How To Schedule An Interview Over The Phone

Explain The Next Steps

At the end of the phone screening, let the candidate know what to expect. For example, tell them when they might hear from you and whom to contact for any follow-ups. If the interview didn’t go well, help the candidate by pointing out areas where they can improve in their answers for example, in how they answer a question, how they frame an interview answer or how they think about questions, Dalencourt recommended.

“I want to make sure that the candidate is always getting something back for their time spent with me, whether it’s an opportunity to speak with the hiring manager or some areas of improvement for their next call with our team or other job opportunities,” Dalencourt said.

Get Prepared For Your Phone Interview

Even though you are not meeting in person, it can still be crucial to get prepared for the phone interview as you would an in-person interview. Research the company you applied to ahead of time, practice how you will greet the interviewer and how you will answer the interviewer’s questions, and keep your resume nearby during your interview for quick reference. Also, it’s a good idea to write down their name in your notes to keep as a reference throughout your interview.

Additionally, write down some questions that you plan to ask the interviewer during the phone call. For instance, write down any questions you have about job duties, required credentials or any other information you would like to know more about.

Things To Never Do During A Phone Interview

These days, phone interviews are an unavoidable part of the job interview process, and for good reason: They save everyone involved time and effort. But that doesnât mean that phoners require zero energy on the part of the candidate. Yes, you should spend more time preparing for an in-person interview, but many companies treat phone screens as the official first round of the hiring process. That means candidates are expected to go into them prepared with as much information about the company, position, and their own skills and strengths as possible.

We asked HR pros about their top phone interview pet peeves, they had no shortage of advice to offer. Apparently, itâs quite easy to mess up your phone interview. But hereâs the thing itâs also not hard to come across well if you keep some key things in mind.

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Get Ready For The Call

Before the call, confirm all the details, including the date, time, and who you will be talking to. Be sure you know whether the interviewer is calling you or if you need to make the call.

If something goes wrong and you miss the call, or the recruiter doesn’t call on time, take a deep breath and try to stay calm. You should be able to get the call back on track or reschedule if need be.

Use a quiet, comfortable, and private space with no distractions so you can focus on the interview.

If you’ll be using your cellphone, make sure it’s fully charged, and you are in a spot with good reception for the call. You may also find that standing during an interview helps you sound more energetic during the call.

How To Respond To An Interview Request

How to respond to an interview request? Your response to an interview request is critical in capturing the interviewers attention and moving forward in the hiring process. The way you respond will show your potential employer your degree of professionalism and etiquette.

In this article, I will show you several ways of responding to a request for an interview to increase your chances of landing the job.

How do you respond to an interview request? Four great responses to an interview request are as follows:

• Thank you so much for the interview request for the
• Yes, I am available for an interview from Monday to Friday next week.
• Yes, I would like an interview with you at .
• Thank you for the request for an interview with .

You should develop a good quality response that will catch the interest of the interviewer. Its not enough to just write down or say a few words acknowledging the request. Your response should be well-thought of, clear, concise, grateful, and respectful.

Read on to learn more about how to respond to an interview request. Ill give you several quality responses that will make the interviewer want to see and talk to you as soon as possible.

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Phone Interview Questions About The New Job And The Company

• What interests you about this job?
• Why do you want this job?
• What applicable attributes / experience do you have?
• Are you overqualified for this job?
• What can you do for this company?
• What do you know about this company?
• Why do you want to work here?
• What challenges are you looking for in a position?
• What can you contribute to this company?
• Are you willing to travel?
• Is there anything I havent told you about the job or company that you would like to know?

Tip : Eliminate The Phone Interview If Needed

If a top-tier candidate isnt sure about engaging in your interview process, offer to set them up for a quick phone call or coffee with the hiring manager instead. It will essentially serve the same purpose, but the candidate may be more likely to accept a meeting with someone who speaks their language.

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What Is An Interview Request Email

An interview request email is a message that a hiring manager or recruiter sends to a candidate to invite them to an interview.

Recruiters usually send an email to applicants after reviewing resumes and deciding to interview a handful of candidates. If you pass the initial resume review, youll be invited to interview. Sometimes hiring managers will directly call you if your phone number is on your resume or application, but most times, theyll send a short email inviting you to interview.

These emails are informal, but theyre the first contact youll have with the company. Its important to understand what theyre asking and sending back an appropriate response.

Invitations to interview usually include:

• Clarification of the role you applied for.

• Proposed interview dates and times.

• Questions about when youre free to interview.

• Location or method of the interview .

• Requests for extra documents

• Name or position of the person who will be interviewing you.

The most important thing to do when you receive an interview invitation email is to read the email a few times, so you dont miss any crucial details. You want to make sure your response fulfills all their requests, so reading over the email a few times will help you get everything over to the person youre emailing.

How To Respond To An Interview Request

Scott SingerPresident, Insider Career Strategies

How Long Does The Average Phone Interview Last

The average phone interview last for around 30 minutes. Of course, this can range wildly. At Amazon, it is not uncommon for a final stage phone interview to consist of 5 back to back 45-minute interviews. Granted, these are 45-minute interviews with 5 different individuals at the organization. For a 1-on-1 phone interview, 30-minutes is usually enough time.

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Prepare Relevant Interview Questions

While there is definitely some value in preparing general interview questions to ask all of your applicants, candidate-specific questions are highly advisable. Candidate-specific questions allow you to dig deeper into the information on their resume. It also shows the applicant that you have done your homework, and that youre seriously considering their request to work for you.

Good Phone Interview Questions

When conducting a phone interview, the questions you ask will either make it worthwhile or a complete waste of time. By asking good interview questions, you should be able to learn enough about the candidate to decide whether or not they should move forward in the interview process.

The goal of your phone interview should be to gain a deeper understanding of the candidates background, credentials, and career expectations. If all of these align with what you have to offer, you have a great match!

1. Why are you looking for a new position?

2. What are your salary expectations for this role?

While this usually wouldnt be the first question youd ask in an interview, it can be a great filter to narrow down a large list of potential candidates. It would be a huge waste of time to go through multiple rounds of interviews only to find out that the salary expectations were not in alignment. This happens time and time again, but in most cases can easily be avoided.

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Good Questions To Ask During A Phone Interview

Tailor the phone interview questions below to suit your industry and the role youre hiring for. But consider, too, the candidates professional history, or lack thereof. A recent college graduate cant refer to their career successes, for example, but screening questions can be framed to allow candidates to draw on their experience in course seminars and team projects, as well as their volunteer work and self-taught skills. Leadership, drive, industriousness, talent and other valued qualities can be demonstrated in many ways.

Give the same consideration for candidates with a gap in their work history, such as a parent reentering the workforce after raising a couple of kids, or an out-of-work professional two months after a layoff. Follow this list of five phone interview tips:

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Make Use Of The Invitation To Schedule A Phone Interview To Express Your Enthusiasm For The Prospective Employee

This will help underline your corporate culture and showcase your employee value proposition to the candidate. Employers should go above and above to ensure that job candidates feel comfortable and confident during their forthcoming interview whether it’s over the phone or in-person to avoid causing tension. Also, be sure to give all information they may need to prepare. This will make them feel appreciated, and they will see you as an employer that cares about their well-being.

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Group Interview Invitation Email

Coordinating a group interview can be somewhat of a scheduling nightmare, but it can show how candidates interact with their peers and potential teammates. To simplify the process, use a scheduling tool such as or Doodle to allow candidates to select the times that work best for them. You will be able to see a clear breakdown of the groups availability, reducing the number of moving parts and possibility of scheduling errors.

Use the following template to send a group interview invitation.

Subject Line: : Group Interview Invitation

Hi ,

Thank you for applying to the position at . After reviewing your application materials, we are pleased to move forward with the interview process.

We would like to invite you to an interview at our office. You will interview as a part of a group with other applicants. The interview will last no more than .

To help us schedule the interview, please select your availability from this calendar link: .

From there, I will coordinate between the other candidates and the hiring team to confirm a time that works for all involved. You will receive an email with a calendar link to confirm the interview.

To help you prepare, here is some information about the interview and .

You will be meeting with:

Length of interview:

Interview agenda:

During the interview you will be asked to complete several exercises with the other candidates.

Our office location:

Were close to .

Our office dress code:

Best,

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Tip : Learn Your Candidates Motivations Early

The phone interview is the perfect time to learn your candidates motivations for considering a new role. You can then use this information throughout the rest of your recruitment process to sell them on your opportunity. You may even find that their motivations align with your core values, giving you a better idea of culture-fit.

What To Look For During A Phone Screen Interview

During the phone screen interview, you are gauging a candidate’s soft skills and how they conduct themselves. You obviously want to identify if their skills and expertise will potentially match up with the role, but that will be addressed more heavily in the formal job interview. The screening interview is a chance to determine how good their soft skills are and if they would be a good cultural fit for the organization and team.

“Listen for how they’re conducting themselves,” McDonald said. “Are they organized? Are they comfortable on the phone? Are they listening to the question? Are they answering the question? Can they give you examples?”

Also, pay attention to any warning signs. McDonald said three of the biggest red flags are a lack of preparedness, a lack of curiosity and negativity about former employers.

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Success And Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

We started in a garage, but we’re not there anymore. We are big, we impact the world, and we are far from perfect. We must be humble and thoughtful about even the secondary effects of our actions. Our local communities, planet, and future generations need us to be better every day. We must begin each day with a determination to make better, do better, and be better for our customers, our employees, our partners, and the world at large. And we must end every day knowing we can do even more tomorrow. Leaders create more than they consume and always leave things better than how they found them.

Tips For Successful Phone Screening Interviews

Since you may not know when to expect the telephone interview, it is critical that you do not wait to prepare for the interview until you have the interview scheduled. You have to accomplish your goal selling yourself, your skills, your experience, and your value with only the words that come out of your mouth now.

You have just three assets for a phone screen your attitude, your voice, and your preparation! What can you do to have the best opportunity for success?

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Do Your Research In Advance

Know as much as you can about the employer and the opportunity before the interview, just as you would for an in-person interview:

• Re-read the job posting, and make notes of where you meet or exceed the requirements .
• Review the organizations website to see what they do, where they are, and the latest news they may have posted.
• Look for a LinkedIn Company Profile to see what information they post, as well as other job openings they might have.
• Google the company and the product/service names. See for more ideas.
• Check a site like Glassdoor.com to see the job interview questions commonly asked by this employer as well as the salary ranges and employee reviews.
• Based on your company research, have questions to ask if the opportunity arises or you risk looking uninterested and unprepared .

This research will help you to succeed in the face-to-face interview later, hopefully. It should also help you to determine if you really want to work for this employer.

For more pre-interview research ideas , read The Winning Difference: Pre-Interview Preparation.

Passive And Cold Candidate Email Templates For Recruiters

For passive candidates, on the other hand, this could be an unsolicited sales pitch if phrasing is off. Candidates who arent begging at your door for work will not blindly accept interview requests over email. Remember these tips while sending interview requests to passive candidates:

• The more personalization, the better. This shows you did your research and have reasoning for reaching out.
• Make the job description easily accessible. Link to an online posting, attach the description or include it in the body of your email.
• Be clear. Why are you reaching out and what is your goal?
• Do not send these interview email requests to work emails.

Hi ,I noticed your skills that would apply nicely to our open position at .On a quick call, I can share more details about this position and share why is a great way to develop your career. In short, youll be . Your abilities would help directly .This link will direct you to the detailed job description.If you like what you see, Im available for a call. Let me know if this works for you!Thanks,

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End The Call Effectively

If the interviewer is bringing the call to an end without discussing the next steps, speak up! Express your enthusiasm for moving forward, saying something like this:

Thank you for your time today. Ive enjoyed speaking with you, learning more about this opportunity, and I would be very happy to discuss more about it in person.

Ask if email is the best method for staying in touch .

If an in-person interview is not scheduled at the end of the call, find out when and how you can follow up with the employer.

Be sure to ask for contact information of the person, or people, who will be your contact.

Why Are Phone Interviews Necessary

A phone interview is a pre-screening of a candidate given by telephone before a face-to-face interview. This screening allows an employer to see if a candidate’s skills match the requirements for the open position and the company’s culture. It will also see if a candidate’s salary request meets what the company is willing and able to pay. Using a phone interview can save valuable managerial time by helping to choose candidates for in-person interviews who best fit what the company is looking for and to reduce those candidates who would better fit in a different position.

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