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Top 8 Telephone Interview Tips

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To streamline and strengthen the interview process, Human Resources departments and Executive Recruiters are using telephone or Skype interviews as a major component of the screening process. Could you use some telephone interview tips?

Here are my top 8 telephone interview tips to embrace:

1. Practice, practice, and practice

The same principle applies for an in-person interview — the more you rehearse, the more confident and eloquent you will be. Consider answers to the most common questions beforehand. You cannot be too prepared.

2. Find a comfortable and quiet location for the telephone interview

If you are on your phone, ensure that your reception is good. Test it out with someone five minutes before the scheduled interview. Position yourself in a quiet setting; not somewhere where background noise could deflect and distract.

3. Research

Don’t enter any interview without looking into the potential employer history, leadership team, culture, products, and/or service. The more you know about the company, the more confident and convincing you will be in delivering a powerful message. Follow and comment on their blogs the week before and after the interview.

4. Hunt the interviewer

When setting up the interview appointment, ask for the name of the interviewer in order to find that person on LinkedIn and do your homework. You never know, you might have attended the same school or been employed at the same company. In conclusion, the more you know about the interviewer, the better.

5. Dress appropriately

Yes, you may think this is strange for a telephone interview, but dress as if you are attending an in-person interview. This will increase your esteem and confidence, and place you in the right mindset like you mean business.

6. Smile

Again, sounds a little strange? No. Smiling helps generate inflections in your voice and keeps the boring monotone away. People can sense your smile which strengthens the positive thoughts about you at the other end of the line. Chuckle, chortle, grin and laugh!

7. Warm up your voice

There is nothing worse than freezing or being boring and monotone throughout the conversation. In order to avoid that, the 7-minute vocal warm-up app will lead you through several breathing exercises to increase your voice inflections and strength.

8. Keep your documents handy

Ensure your resume, cover letter and job descriptions are at your fingertips. You need them for reference, and make sure to try to highlight some of the hard and soft skills from the job description in your interview.

Finally, show excitement and engagement in the prospective job. Doing so will express genuine interest and ask some questions of the interviewer.

Please visit me on LinkedIn for more tips and information

Why Should I Hire You? An Intriguing Question

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Are You the Best Person for the Job?

An interview is a psychological assessment of you. From the start, the interviewer is assessing you for one thing:  to find our if you are the best person for the job? One of the most common interview questions you will be asked is, “Why should we hire you?” You need to have an answer prepared for that question. Are you confident in delivering a resonating and memorable message? An executive recruiter recently shared with me a candidate’s reply to this question. “Because I need a job.” How unprofessional of an answer is that! Yes, of course, you need a job. You wouldn’t be in the interview if you didn’t.

Provide a Solution to the Employers Problem

When putting together an answer to this question, you need to provide a solution to the employer’s problem while outperforming the other candidates who may be just as good, or even better than you. Prior to the interview, research the potential employer. See if you can connect with other people in that company through LinkedIn to gain an understanding of their issues and culture. More importantly, use LinkedIn to connect with people who have left the company in the last six months and ask them about the company. They have no allegiance to their ex-employer and are often willing to spill the beans and tell the truth. You can use this as ammunition for an eloquent and engaging answer. Look at the job posting, if it is published, and use some of the words in your oral response.

Why Should I Hire You? An Intriguing Question

What Will You Deliver?

Firstly, address the fit. There must be a fit in many ways, but especially, with the company culture. This is where networking with current and former employees can help you with your answer. Avoid skirting around the problem or using clichés like, “I’m a good worker,” or “I’m reliable,” or “I’m ambitious.” Instead, highlight the attributes, skill sets, and ambitions you WILL deliver on your appointment. If you have uncovered a problem with that company’s finances, operations, processes, or customer service, among other things, be sure to bring them up as a compelling reason why you should be considered as the number one candidate.

Secondly, don’t hold back. Be forthright, engaging and excite the interviewer through your delivery. Leave them with the impression that you are the best person for the job.

Finally, an interview is a two-way street. You are also there to ask probing questions and make the interviewer think. Happy interviewing!

The Job Interview Process: How to Prepare to Stand Out BEFORE the Interview

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Anyone who has been through the job interview process knows that a lot is riding on a single first impression. A common misconception is that the first impression is established in the interview itself. However, for many hiring managers, their opinion of a candidate is determined before you even step foot in the building.

Therefore, to ace an interview, it requires you to prep beforehand. Luckily, some intentional, strategic planning can help you land those coveted interviews.

Fine Tune Your Resume

Your resume is, in fact, the primary document that provides a critical first impression for hiring managers. Unfortunately, if your resume fails to make a positive impression, you will not land the job interviews you desire. Therefore, a crucial part of the interview process is to ensure your resume stands out. These five resume tips will help ensure your resume  gets you to the next step of the hiring process. 

Attend to Your Social Media

Your professional social media profiles  play a vital role in the job interview process. Perhaps you learned of a specific opportunity as a result of your networking efforts on social media. Maybe you were noticed by a recruiter because of an article you shared and your comments that demonstrate your personal brand. Now that you are looking for a new position and hoping to procure some job interviews, it is  time to continue engaging in conversations and networking on all your professional social media platforms.

However, it is also imperative that you take note of your personal profiles. Hiring managers undoubtedly check your social media profiles—yes, even your personal profiles—to vet candidates. Therefore, ensuring  all  your profiles add to your personal brand is a critical part of preparing for the job interview process. What does your social media say about you? What does social media say about your job references?

Research the Company

Not researching the company before an interview would leave you walking into an interview room with an enormous disadvantage. You need to know the organization’s mission, culture, priorities. It is essential to determine whether your personal brand aligns with the company’s values, and, by doing so, you can ensure YOU would be the best fit during the interview.

Reach Out to Former Employees

Along with researching the company’s mission and values, talking to those who have experience with the company is extremely beneficial for a number of reasons.

One, it provides insight into what working with or for the organization is really like. Do people boast of positive experiences?

Two, you will get a feel for the company culture. What were the company’s expectations? Did they encourage authentic networking among team members? Do they have a stuffy or relaxed dress code? Do they allow remote work or flex hours?

Three, you will learn what the company truly values, and you can use that information to stand out in an interview. Alternatively, you may decide the company is not the right fit for you.

Anticipate Questions

Using your research, plan out the behavioural questions you will likely be asked during an interview. If you interview with different organizations, be sure to anticipate questions specific to each of those unique companies.

Furthermore, take the time to practice—yes, out loud with a friend or colleague—your responses to interview questions. Why? This enables you to work out anything that feels awkward and build your confidence in your answers before you  sit in an interview when nerves are in full swing.

Plan Your Wardrobe

Take the time to plan out your job interview attire well before the interview. The last thing you want to worry about right before an interview is your clothing. Instead, you want to use those final moments and the  ride to your interview to practice your responses and prepare for the interview. Therefore, make sure all aspects of your attire are ready to go  the day before your interview.