What Can You Expect From a Phone Interview?

Phone interviews are commonly used by employers to screen candidates and narrow down the candidate pool. Often, you’ll speak with a recruiter over the phone before meeting face to face for a regular interview. If you’re unfamiliar with this arrangement, it can be a little intimidating at first. Here are some tips on how to prepare to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Create the Right Environment

Your first task is to ensure you’ve got the right environment for a phone interview. Take the call in a quiet area of your home free from noise disturbances like children, pets, traffic, etc. You should also make sure your phone gets good reception and there won’t be any static.

Do Your Homework

Next, it’s important to spend some time researching the company so you know some basic information such as:

  • Their industry
  • General history
  • Products/services
  • Culture

Some resources to supply you with this information are the company’s website and LinkedIn profile. You may also want to perform a quick Google search to see what else you can find. Having this information ready will let the interviewer know you’re genuinely interested and professional.

Prepare Key Materials

A big advantage of a phone interview is you can quickly access some helpful materials such as the job description, your resume and the company’s website. So go ahead and have those on standby by opening a few different tabs/windows on your computer.

Key Questions to Be Prepared to Answer

For the most part, phone interview questions are similar to face-to-face interview questions. While you can never fully anticipate what a recruiter will ask, here are some of the more common questions you’ll want to prepare for according to Listen Money Matters:

  • Tell me a little bit about yourself?
  • What interests you about this job?
  • Why are you leaving your current role?
  • What experience do you have in your industry?
  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Succeeding at a phone interview should help you land a regular interview and inevitably a job. So, it’s critical you know what to expect and properly prepare. Following the tips listed here should help you do just that and ensure you make a great impression on your recruiter.

Has your job search stalled out? Contact Encadria Staffing Solutions to see how we can help.

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