Prepare Your Own Cheat Sheet
Like all good interviews, its not just about answering questions, but asking the right ones as well.
The right questions not only help you get information you might need to make an informed decision regarding the job, but it also helps confirm your qualifications as the ideal candidate for the position.
Ask about the different aspects of the job and express genuine interest and excitement in the opportunity.
Take the time to make sure that this is the organization you want to work foritll save you a ton of heartache and headaches in the long run.
Dont be afraid to dig for more details about the position and the company.
Ask questions about the job that werent covered in the job postingask about specifics and get details.
You need to know exactly what youre getting into before you say yes to the job
Make sure you prepare your own list of questions before you start. Make sure your questions are thoughtful and have a purpose.
Need some examples to use or ideas to kick start your own list? Check out our Top 14 Questions to Ask In An Interview blog post.
Remember though to keep these questions short and sweet. Again, remember, Its not about you, its about them. How can you fulfill their needs?
What Is The Purpose Of A Screening Interview
Typically, an employer will hold phone screening interviews in the first round of hiring. They are designed to determine if an applicant is qualified for the position and would be a good fit for their company.
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Prepare Like Its An Exambut Use A Cheat Sheet
While you dont have the benefit of face-to-face rapport, the best thing about a phone interview is that you can use notes rather than relying on memory to get your points across. Be sure to print out cheat sheets ahead of time, both to help sell yourself, and to show how much you know about the company.
Figuring out what to say in a phone interview starts with your elevator pitch. Don’t have one yet? Nows the time, and once youve got yours, print it out and have it ready to use next to the phone.
Also, as soon as youve landed the interview, start researching the company, the role, and the interviewer . The more preparation you do, the more comfortable youll feel on the phone.
Start by taking a look at their website, read their blog posts, and figure out their mission statement, says Scott Wesper, hiring manager at Arch Resources Group, a human capital management company in Miami. If you know who your interviewer is going to be ahead of time, look them up. This gives you the opportunity to find out a little bit of information about the person, and maybe even some common ground.
Your research should include a cheat sheet of key company facts and answers to common interview prompts, such as tell me why you want this job, and even how to answer the always-awkward salary question.
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Will You Travel For This Job
Again, one you should consider before the interview. This one might be a little easier than the first question as it means you should be able to come back to wherever you are right nowbut again, keep in mind what this means to both your professional and personal life. Be honest. Be honest. Be honest.
Know Your Answers To The Common Questions Usually Asked
Brief yes and no responses will not move a telephone interview forward, but will end it quickly. So, start by practicing your answers to the top interview questions now so that you are ready when the unplanned telephone interview occurs.
After confirming that you meet the basic requirements , these questions are typically asked in phone screen are Tell me about yourself and Why do you want to leave your current job?
Paint visual pictures with your words by telling stories that demonstrate results you achieved or contributed to with answers that express the who, what, when, where, how, and why. Those answers will make you stand out.
The more you prepare now, the less you will ramble and omit from your answers during the actual interview.
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The Bottom Line With Phone Screen Interviews
Phone screen interviews are typically the first hurdle in the interview process used by employers to quickly separate the qualified from the unqualified job candidates. Follow these 12 steps to succeed in your next phone screen interview, and youll be invited to continue the interviewing process. These steps will guide you successfully through the telephone interview. Remember, do not leave this interview to chance prepare now for success!
Other Potential Telephone Interview Questions
What interests you about this job?
Right answer: Demonstrate what you know about the position and the company in general, and back it up with what makes you the perfect candidate for the role. Its all about matching a skill you possess, with skills required in the job description. And some subtle ego-stroking. That too
There seems to be a gap in your employment history. What were you doing during this time?
Right answer: Be as honest as possible here. If your break was due to personal reasons, then say that. Those who try to lie often get found out rather quickly. However, if explained the right way, your break neednt harm your chance of success. For more information, read our guide on how to explain a gap in your CV.
Take me through your CV
Right answer: Give a short description of your education or employment history. Most telephone interviews are fairly brief, so you dont need to go into too much detail. Cover off the headline points and aim to highlight a key achievement or what you learned from each role. That way youre telling more of a story of how you got to this point, rather than just rattling off things theyve already read.
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Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years
Provide general ideas about the skills you want to develop, the types of roles you would like to be in and things you would like to have accomplished.
Example:In five years, I’d like to be an industry expert in my field, able to train and mentor students and entry-level designers alike. I feel that I will be able to grow with this company to achieve my goals.
The Phone Interview Might Be The Most Important Part Of Your Job Search Heres How To Make Sure You Get It Right
Crush your phone interview with these tips.
Think the interview is the first step to landing your next job? Think again. Most jobs start with a phone call either with a recruiter, HR manager, or hiring managerand sometimes, all three. So before youve chosen your interview outfit or practiced your handshake, youll need to practice a few phone interview tips to get you to the next step.
In the age of texting, Zoom, and hashtags, phone conversations are something of a lost art, but its a skill that can be quickly mastered if you know some of the basicsand plan ahead.
Prior to dialing in, make sure youre prepared to show off your best professional self to potential employers. Here are five expert phone interview tips that will help you get through even the toughest calls.
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The Dos And Donts Of Phone Interviewing
- DONT take the call in a car, outside, or anywhere noisy
- DO answer the phone with a professional tone Hello this is
- DONT smoke or chew gum during the call
- DO take notes and have your own notes handy prior to the call
- DONT take a long time to answer the questions
- DO allow the interviewer to interrupt you and ask follow-up questions
- DONT forget to prepare questions to ask the interviewer and write down new ones as youre talking
- DO prep for the dreaded salary question ahead of time in a mock interview
- DONT talk too quickly. Breath and make sure to enunciate
- DO make sure youre distraction-free to so you can focus and listen. You can scrub your counters later.
- DONT forget to send a post-interview thank-you note
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How To Invite A Candidate To Interview
Inviting candidates to interviews over email can be a tricky game. While you may want to send as many invitations out to qualified candidates as possible, that lends to sounding like an impersonal robot. Too much personalization, though, and were talking hours and hours spent on just inviting candidates to interview over email. This doesnt even include the time it takes to actually schedule that interview.The best interview invitation emails have an element of templating and personalization to make candidates feel unique and wanted at your organization.This is the ultimate guide on inviting candidates to interview over email using templates.
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How To Prepare For Amazon Phone Interview
Getting a job definitely is not easy, more so if it is at Amazon.
The whole process is made more complicated with a series of tests or interviews with the company. This is required to analyze if the applicant/candidate is a good fit for the job profile.
For this reason, a person has to be well prepared for the interviews. Some jobs, like at Amazon also include telephonic interviews as part of their screening process.
This article here discusses some points on how to prepare for Amazon phone interview.
But First: Why Are Phone Interviews A Thing
Phone interviews are, as you can imagine, convenient. As former recruiter and Muse career coach Angela Smith points out, If there are a lot of candidates and youre just trying to narrow down who to bring in for an in-person interview, sometimes a phone interview can be super helpful. Especially if someone lives out of state, it saves the hiring manager from having to pay for the person to fly in and interview in the flesh .
What are they looking for in that phone call? Usually its very high level: Theyre screening for risks, theyre trying to validate your qualifications, and they want to see if youre a fit, says Muse career coach Tina Wascovich. In other words, she says, Who are you, what do you know about us, why do you want to work here?
Of course, its entirely possible youll get asked very specific questions that are unique to the job or your field. But more often than notand usually in addition to those behavioral or technical questionsyoull get asked the following in a phone interview:
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How Is Your Job Search Going So Far
Employers ask this in a phone interview to get a sense of how things are going for you overall, how much other companies are interested, and even how soon you might have job offers .
The one thing you dont want to do with your answer is sound like youre completely struggling to find a job.
If you arent getting many interviews or if you just started taking phone interviews, you can always say: Im just beginning to take interviews, but its going well so far.
If you have had a few interviews but they didnt go well, you can say that you havent found the right fit yet. So for example, you might say, Ive had a couple of phone interviews so far but havent found a great fit yet.
Sample answer:
Things are going well so far. Im just beginning to take phone interviews, and Im still very early in my job search. I expect to have some face-to-face interviews soon.
If You Were Hired How Soon Can You Start
Oh boy. If youre an out of area hire and are required to relocate, this answer is far from a simple one.
First off, dont ever answer with Now! Not only will you come off as desperate, but if youre already employed with another job, youre going to have to do the right thing and give notice.
Its easy to get intimidated and over-commit to an early start datebut the worst thing you can do is give a date to a new employer and then have to ask for more time. Not the right way to start out your long and mutually beneficial working relationship! Then you have to factor in the actual logistics of making a move.
Even one just across town can be as daunting as one across statesor in some cases, countries! Depending on the size of your move you could be looking at anything from a few days to a few months.
Again, be honest!
Many employers, if theyre genuinely interested in hiring you, will have programs in place to help you relocate and ease the burdens that come with a full move.
If they dont, make sure to take that into consideration as well. Words to the wisealways ask for MORE time than you initially think youll need. Trust us, in the long run, its far better to have more time than you need than to run out and have to ask for an extension.
One thing NOT to focus on during an initial phone interview is salaryat least not until youve had a chance to read our article When And How To Discuss Salary During The Job Interview Process.
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Common Interview Questions And Answers
Interview questions help recruiters assess a candidate’s suitability for a role. Answering questions is also an opportunity for the job seeker to share career highlights and address weaknesses. In this article, we will look at ways to prepare for interview questions and sample answers you can provide.
Direct Them To Your Personal Branding Website
Say whaaat? Personal branding website?
Oh what, you didnt know one of the best new strategies that all the best job seekers are employing?
Its true, having your own personal branding website can be one of the most powerful tools you use as part of your job search.
Why? Well there are dozens of reasons, but most importantly, a personal website will allow you to impress hiring managers, differentiate yourself from your competitors, increase your visibility online and create a hub for your personal brand online.
Not to mention it lets you show off so much more of your personality than your resume or cover letter can. And this is absolutely HUGE for someone having a phone interview, when the name of the game is standing out and being memorable.
What do you think is more memorable? Someone who submits their resume and cover letter and then answers a few questions over the phone or someone who does all of the above and then directs the hiring manager over to their website, allowing them to receive the many benefits I listed above?
Its a no brainer and heres a little secret.
Its not that hard.
Especially since I made a blog post for you that shows you exactly how to do it, How To Set Up Your Personal Website In Under 15 Minutes. This blog post will hold your hand through the process and make it brain-dead easy for you, even if you are terrible at using computers.
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Desire For The Job And Fit
Questions about the candidate lead into perhaps the most important evaluation of the phone interview: why the candidate wants to join your company, and how well theyll fit in. Getting a clear insight into a candidates motive for applying will give you valuable intel into how engaged they will be throughout the hiring process, and on the job, if theyre chosen.
The focus of these questions should be to get a handle on why they want this job, why they want to leave their old job , and how they would interact and perform with your team.
Here are some questions to ask during a phone interview to determine those answers:
- Why did you apply for this position?
- Why do you want to leave your previous job?
- What do you think this job will fulfill for you that your current job doesnt?
- What value do you think you could bring to the team?
While its natural to try and pry as much information about the candidate as possible for these questions, its important to remember that this is just an introductory interview. Dont be too forceful or deep about your questions at this stage, or you may scare the candidate away.
What Type Of Management Style Do You Prefer
Employers may ask about your ideal management style to see whether or not you would fit well with the supervisor that will be managing you. For example, if you prefer to work with a trusting, collaborative manager that creates a calm, creative working environment, you might not work well with more fast-paced, aggressive leadership styles.
Example answer:While Im flexible in working with many different personality types, Ive found that the management style I thrive most under is both trusting and involved. While I dont like to feel micromanaged, I do very much enjoy quality one-on-one time on a regular basis to brainstorm ideas for the projects Im working on and how I can do better in my role.
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Be Ready For Common Phone Interview Questions
Speaking of questions there are phone interview specific questions you should prepare yourself for as well.
We cant guarantee that the interviewer will ask you these, but its always better to be prepared so youre not caught off guard if they are asked! Practice answering them before your interview.
Itll not only help with nerves itll make your responses more targeted.
NOTE: We have an article dedicated to phone interview questions.
