Telephone interview tips – do’s and don’ts

In our strange and COVID world a phone interview is the new normal but not everyone is a fan of them, often a precursor for a call back to a Zoom or Teams interview it is essential to nail the preliminary phone round so if you need a few pointers to set you on the right track, read on…

As soon as you know your interview date

Plan

Where will you have your phone interview?  If it is at home then you need to use a quiet room where you will not be disturbed.  Think about which the best room will be for you on the day.  Get the room ready in advance with an office or dining room chair and a table you can use to write notes from and place your laptop or iPad on – with your CV on screen.  Do not use a bed or lounging chair to have your phone interview from, it will affect the command of your voice and mentally could make you overly relaxed.  If you think having a phone interview in work related clothing will aid you mentally then plan what you will want to wear and get it ready.

Prepare

Ensure you have a copy of your CV to hand, both printed and on screen (printed in case your computer dies or there is a power cut).  Write down all the questions you want to ask.  Using the job description and candidate spec which have (hopefully) been provided to you, create a Cheat Sheet.  For tips on a Cheat Sheet read my Cheat Sheet document.

Research

Begin your research on the company.  Look at LinkedIn or Glassdoor to see if there are any comments about the company as an employer.  See how many people have worked there.  Do they look like a good employer where people want to stay and can progress in their roles?  Check out their website, is it fresh and interactive, B2B or B2C too?   Do store visits to their retailers to check out the products on the shelf.  Discreetly ask suppliers or retailers or anyone you know that knows the business about their thoughts on them, have a look at Trust Pilot for reviews and ratings.  Ring up their customer services team and ask for a brochure to be sent out to you and see what arrives or try ordering something small and see how quickly it gets to you.  You may receive polarised views about the company but that’s ok for now, so long as they are not all negative keep going with the interview process but take heed of what you have learned and use it wisely in the interview stage to see how they handle answering tricky questions.

Help Notes

It is inevitable you will be nervous even though it is a phone interview, nerves are good, harness them.  However if you are prone to mumbling, gabbling, straying off topic, rolling your eyeballs, fidgeting, speaking in a monotone voice, laughing shrilly or taking forever to finish sentences then it is a great idea to have lots of little stickit notes dotted around to remind you not to do these things.  Remember to breathe, speak slowly, smile often – yes your smile does come down the phone line you will be amazed, keep your energy level up and try putting inflections in your voice because you are not being hired as a robot, not yet at any rate.  Have a cup of water to hand and take small sips often so your throat and lips remain hydrated.

Questions

This may be your only chance to really dig and find out if the company is one you would seriously want to work for so avoid the boring questions like how long is lunch break or what percentage do you contribute towards pension – instead go for the really important ones such the business culture, how are teams and people managed – you want to establish if its autonomous or micromanaged; how flexible is your role – is it literally to the letter of the job spec or can you get your hands on wider aspects (often the case in smaller companies); office layout – open plan or silos; communication – via email or in person (ideally a combination); employee engagement – when did they last celebrate success, what was it about, where did they go, what did they do (this will speak VOLUMES about what sort of employer they are); succession planning – is there any? Important if you want to stay in the company and move up the ladder otherwise you will be sharpening your CV again in a few years’ time; what is so great about working there – ask the interviewer to give you 3 examples; do they have an onboarding process or is hello, here is your employee handbook, good luck, see you at the next performance review.  The role itself – why has it come about?  Company goals and objectives for the year – what are they?  What will it mean to the business if they achieve them?  Similarly what will it mean to the business if they do not (this could affect your position as the newby – last in first out et al).  If you are able to get across these questions it will definitely help you to gain a clearer perspective on the type of employer the company is.

On the day of the phone interview

Communication devices

Aside from the devices you will need to have your phone interview with, leave them outside of the ‘interview room’.  Silence your mobile messaging alerts if your interview is on your mobile.

Be on time

Get to your ‘interview room’ a good 10 – 15 minutes prior to the call.  Settle yourself at your station and ensure the phone is fully charged.  Animals, kids, partners should all be vacated from your interview space, unless of course you need your dog for a health or mental purpose in which case Fido gets to keep your feet warm (this comes from a dog lover with two lugubrious basset hounds who work alongside me daily but I know how much a dog’s snoring comes down the phone line).  Place all your information in front of you, cheat sheet, notebook and pen, stickit help notes, questions, CV (hard copy as well as on screen in case of power failure). 

Listen

As well as taking your turn with asking and answering questions, be active in your listening, let the hiring manager speak, allow silences to be filled by the interviewer.  Silence is golden after all.

Questions

Be ready to answer situational or behavioural questions, these are known as competency based questions and are the most commonly used ones.  See my document on Competency Based Questions if you need information on what to expect. 

Manners

It is always advisable to thank the interviewer for their time at the end of the call.  You could extend this further by asking if you can email them in person – this way you will have their details to stay in touch with.  Whilst the role may not work out for you on this occasion, the company may have future roles they would like to consider you for.  Also they may have other contacts they could put you in touch with so a polite thank you can go a long way.  If your interview has been handled by a recruitment agency it would be prudent to let them know this is what you have done otherwise they may think you are trying to go behind their back.

Never do any of the following in a phone interview – or any other kind of interview!

• Smoking
• Eating
• Yawning
• Listening to music
• Taking another call (unless it’s an emergency call)
• Sounding bored
• Multi-tasking

Discussing salary package information

If you have applied to a job which has not given any salary package information then it would be sensible to ask what their budget for the role is and what the package includes overall.  There is no point getting excited about the opportunity and being taken through to the next stage and investing more of your time on preparing for the session to only after second stage interview, discover the salary is way beneath your expectation or what you can possibly drop to.  It is far better to manage all expectations at the outset and walk away if needs be.  If you are going through a recruitment consultant then ask them to establish all of this for you prior to even having your CV submitted.