Congratulations! Your telephonic interview has been scheduled! Happy to hear that, right?
Yes, you should be. But wait! You must prepare yourself for phone interview. Because you can not see the interviewer, can’t express yourself. You are only connected with voice and you have to express your passion, dedication, knowledge over call itself.
For both, the employer & candidate telephone interview has several advantages too. It is sometimes shorter than face to face interview, allowing save time of both. Also, it saves the candidate travelling & waiting time as well.
Your phone interview conversation with interview matters a lot. Keep on reading below article for step-by-step help and well preparation.
Below top ten phone interview tips for jobseekers from the expert will help you a lot.
1) Don’t take it lightly and prepare well in advance
Practice makes a man perfect! With practice, you can succeed in your phone interview too.
You must gather important details related to company & its business, write down on the notes. However, you have to practice that again and again. Until you are able to speak fluently with the answers.
The simplest way to prepare is, stand in front of the mirror, look at your own face, make your eye contact with yourself and then speak.
Trust me! You will gain confidence by this simple technique. You will be able to answer in a better way than before.
It will be unfortunate if you were rejected just because you did not take the interview seriously. Though, you must do telephonic interview preparation as you prepare for face to face interview.
Take this interview seriously! That means be ready! Make sure that:
- You slept properly last night of interview.
- Arrange a chair, table, your notepad, pen, laptop, laptop charger, a glass of water before the interview.
- Get your voice warmed up. Grab a cup of coffee or tea. Also don’t forget to brush your teeth in early morning.
- Don’t yawn during the interview. Recruiter will feel it from your voice.
- You can keep your Resume in front of you as well.
2) Be in a quiet space – no background noises
Most of the companies usually inform you in advance when they will be calling. Choose a room where you can speak without disruption & close the room from inside. Though, you must inform to your family that you have an interview at this particular time. So, please do not disturb me during this time.
You need to invest in your career, if you are seriously job hunting and getting interviews. Vegetable vendors noise, dogs barking in the background, traffic noise can be very distracting’ for both the interviewer & the candidate. Both of you put your best efforts, so try to avoid such distractions.
Trust me, interviewer time is important as He/She might have to take other candidate interviews as well. And HR don’t like disruption like you are answering and child crying continuously in the background. It may increase your rejection chances.
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3) Leave everything else when interview happens and focus
If you will attend the telephonic interview with focus, chances of selection are higher. Though, You must take care of below mention points.
- While you are attending your interview on the phone, make sure that you don’t check the WhatsApp or twitter notifications. Let me repeat that don’t check the WhatsApp or twitter notifications while attending the interview rather focus on your answers.
- Make a list of your skills and experience in well advance and practice. So that you can answer properly in the interview.
- Listen to the interviewer with focus and reply carefully.
- Think happy thoughts because calm and happy employee is always welcome in any team & company.
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4) Don’t be afraid to tell the other person if he’s not audible
Though, it depends upon the mobile network in your area. You might face some issues in telephonic interview. First try to arrange a sim card by using that you can get full network signal. You can give this mobile number to HR after the interview schedule. Don’t forget to say them that please call me on this number as this has the full network coverage in my area.
It’s better to check with the interviewer if you are audible to them? Also, in case of network issues, inform to HR that he is not audible.
5) If multiple people are there on the other side then try to recognize voices as you speak to them
When the group of HR conduct an interview, its called panel interview. In the beginning of panel interview, HR will introduce them, try to remember them with their names. It’s a bad practice to ask their names again and again.
6) Make sure you need no breaks during the call.
Before starting the interview, you must make sure for certain things:
- You must eat your food properly, so you don’t feel hungry during interview.
- Make sure you go to the washroom, toilet before the interview.
- Inform to your family that you have the telephonic interview, and they don’t interrupt you.
7) Turn off call waiting on your phone for that period
Make sure that you turn off your mobile-phone call waiting in order to avoid any distractions during interview. Its better if you update this setting before or previous day of the interview. Otherwise, there may be chances that you will forget this on interview day. Because you may have to perform other tasks as well.
8) Research about the company and role you apply
Please read below points and act upon these points.
- Make sure that you read the job description properly.
- Search about the company on google. Try to get the answer of below questions
- what is the nature of the company business.
- What type of clients this company have
- Total number of employees.
- Where is the head office and branch office.
- In which technologies, this company deal? Find out these details and write down on the paper and make your notes. Make sure that you do practice two or three times before the interview.
- Most probably, interviewer will ask you, what you know about our company? Then you can respond with company details, you collected by above points.
If you know the name of interviewer, try to find his/her details from LinkedIn website.
It’s not advised to send the Facebook friend request to the HR before or even after the interview.
Check out these typical interview questions and answers. Trust us, You’ll thank us later!
9) Record the call (if you can) to listen later and understand if you could have answered something in a better way. It’ll help avoid mistakes in the future.
You should record the interview call. Its good, if you are selected for next round. If not, then recorded call will help you to understand if you answer all questions correctly? It will surely help you to prepare for other interviews to avoid any mistake in the future.
10) Smile while answering the questions. Smiling affects your vocal tone
When you smile, your tone actually becomes more positive and friendly.
The interviewer may ask you difficult questions, but no need to take tension. However, you must give answers with the smiling face.
You might be thinking, why smiling face? When no one is watching you. Well, first, Smile costs nothing. Second point, your smile will give a positive vibe to the interviewer.
If you don’t know any answer then better to say, “Sorry! I am not sure about the answer” or “Sorry! Right now this answer is not coming in my mind.” If you think, you can answer this question but exact answer is not coming in your mind, then say “Please give me some time to collect my thoughts.” You may take maximum 40-50 seconds and then answer the question.
Guys, here point number 1 and 8, on which you must act upon before the interview. However, you have to prepare for point number 2 on the interview day. And point 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 must be followed during the interview.
Here are few telephonic interview FAQ(frequently asked questions)
Q. What is meant by telephonic interview?
A. This question can also be asked like, What does a telephonic interview mean? Or How is telephonic interview done?
An interview conducted by recruiter on the phone is called telephone interview. This interview is used to shortlist candidates who will be invited for in-person interview.
Q. How can I introduce myself in telephonic interview or How do you start a phone interview?
A. You can use below answer in face to face interview also.
Introduce yourself: start with brief introduction about yourself, about your background, projects, accomplishments, family & hobbies.
Speak clearly. Don’t speak fast.
You can read below Example:
If the interviewer calls you by your name, then introduce yourself like this, “Hello Sir/Mam, As you know my name already.”
If the interviewer doesn’t call you by your name, then introduce yourself like this, “Hello Sir/Mam, my name is James Bond.”
“I am graduated from NIT Delhi in Computer Science & Technology field. Few of my projects like machine learning, robotics, etc., have added value in the society(you can tell about 1-2 more projects in 3-4 lines only). I learned & use Python language in my projects. We are three members in the family. I love playing cricket, writing poems.That’s it Sir/Mam.”
Q. Is a phone interview considered a first interview?
A. Well, its quite rare that you will get an offer letter after the telephone interview. But you don’t need to take tension. However, hiring managers prepare the list of selected candidates after interview and may call you for further interview or group discussion. So Yes, a phone interview is considered a first interview.
Q. Are phone interviews easy?
A. Not exactly! But you should make sure that you practice for phone interview questions and answers examples. LinkedIn phone interview tips are also helpful.
Q. What are the telephonic interview questions?
A. Telephone interview questions and answers are similar to face to face interview.
Q. How do I crack a phone interview, or How do you rock a phone interview?
A. Please follow the telephone interview tips and techniques, stated above. Though, you must focus on how to prepare for telephone interview and practice it. Surely, you will crack the phone interview. You must follow and consider above tips even if you are looking for telephonic interview questions and answers for freshers. Stay in touch with Guide4info team for telephone interview questions answers pdf & PPT files. We will write more articles on this topic.
Q. How do you know if you failed a phone interview?
A. Well, you can not find yourself if you failed the interview or not. But there are some signs phone interview didn’t go well. Like, interview ended much sooner than you expected. The interviewer did not share the company or job information. Or the interviewer asks you one or two questions only.
Q. What are phone interviews used for? Or what are the advantages of telephone interview?
A. Phone interview used to save time of both the interviewer & candidate, eliminating efforts.
Q. Can you get hired from a phone interview?
A. Well, company use phone interview to shortlist applicants out of many. After phone interview, company invite you to attend face to face interview. Or it depends upon company selection criteria. But there are very few chances that you get hired from a phone interview.
Q. What are the top 5 questions to ask an interviewer?
A. You must ask 2-3 questions to the HR at the end of the interview. It will surely impress the hiring managers. It also shows that you are prepared for this interview. Here are best questions to ask HR during phone interview
- What are the next steps in the interview process?
- What do you expect from team members in this position?
- Do your company fire employees during recessions?
- Will those expectations change over time?
- What do you like most about working here?
Q. How to end a phone interview
A. Usually, at the end of the interview, Interviewer will give you chance to ask questions. Or if you feel like, that would be the end, say, thank you so much. You can also say, have a great day at the end of the phone interview.
Dear All, Stay in touch with Guide4info team for further learning on phone interview tips. We will write more articles on “phone interview questions and answers examples”, “phone interview tips”, “LinkedIn phone interview tips.”
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