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Feb
25
Written by:
Murrel Crump
2/25/2008 5:35 PM
If you haven’t interviewed for a job in awhile, you may be surprised when you are asked to do a phone interview first. Many larger organizations are using a phone interview for selected positions to speed up the hiring cycle. Personally as a candidate, I have always liked this approach, because you can do them in your plaid bathrobe and your sox don’t even have to match… terminal bed-head, no sweat the roster look is in.
Leaving the rather grotesque picture I just painted behind, one primary purpose of the phone interview is to prescreen candidates to determine who will make it a face-to-face interview. (This is the one you have to dress up for.) Because employers are generally pushed for time and often have limited resources, they don’t want to bring in a lot of potential candidates, only to find they’ve wasted an hour because the person is not even a basic fit.
So, the main goals of a phone screening are to see if you are in the ballpark regarding having the special skill set needed to be successful in that particular position, and with further questioning to determine if the breadth of your training and experience meets the desired qualifications for the job. It is also a way to test your communication and interpersonal skills.
“Record yourself,” says online, financial jobs recruiter Robert Graber, founder of WallStJobs.com. He offers some suggestions to successfully make the first cut. “Listen to yourself on calls. Are you enunciating well? Do you say ‘like’ or ‘you know’ as filler in your conversation? Would you hire yourself based on your speech pattern?”
Joan Lloyd says, “To take advantage of this door-opening opportunity, identify some mini-stories that will illustrate your results. Using a CAR story format will help you stay succinct and add punch. Because you are on the phone, you can have all your notes spread out before you on the table—ready to reference any point you wish to make.
The CAR format is: the Challenge you faced, the Approach you took, and the Results you achieved. For each qualification they list for the job, write down a CAR story. Use short phrases and bullet point each of the three sections, so they are easy to see while you’re in conversation.”
Another recommended thing to do is call yourself and listen to your recorded message. You don’t want a potential employer hearing your seven-year-old’s cute greeting, or a message such as, “Hi there. I am either out playing golf, lounging by the pool or at the Indian Casino, so please leave a message.”
I could go on to give you advise like, don’t lapse into a nasally baritone Lone Ranger voice and freak people out, but Graber has some better suggestions for preparing for the faceless interview:
- Don’t use a cell phone.
- Pull up the company web site on your computer in advance of the call.
- Never put the caller on hold. Cancel call-waiting. Mute the ringer.
- Keep your resume in reach.
- Write down the names of those on the call as soon as you hear them (use a pad and pencil to avoid key-taps which can be distracting and might be interpreted as a lack of attention).
- Listen to questions, don’t interrupt. Avoid cliché expressions such as, “To make a long story short.”
- If you think you are talking too much, you probably are.
- When ending, ask, “What is the next step in the process and what is the timeframe for your decision?”
- Thank everyone by name.
Keep in mind that a phone conversation eliminates all the body language, image and facial expressions you would have in a face-to-face interview. As a result they won’t see you picking your nose, but you must rely on your tone and words to convey enthusiasm and sell your strengths. So be sure to ramp up your positive projection.
At this juncture if you have any doubts about the job, don’t let that creep into your voice, or it can be an immediate subliminal disqualifier. Better to have face time to explore any aspect of the job you have questions about and/or do more homework about the employer and the job.
For private employers, some job coaches would recommend sending a thank you note to the interviewers; for most government positions this would not be expected, and may be considered a little odd. (For myself, I would think the candidate was following a slightly out of date blog instruction list of what to do after the interview, rather than just being odd. But, I have been known to be wrong.)
Well to rap things up, go ahead and put your resume in our Job Match system, if you haven’t done so already, and one of my colleagues just might be giving you a call before you know it. Be sure to specify that you want a job in the Desert, so when a future employer calls you really will be playing golf, lounging by the pool, or at the Casino, kemo sabe.
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Welcome, my name is Murrel Crump, and I am a member of Riverside County’s Human Resources Recruiting Team. My assignment is in the eastern portion of the County from roughly Palm Springs to the City of Blythe and the Colorado River border with Arizona. I also oversee the Desert Jobs page on the County’s Human Resources web site, ergo the title “Desert Jobs Blog”. read more...
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