The Essential Phone Interview Handbook

Paul J. Bailo, Paul Bailo

• Publisher: Career Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781601631541
• eBook ISBN: 9781601636720
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Business General

Today more than ever, job candidates make initial contact with prospective employers via the telephone. Phone interviews are often the most unexpected facet of job interviewing, yet they are fast becoming the standard for employers when narrowing the pool of applicants and determining who will be invited for in-person interviews.The Essential Phone Interview Handbook covers:How to prepare, what to say, and when to say itHow to establish your professional presence over the phoneHow to get to the next step

1

CONTROL YOUR SURROUNDINGS

Don’t let your environment force you into an unprofessional situation by having noise in the background or the TV blasting during your phone interview. These situations are all preventable if you take a moment to alter and fine-tune your environment to help—not hinder—your phone interview success.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE

The increased use of phone interviews in today’s job search is very much to your advantage because you get to control the setting.

There’s no traffic to cause delays, no unfamiliar rooms to cause confusion, and no chief executive staring at you from across the desk. With phone interviews, you can create a comfort zone—your comfort zone. Feeling confident and self-assured in a phone interview will dramatically increase your assertiveness.

Something to Think About…

Why do baseball teams often perform better at home games than away? They have the home-field advantage. They have all their fans cheering for them. They are familiar with the field, knowing where all the dead spots in the ground are located. They recognize familiar sights, such as that billboard on the back wall where they aim their home run hits during practice. The passion and energy is in the air as their home announcer calls out the lineup. The crowds, the sights, the field, and the sounds all benefit a baseball team in their home-field advantage. Your phone interview is the same. When you answer that phone you need to be just as comfortable as the Red Sox when they walk into Fenway Park.

Make use of your home-field advantage—prepare and conduct your phone interview in the setting and manner that works best for you. Use it to hit that phone interview right out of the park!

Remember the four “bests” to ensure you take full advantage of this opportunity.

Best Day

Don’t sign up for your phone interview on the day you promised to watch your neighbor’s dogs, the day of your daughter’s seventh birthday party, or your sister’s annual family visit. Thinking about other events will distract you, and this could produce less-than-intelligent responses. Make sure that you pick a day when you can devote your full attention to the interview.

Best Time

Don’t sign up for your phone interview at times when you’re normally sleeping, eating, or running errands. Some people are most focused during the morning hours; others need more time to wake up and are more motivated in the evening. Pick a time when you know you’ll do your best work.

Best Room

Don’t conduct your phone interview lying down in your bed or in the living room with the TV on. Rooms that are too comfortable may contain too many distractions, causing you to lose focus on the phone interview. Pick a room that makes you feel professional and allows you to concentrate. This will help you produce quality responses.

Best Phone

Don’t conduct your phone interview on a telephone that could cause the interview to be interrupted (like when a cell phone hits a “no service” area or runs low on battery power). That’s why it makes the most sense to use a land-line instead of a cell or wireless phone. Also, don’t use a speakerphone. They may carry static, increase background noises, and your voice may cut in and out. Make sure you pick a high-quality telephone so you can clearly communicate with the interviewer.

READY YOUR SPACE

Before you begin your phone interview, get yourself set up and organized. You don’t want to be scrambling for papers or pausing during your interview. If your workspace looks professional, you’ll feel and act more professional.

Have the company research, your resume, and your written-out questions handy.

Remove anything that makes noise or could cause your mind to wander during your interview.

Turn off your fax machine. Beeping noises are distracting, and you can’t answer questions intelligently while you’re reading a fax.

Turn off your cell phone. You can’t answer another call while participating in a phone interview, so why even have another phone nearby? The ringing will divert your attention, and receiving text messages will make you want to stop and read them.

Turn off your computer. Fish floating across your screensaver, for example, may lead to daydreaming about the ocean and summer vacation, causing you to miss pivotal interview questions.

Put away your grocery list, that pile of pictures your sister sent you, and sticky notes about your latest in-home project. If personal things are scattered about, it makes it that much more difficult to concentrate.

Be sure to have a pen and paper handy so you can take notes throughout your interview. Having your materials organized will allow you to reference information with ease.

Removing all unnecessary objects and distractions allows you to completely focus on the task at hand—acing your phone interview.

STORY WITH A MORAL

Some years back, I worked for three months to obtain an interview for a top position at Alley Bank. I sent my resume, I did my research, and I was primed and ready to go. I had spent weeks preparing for this phone interview.

Little did I know, my wife had used the fax machine in my office that morning, which is attached to the main phone line. When she was finished, she had neglected to disconnect the fax machine.

“Hello?” DOOOT DOOOT DOOOT, RRRURRIP, BANG!

The first thing I (and the interviewer) heard was the fax machine going off. I frantically grabbed the paper, knocking the machine on the ground with a loud BANG! Three long months of preparation for my phone interview, and it began with a loud commotion.

Moral of the Story: Let’s make sure this does not happen to you. Survey the area and check your phone before the start of your phone interview.

REMOVE ALL BACKGROUND NOISE

Background noise can be heard by the interviewer and thus distract her from your responses. It can also hinder her ability to hear what you’re saying, and that can create confusion and miscommunication.

Background noise also distracts you from what the interviewer is saying. Asking her to repeat questions or comments is unprofessional and takes away from time you should be using to gain as much information as possible while you present a clear image of yourself.

These extra sounds can also start your mind to wander to whatever is creating the noise, causing you to lose focus. Conduct your phone interview in a room without any of the following:

Television. Even if it’s playing behind you and you’re not watching it, it’s still a major distraction, especially when you consider that volume and special sound effects often change.

Pets. Your dog can definitely bark much louder than anything you’re saying. So consider placing your pets on a different floor in the house (or make sure they’re elsewhere) during your phone interview.

Children. Children can be loud and unpredictable. They can be doing a puzzle silently one minute and be screaming at the top of their lungs the next. If you must conduct your phone interview while the kids are in the house, at least close your office door for some privacy.

Doorbells. A ringing doorbell in the background is distracting and unprofessional. Post a “Do Not Disturb” sign over the doorbell. This will eliminate the unnecessary distraction of an unexpected doorbell ringing during your interview.

These are just a few examples of common noisemakers in a house. Make sure to survey your workspace during preparation and question if anything could make noise. Turn these items off or move them to a different room.

Background noise is distracting to both parties in a phone interview; it frustrates the interviewer and casts you in an unprofessional light. In turn, this leads you to become stressed as you try to remove the noise. Don’t let a distraction like background noise lead to a less-than-quality performance on your phone interview.

Something to Think About…

What do you think and feel when you are at work on a conference call and you hear a baby crying or Sponge-Bob SquarePants blasting in the background of your top team member’s phone line? This person has a reputation of being a hardworking, very intelligent individual; however, at this moment, these qualities are not being portrayed. Rather, you may be thinking, “What is this person really doing while working from home?” This does not make a very good impression for this top team member.

This example involves an individual who has already earned his position at the top, already proven his responsible, goal-driven abilities, and still you find yourself questioning his skills. Can you imagine if this background noise was occurring before he earned the top role on the team, before he had earned any role on the team at all? Surely he would not be thought of as a hardworking, business-oriented individual who would bring positive improvements to the company.

Do not let background noise stop you from proving your positive, professional qualities during your phone interview. A silent background conveys seriousness and a focus on the task at hand—acing your phone interview.

THEY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SEE YOU, BUT THEY CAN HEAR YOU

Even though your interviewer cannot see you, she can hear if you are trying to multitask or scrambling to find information. Why chance it? Stay focused on the phone interview and only on the phone interview—nothing else. Even things you may think are inconspicuous can still make noise, such as:

Typing on a keyboard.

Opening a file cabinet.

Tapping a pen.

Opening a door.

If you wan...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dediation
• Acknowledgement
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Control Your Surroundings
• Chapter 2: Tools for Success
• Chapter 3: Warm-Up
• Chapter 4: Ready Yourself
• Chapter 5: Make an Impression
• Chapter 6: World-Class Phone Interview in Action
• Chapter 7: The Final Steps to Success
• Index
• About the Author