How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job

  • May 20, 2009
  • 7,026 Views

Dynamic from Dynamic Content Productions (and 3 others)

Howcast Original
Please install Flash

Being interviewed for a job over the phone is very different from being grilled in person. To get the gig, you need to tweak your technique.

You Will Need

  • A quiet place
  • Your resume
  • A landline
  • A professional outgoing message
  • Research notes
  • Salary requirements
  • Role-play partner
  • Business attire
  • A thank you note
  • Headset
  • A quiet place
  • Your resume
  • A landline
  • A professional outgoing message
  • Research notes
  • Salary requirements
  • Role-play partner
  • Business attire
  • A thank you note
  • Headset
How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Arrange a good time

Step 1: Arrange a good time

Arrange a time when you can speak freely without interruptions. That means no kids, dogs, or nosy co-workers anywhere nearby.

Keep your resume on hand in case an employer calls unannounced.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Give good phone

Step 2: Give good phone

Take the call on a landline; cell phones are vulnerable to poor reception and dropped calls. If you have call waiting, check with your phone service about suspending it during scheduled interviews. Whatever phone number you left as your contact, make sure its outgoing message is professional.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Prepare notes

Step 3: Prepare notes

Unlike an in-person interview, you can have notes in front of you. Take advantage by setting up information cheat sheets about the company and your interviewer. Organize your notes in bulleted points so you don’t sound rehearsed, and prepare answers to common questions, like, “Why do you want to work for our company?”

If your interviewer is in another part of the country, check their local news so you’ll have some timely icebreakers ready.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Know your salary needs

Step 4: Know your salary needs

Know your salary requirements. Because phone interviews are sometimes a way to narrow an applicant pool, many prospective employers begin the dialogue with that discussion.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Rehearse

Step 5: Rehearse

Record a mock phone interview with a friend so you can correct any verbal tics like speaking too fast or saying “you know” too often.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Make silence golden

Step 6: Make silence golden

Make sure you’re far away from anything that could make a distracting sound, and be sure to mute your computer, cell phone, and PDA to avoid interruptions.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Give a performance

Step 7: Give a performance

Sit or stand up straight during the interview, wear something professional, and smile when you speak. You may feel silly, but speech experts say it will make you sound more alert and self-possessed.

Use a headset if you can. It will allow you to move around and make the gestures you normally make when you speak, which will help you come across as more relaxed and confident.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Shut up occasionally

Step 8: Shut up occasionally

Don’t be a blabbermouth. The interviewer is likely taking notes, so give them some time to do so.

How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job: Send a thank you

Step 9: Send a thank you

End a phone interview the way you would end an in-person one – by sending a written note or e-mail thanking the interviewer for their time and reiterating your interest in the position.

A candidate who flushed the toilet during a phone interview made a top-10 list of the worst job-hunter blunders.

Something wrong?

Report This How-To

Cancel

Comments (1)

coolguy66

Big Shock

over 2 years ago by coolguy66

Reply

or to post a comment. Or, sign in using your Facebook to comment
and share your activity with your friends

Video is in Useful Videos (792 videos)

How To Build a Mini Hovercraft Easy Steps

How To Build a Mini Hovercraft

Now Playing (401 of 792): How To Ace a Telephone Interview and Get the Job

How To Run in Hot Weather Easy Steps

How To Run in Hot Weather

How To Prepare For the Switch To Digital TV Easy Steps

How To Prepare For the Switch To Digital TV

open/close
© 2012 Howcast Media, Inc