Getting Ready
How to prepare for a phone interview- As technology and transportation improve so does the frequency of phone interviews. Today we are going to address four key items that hiring managers, recruiters, principals, and HR professionals are looking for in that initial phone screen interview.
Energy and Confidence
The first item that interviewers are looking for in a phone-screening is your energy and confidence. The thing about phone interviews is that they can’t see your face. They can’t read your facial expressions and they don’t really have an in-person connection with you. So what you have to do is understand that the way you come across over the phone is really important. It comes down to the tone of your voice. You need to communicate with energy and confidence, however, it doesn’t mean to sound overly happy or excited. It means you should try to come across as pleasant, calm and not overly pushy. This confidence comes from your ability to listen. Listen to the question that’s being asked and allow for a short awkward pause between the question and your answer. You don’t have to rush into giving your full response right away when the question is asked. In addition, you don’t want to take too long to give your answer.
Concise Responses
The second thing that you need to pay attention to is that you a have clear, concise and articulate answers. Since interviewers can’t see your face it is actually super easy for anyone to zone out when somebody is talking to them on the phone. It is just as easy for recruiters to go on their laptop to get to Facebook, Instagram, and other social sites. This is the last thing you want these HR professionals, recruiters or principals doing if they are interviewing you on the phone. In an effort to avoid this be sure to not ramble while you are on your phone interview.
Technical Fit
The third thing that interviewers are looking for is your technical fit for the job besides getting a gauge of your energy and confidence levels. Employers really want to know whether you’re a right technical fit for the job. They also want to know that you have the right knowledge, qualifications, and experience to be able to do this position. You want to make sure that the way that you answer your responses lines up with what matches to the position as much as possible. One of the easiest ways to do that is to identify the keywords from the job description that line up with your experiences. Being able to incorporate those keywords into your responses, over the phone so you don’t misalign them with the position, is the fastest and easiest way to avoid employers from cutting the interview short. If you don’t have the exact skillset desired from the employer identify that you possess similar skills, knowledge, and experience that are transferable to be able to do the job. Sometimes this is how you must be able to sell yourself and communicate that you are capable of doing the job.
Top-Notch Resume
Finally, one of the most important aspects that phone interviewers are looking for, and that a lot of people don’t realize, is actually to assess whether you have a top-notch resume. I can tell you that the likelihood is that what employers are calling candidates in for phone interviews and batching resumes. They’re taking a group of people out of a bigger group of people and saying let’s phone screen these individuals. It is important to understand that they are not necessarily going through a super in-depth analysis of the resumes. Resumes are reviewed in more detail in the initial phone screening. I can tell you that this happens across the board. In many industries, candidates get that initial six seconds scan of the resume and get either the yes or no to a phone interview.
Conclusion
These recommendations will provide a helpful perspective for those who are getting phone interviews but if you’re not even getting a phone interview then you need to be working on your resume. The resume is the number one priority to complete. There are several resume tips published on the web and should be researched to improve your efforts. Be ambitious and well rehearsed and you’ll land a great job!
