Phone interview: talk your way into the job

Job interviews conducted by phone have become a fact of recruitment life. As a cost-saving measure, a means of culling long candidate lists or a fast way to fill contract and temporary roles, phone interviews are happening for a range of reasons.

They are used mainly for non-local candidates and can be a substitute for a face-to-face interview or a prelude to one, says Ann Villiers, author of How to Write and Talk to Selection Criteria, (Mental Nutrition, 2005).

But there’s an etiquette involved that participants ignore at their peril. “There’s an art to doing it well,” Villiers cautions.

Jill French, a community relations professional from Mildura, in northern Victoria, has participated in many phone interviews because of the distance she lives from capital cities and has received many job offers as a result. But she was frustrated by a recent phone interview with a Queensland government authority.

Emailed the interview questions 20 minutes before the scheduled interview time, she was given 45 minutes to answer them, soliloquy-style, as the panel listened on the other end of the phone.

“I felt like I was doing a race call at Doomben,” she says. “When you’re walking into someone’s office, there’s one to three minutes of chitchat … This lacked that interactive component.”

Villiers says this style of interview is common for senior level roles where confidence and presentation skills are crucial to success. If face-to-face candidates’ interviews were being structured that way, then the panel probably felt it had to inflict the same treatment on the phone candidate. But she concedes there are many ways employers can put candidate at ease.

“People are more intimidated by phone interviews because they’re not getting the visual feedback in the form of subtle signs that you’re on the right track,” she says.

“The panel needs to allow for the non face-to-face context by giving full information about who is present, how the interview will proceed, what to do if something is not clear.

“Using good technology is a help: if everyone is yelling into a joint speaker phone this can be off-putting.”

Jon Cremonini, business development manager with Davidson Recruitment in Brisbane, agrees that there’s a tendency with phone interviews “to cut straight to it” .

“There’s very little pleasantry that goes on. You haven’t got the handshake, or the photos on the desk, to stimulate conversation.”

He also notes that phone interviews can be cut short. “An hour for face-to-face interviews is standard, but the equivalent phone interview might be only 30 to 45 minutes, which doesn’t provide the equivalent opportunity,” Cremonini says.

Another mistake interviewers make is failing to screen out interruptions while the interview is taking place.

“Most face-to-face interviews take place in a meeting room, not in an open plan office, and this needs to be replicated when it’s a phone interview,” Cremonini says.

“Interviewers need to take the process to a meeting room and place a firm “˜Do not disturb’ sign on the door because the smallest interruptions can disrupt an interviewee who is in mid-flow.

“You wouldn’t experience interruptions in a face-to-face interview, so the candidate shouldn’t have to hang on a minute on the phone either.”

He admits this can be problematic when there’s a panel situation and several people in different locations are involved.

“In situations like this, make the preparation guidelines clear to everyone and have some way of distinguishing who is asking a particular question and when, which helps things keep flowing even when participants aren’t all in the same room.”

Interviewees also need to adhere to certain standards of conduct if they are to make the cut. Urban legend has it that one candidate performed well via phone interview and was considered competitive for the position until the panel heard her flushing the toilet as she expounded on her ability to multi-task.

Cremonini says a candidate is required to arrive promptly for a face-to-face interview and the same applies for a phone interview.

“Wherever this is taking place -the home, the car, the office -the same rule applies: arrive early,” he says.

“Sit down, prepare, don’t be distracted immediately beforehand and be ready to receive or make the call on time.”

He says another obvious but oft-ignored piece of advice is to make sure there are no distractions around you.

“No children, pets, TV, radio or being in the car with bad mobile reception,” he says.

Villiers suggests to applicants that they use a hands-free phone, preferably a landline for good quality, and have a quiet office in which to take the call.

“I also advise people [to] stand and walk around when talking to give more energy to responses,” she says.

“If seated at a desk, a person can slump into monotone, which will reduce the effectiveness of their voice and the impression they create.

“If you’ve got a hands-free phone, you can move around and project your voice better, there’s more gesturing, more vibrancy. People can’t see that but it still comes across.”

If you’re unemployed or on a day off, don’t be tempted to conduct a phone interview in your pyjamas.

And Cremonini’s final piece of advice: “If you arrange to do the interview from home, be as businesslike in all ways as possible.”