Phone interviews feel stressful. Not only are you nervous about making a good impression, you’re trying to do so without any visual feedback or body language to read. It’s hard to know how you’re performing without being able to see the interviewer’s reactions. Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly what the hiring managers did or didn’t want to hear?
Writing for Glassdoor, Julia Malacoff interviewed HR professionals – the people actually doing the hiring – what their worst pet peeves were in phone interviews. She came up with a list of 12 items to avoid as much as you can.
Malacoff writes:
These days, phone interviews are an unavoidable part of the job interview process, and for good reason: They save everyone involved time and effort. But that doesn’t mean that phoners require zero energy on the part of the candidate. Yes, you should spend more time preparing for an in-person interview, but many companies treat phone screens as the official first round of the hiring process. That means candidates are expected to go into them prepared with as much information about the company, position, and their own skills and strengths as possible.
We asked HR pros about their top phone interview pet peeves, they had no shortage of advice to offer. Apparently, it’s quite easy to mess up your phone interview. But here’s the thing; it’s also not hard to come across well if you keep some key things in mind.
Check out the entire list of 12 things – it’s on one page, not an annoying slideshow.
If you see some ways you can improve your phone interviews, see ift there’s a mock interview center on campus and specifically ask to practice phone interviews. You can also start applying for lots of jobs and get that real-world phone interview experience. (If it’s legal where you live, you can consider re oring your conversation so you can review it and find ways to improve.)
Which phone interview skills do you need to work on?
(I especially struggle with the last item on this list.)