write a thank you follow up e-mail\u00a0<\/b>\u2013 You want to keep yourself on the interviewer\u2019s mind, so make sure you send a follow up e-mail thanking them for taking the time and \u2013 while you\u2019re at it \u2013 inquire about coming in for a follow-up interview in person. In fact, every time you make the acquaintaince of a new person on your job search, get into the habit of sending them a quick “thank you” e-mail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Companies conduct phone interviews for a number of reasons, generally: They\u2019re a cheaper and more practical way to interview out-of-town candidates or remote workers, and they serve as an initial screening to weed out potential interviewees who aren\u2019t a good enough potential fit to bring in for an in-person interview. That doesn\u2019t mean you can … Read full-story <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,4,6],"tags":[11,214],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6593,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590\/revisions\/6593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}