So the hard work you put into your resume and cover letter has paid off and you passed the very first test; however, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have an interview. Many companies have introduced a new step in the shape of a phone interview to see how you communicate and to find out whether you will be brought in for a full interview. Here are some top tips so you can ace that phone interview.
Be well prepared
If you have been made aware of the phone interview time, make sure you are ready and prepared. Make sure that you are somewhere where there is good signal or good phone line and that you won’t be disturbed. It’s also very important to have your resume handy. In addition to this, you should also free up enough time for the interview and a little extra just in case it overruns.
Sound energetic & interested
In a face-to-face interview, the words you use make just a small percentage of the message that you communicate. Combining your words with the right intonation and body language is important. Although they can’t see your body language, you should try to sound interested and enthusiastic. An age old trick is to have a mirror nearby and smile as you talk as this automatically promotes positivity.
Do your research
You need to know as much as you can about the company as well as the person that will be interviewing you. Check out their website so you know exactly what they do and what their goals are and also, do some research on the interviewer. LinkedIn is a great tool for this as you can see whether they take part in any discussions; you may find something that you have in common with them. Another good tool to see what employees are saying about them is Glassdoor.com.
Ask questions
Remember, you may be working with this person at some point in the future so you would put yourself at an advantage if you started to build a relationship now. Don’t just sit back and answer everything they ask you, ask some questions of your own and build a bit of a rapport. Turn it from an interview to a conversation instead of just being hammered question after question.
In addition to this, don’t forget the most important question of them all. ‘In the next six months, what would be the biggest challenge for someone in this role?’; this shows that you are interested and it also allows you to bring your experience in to play. If they say something that you have done before, you can tell them that it won’t be a problem as you have experienced it in your previous job. Then, they will know that if you can handle the toughest part of the job, you can probably do the rest successfully as well.
Finish strong
In the end of the phone interview don’t just hang up wondering how it went; instead, why not find out how you did by asking a simple question. Say ‘based on our telephone call, am I a good candidate for the role?’ as this will help to find out any concerns they may have. If they bring up something that is worrying them, you can ease their worries and explain why they shouldn’t have that particular concern. This will almost certainly leave them feeling better about you once the call has ended as opposed to just putting the phone down without addressing any issues.
