What Questions Do They Ask In A Phone Interview

Brilliant Questions To Ask At The End Of Every Job Interview

Phone Interview Questions and Answers Examples – How to Prepare for Phone Interviews

Interview Tips

Asking some thoughtful questions at the end of your interview is a simple way to show your enthusiasm for the job.

Finding questions to ask your interviewer is a crucial part of preparing for any job interview.

Asking questions is a simple way to show that you’re truly interested in the role and the company.

Business Insider compiled a number of smart questions that are sure to impress your next interviewer.

Thinking up questions to ask during job interviews is key.

Remember, every interview is a two-way street. You should be interviewing the employer just as much as they’re interviewing you. You both need to walk away convinced that the job would be a great fit.

So when the tables are turned and the interviewer asks, “Do you have any questions for me?” take advantage of this opportunity. It’s the best way to determine if you’d be happy working for this employer, and whether your goals are aligned with theirs.

Plus, asking questions is a simple way to convey your enthusiasm for the role and the organization that you’re looking to join.

But sometimes it’s tricky to think up questions to ask on the spot. So you should do your research, and come prepared with some questions to put your your interview.

Luckily, there are plenty of smart ones to pick from.

Here are a number of questions you should consider asking during your next job interview:

‘Have I answered all your questions?’

‘How has this position evolved?’

How To Prepare For A Phone Interview

Phone interview prep takes more than confidence and basic knowledge. The key here is to be different. For example, in software engineering, it is a given that you know coding. However, also possessing sound knowledge on deep learning will separate you from the crowd, increasing your credibility.

Here are some pro tips to ace your phone interviews with corporate giants.

Practice your tone

In a phone screen interview, creating an impression through your demeanor isnât an option. Itâs a must.

Check your tone. Your voice is the first thing that the hiring managers will judge before they even hear your answers. So, having a calm yet mature tone is necessary. Try practicing your tonality while speaking. Prepare compact and concise answers for phone screening questions that you think the interviewer may ask, and practice your tone while verbalizing these answers.

Knowing your strengths

The company has no interest in knowing how their job position is a golden opportunity for you. They instead wish to learn why they should select you and not the thousand others waiting outside their office.

âKnow your strengths and take advantage of themâ â Greg Norman.

What makes you different from the crowd is your strength so clearly mentioning them at the time of describing yourself is essential.

No multi-tasking

Research the company and job position

Be sure about what you want

What Percentage Of Employees Was Brought In By Current Employees

Employees who love their jobs naturally recommend their company to their friends and peers. The same is true for people in leadership positions — people naturally try to bring on board talented people they previously worked with. They’ve built relationships, developed trust, and shown a level of competence that made someone go out of their way to follow them to a new organization.

And all of that speaks incredibly well to the quality of the workplace and the culture.

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If You And A Coworker Disagree How Do You Resolve The Issue

15 Phone Interview Questions (With Example Answers ...

Nearly all professionals work as part of a large team. And, whenever you get people together, the occasional conflict is going to happen its that simple.

Hiring managers favor candidates that can navigate small conflicts without assistance. Often, those employees are more efficient and productive, making them better options in the hiring managers eyes.

EXAMPLE ANSWER:

If a coworker and I disagree, my first goal is to understand their perspective fully. I use active listening skills to learn about their point of view, asking thoughtful questions when necessary to deepen my understanding. Once I believe that they feel heard, I rephrase what theyve shared to confirm Im on the same page. Then, I work with them to try to find a mutually acceptable solution, ensuring I respect their position and address their concerns along the way.

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Final Thoughts On Telephone Interview Questions

If youve not done one before or arent too confident when put on the spot, telephone interviews can be fairly nerve-wracking. However, although theyve become a key part of the interview process for many companies, when approached with the right amount of confidence they neednt be anything to worry about.

There may be awkward silences, which in an interview situation can be traversed with some subtle humour or questions back for the employer. In this situation, always try to stay calm and collected, and answer each question with conviction no matter how you think the interview is going.

Finally, always make sure you have a glass of water to hand, just in case. Even the most well-prepared of candidates can be undone if they cant get their words out right.

What Do You Consider To Be Your Biggest Professional Achievement

Here’s an interview question that definitely requires an answer relevant to the job. If you say your biggest achievement was improving throughput by 18 percent in six months but you’re interviewing for a leadership role in human resources, that answer is interesting but ultimately irrelevant.

Instead, talk about an underperforming employee you “rescued,” or how you overcame infighting between departments, or how so many of your direct reports have been promoted.

The goal is to share achievements that let the interviewer imagine you in the position — and see you succeeding.

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Can You Tell Me About A Time Where You Had To Overcome An Obstacle

At some point, every professional encounters an obstacle. Hiring managers want to know that youll admit youve faced challenges and that you have the ability to overcome them.

EXAMPLE ANSWER:

In my last position, I was working on a project that was in jeopardy of missing the deadline. A team member was behind on their tasks, creating a bottleneck that impacted the rest of us. Instead of sitting back, I reached out to my colleague and asked if I could help them catch up. We discussed the trouble they were facing and created a plan that allowed us to get back on track. It took a substantial amount of effort, but was ultimately worth it since the project ended up as a success.

Ask Great Questions Get Great Answers

How To Do A Phone Interview Successfully – Phone Interview Tips

Phone interviews and screenings are the beginning of a candidates journey with your company, so make sure that journey starts on the right foot. By asking creative interview questions like these, you can learn more about your candidates and improve their experience.

After all, its more interesting to be asked questions that really make you think, rather than ones youve heard and answered a dozen times before. Candidates will appreciate that your company probed a little deeper to really get to know them, and youll have richer information to make an informed decision.

Once youre ready to schedule interviews with the hiring manager and other members of the interview panel, youll need a whole new list of questions. For help strengthening your interviews and ensuring everyone on the interviewing team is prepared, explore our interview question generator, which lets you create customized, printable guides tailored to the traits you want to screen for.

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Describe A Difficult Work Situation Or Project And How You Overcame It

What They Want to Know: When you’re responding to questions about what you did on the job, be prepared to share an actual example of a challenging situation at work, what the issue was, and how you helped resolve it.

Our team, already understaffed, was thrown for a loop when a major customer demanded that we complete our deliverables two weeks ahead of schedule. Normally we try to accommodate such requests, but this time it wasnt possible. I explained the situation to the client, and told them we could either charge them more to support the cost of hiring a temp or, if they accepted the original deadline, wed give them a 20% discount on their next order. They opted for the latter.

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What Is Your Leadership Style

This is a tough question to answer without dipping into platitudes. Try sharing leadership examples instead. Say, “The best way for me to answer that is to give you a few examples of leadership challenges I’ve faced,” and then share situations where you dealt with a problem, motivated a team, worked through a crisis. Explain what you did and that will give the interviewer a great sense of how you lead.

And, of course, it lets you highlight a few of your successes.

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Weird Phone Interview Questions

Sometimes, to get a good idea of who someone is over the phone, you need to ask them some real curve ball weird questions to ask. The best phone interview questions to get at this tend to be…well, weird.

With weird interview questions, you’ll get a lot of “huh?” answers first, but then, you’ll get at something they haven’t ever expressed in an interview before.

Here are 6 weird phone interview questions:

57. How much would you charge to wash every window in Seattle?

If they can give you a relatively good answer, you know they can think on their feet.

58. If you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be and why?

Who do they really admire, and why?

59. How do I rate as an interviewer?

See if they can be critical and do it in a good way without preparation.

60. Do you believe in Bigfoot?

How well can they handle crazy questions delicately?

via: Pexels / Luis Del RÃo

61. Do you personally change the oil in your car?

Find out if they’re a hands on person or if they avoid the dirty work.

62. What if someone asks you to join at âdoubleâ the pay we offer?

If they say they wouldn’t consider it, they aren’t being genuine with you.

What Does A Typical Day Look Like For Someone In This Position

Even though the job posting covers key responsibilities, the interviewer will be able to tell you more about the specific day-to-day tasks youll be expected to perform. Having a conversation about your potential workday from beginning to end will help you determine if this is something you can visualize yourself doing, identify desirable skills you might highlight in future interviews and show that youre genuinely interested in daily life at the company.

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What Are You Looking For In Your Next Job

This question, says Smith, sets the expectation…in terms of what this persons going to come in here and do for us and what they want to do for us. Ideally, your goals and the roles should be aligned.

Your answer also says a lot to an interviewer about whether or not youd be a good long-term hire. For example, you may be looking for a job where you can grow and move up in the next couple years, while this role leaves little room for mobility. Hashing this out now helps both you and the hiring manager avoid a bad fit.

How Would You Describe Your Work Style

What if your interviewee says she works best in collaborative, social settings, yet the role she’s applying for requires a lot of independent work? Although this might not be a deal breaker, its good to know early on whether this person will be the best fit for the work style necessary to excel in this position. Hopefully, the interviewee will describe a work style that fits your requirements.

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Why Are You Looking For Jobs

Employers might ask this question during your phone interview to see if there are any red flags about your employment situation. If you are currently employed but are looking for new jobs, simply explain why. You should make your answer focused on your career instead of personal reasons or small preferences like hours or commute time. For example, you might be looking for new jobs because there are few opportunities for growth or movement in your current role.

If youve been let go for some reason, explain in a positive way that you and your employer decided it would be best for you to find a better fitting opportunity. You should address the ways youve been using your time to improve your skills and work styles.

Example answer:Im looking for opportunities to start my career as a project coordinator. Working as an executive assistant has given me abundant experience in managing and organizing schedules, so Im ready to take the next step in my career. I feel especially qualified for this particular position because Ive worked in the retail industry in my last two administrative roles. Im more than ready to start my project coordination career and would be excited for it to be with your company.

What About This Position Attracted You To Apply

Questions to ask at the End of an Interview | Career Interview Tips

The more a candidate tells you the better. Do the like the industry or perhaps technologies or equipment your company uses.

If they say well its close to my house and thats the main reason then you may want to keep talking to other candidates. You are going to be investing in this person and you want them to be excited about the opportunity.

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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.

Warning Signals To Watch Out For In Phone Interviews

The interviewer isnât the only person with the power to eliminate you can also choose to walk out on the job application upon noticing any abnormality. Watch out for those red flags that might prove to be disadvantageous for you if you apply for job positions in such companies.

Try avoiding companies that rush their interviews and try to hire you as soon as possible.
Avoid job positions where the interviewers talk about an intense working environment.
Any interviewer who states of a workplace culture as âWe are a familyâ probably means they have a dysfunctional working environment. Strange, but quite often true.
If they donât have a proper answer to your question regarding the job position, avoid completely.
In case the tonality of the interviewer is offensive, it would be smart to not apply for this position.

Send a âThank Youâ email after phone interview

Once your interview is over, it is expected of you to deliver a proper âthank youâ email to the company. Mention the date and time of the interview call and mention your appreciation about the opportunity to discuss details related to the job position.

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What Attracted You To Apply For This Position

You want to figure out how much research shes done, and whether her perspective of the role is accurate . This question is also an easy way to see how genuinely interested a candidate is in your company. Look for a candidate who expresses her interest in the tasks required for the specific role, rather than more secondary benefits that come from working at your company — like the awesome snack room, or team outings

What Did You Like Or Dislike About Your Previous Job

What They Want to Know: What you liked and what you didn’t like about your last job or the company you worked for is an indicator of how you might feel about this position if you were to be hired.

Be careful what you say when you’re interviewing for a similar job. If the roles are alike, you may want to keep what you didn’t like to yourself. It’s important to be positive and enthusiastic about the job for which you’re being considered.

I liked the progressive, staged training program my employer used to teach new hires the ins and outs of financial services there was always something new to learn, and we knew we would be steadily promoted as we became more experienced. I didnt like the commute, though, which is why Im now applying for jobs closer to home.