So far I havent had any telephone interviews… I have one lined up for next week. Any tips? I think telephone interviews give the person the oppurtunity to cheat (not in a bad way ofcourse), jot down alot of questions you might want to ask about the company etc. I would appreciate any tips/suggestions you guys might have.
spock, have some notes about the company infront of you when u give the interview.
Make sure you are in a quiet area with a pen and paper infront of you.
Also write down all the questions you want to ask the company because its easy to forget afterwards
concentrate on yourself and not on the person interviewing you. an example is there may be times when there are large gaps or pauses, this is only because the person interviewing you is making his or her own notes at the same time you are talking so dont worry about it.
Finally be yourself and good luck.
I once conducted a phone interview (technical screening) and the everytime I asked the interviewee something I could hear the pages flipping... after few questions and his persistence to find the answers I gave up and concluded the interview.... So tip --> don't read from your notes and if you do just don't flip pages.
well i recently gave a phone interview (feb or mar)..i was in germany at that time and the person interviewing me was in usa. i literally had papers all over my desk before the interview...not to mention 3 laptops too :-D
it didn't really go as planned :-)....since he didn't ask me a single question which i was expecting him to ask. however the interview overall went reallly well. i would encourage you to just relax before the interview. after the first few minutes of the interview i am sure u will get into the rhythm and feel much more relaxed. i am guessing you have some experience so expect to talk about that. yeah and i did get selected.
on a side note i personally think one can tell how spontaneous your response is, even over the phone, so its best to be prepared and take it as a face-face interview. however, since you know he can't see you which perhaps makes it a bit easier ... you can take the interview even in your pajamas..more relaxed. one thing less to worry about: ur appearance.
gluck!
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by heart beat: *
well i recently gave a phone interview (feb or mar)..i was in germany at that time and the person interviewing me was in usa. i literally had papers all over my desk before the interview...not to mention 3 laptops too :-D
it didn't really go as planned :-)....since he didn't ask me a single question which i was expecting him to ask. however the interview overall went reallly well. i would encourage you to just relax before the interview. after the first few minutes of the interview i am sure u will get into the rhythm and feel much more relaxed. i am guessing you have some experience so expect to talk about that. yeah and i did get selected.
on a side note i personally think one can tell how spontaneous your response is, even over the phone, so its best to be prepared and take it as a face-face interview. however, since you know he can't see you which perhaps makes it a bit easier ... you can take the interview even in your pajamas..more relaxed. one thing less to worry about: ur appearance.
gluck!
[/QUOTE]
Thanks heartbeat, chachoo and everyone else, and youre right, it takes me a little while to get my rythm... So youre suggesting that I concentrate on talking about the work experience I have? The problem is, I cant draw the line between being too brief or being too detailed. I have no way of knowing how much information they want out of me. I was told I would be interviewed by more than one person. How long do these interviews normally last?
Stand up during the interview- apparantly it projects your voice- nice and loud
Spock I think that you should be prepared(atleast mentally) for anything . Talking about your past experience could be one of the things they might talk to you about. It depends on the job position
and the company who is interviewing you. The procedure might vary from company to company. They might ask you technical questions (perhaps relevant to the job or previous courses you have taken). Since you will be interviewed by more than one person I am guessing it includes atleast somebody from the HR department and your supervisor or perhaps also someone who is technically sound for the job you applied for. the main thing is to be prepared for the unexpected since thats what practical life is all about. and take it with a big smile :-D
You can pretty much guess the type of questions they might ask you.
I THINK, there is no harm in asking them the procedure for the interview. I am sure you are in touch with somebody from the HR department who is the best source of information for you. thats what they are there for.
In my case, I was told that I will have two interviews. Without my asking, I came to know that my first interview would be conducted by the department manager. I learned this when I was setting up the time for the interview with the HR department. My interview with the manager lasted for about 80 minutes. and I don't think if one can say precisely how long an interview would last so make sure you don't have anything lined up after your interview. you don't want to get distracted by that. It was my guess that the second interview would be from the hr department. however, i received an email from the hr dept. saying that the second interview was not necessary.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Spock: *
The problem is, I cant draw the line between being too brief or being too detailed. I have no way of knowing how much information they want out of me.
[/QUOTE]
u will know when the time comes. don't stress urself by thinking about stuff like this. "ohhh what if i go on blabbering...what if the phone gets disconnected...what if nature calls...what if " okayyy u get the drift. :-)
bottom line is that there is nothing to worry about. its just an interview. do what you think is right for you since its your decision. the WORST thing that could happen is that they won't select you. in that case, that was in your best interest.
if possible let us know how it goes.
The phone intereviews usually last for 45 minutes to an hour. They are usually scheduled because the candidate is located in a different state. The main purpose of the phone interviews is to find out if it is worth spending the money to fly the candidate from wherever s/he is in to the corporate for an in-person interview. I had one from San Antonio and one from Dallas, TX recently. The one from Dallas ended up spending >$1000 plus accomodations for flying me down there the same week and eventually made me a fat offer. The interview onsite was 3 hours plus. I am moving out of Michigan end of this month.
My suggestion is to keep your answers to the point and brief unless they ask for further details. Save long answers for in-person interview. You will have plenty of oppurtunites to do that. If there is something that you think needs more detail than a one liner, don't hesitate to ask if the interviewer wants to hear more about it. Never interrupt the interviewer. Ask your questions when you are provided an oppurtunity to do so. Having a list of questions being an advantage for phone interviews doesn't really make sense. I don't think that there is anything wrong with taking a list of questions to an in-person interview either. I wrote my questions on a paper napkin while I was on the plane. I took it out of my pocket at the end of the in-person interview and I asked them all one after another.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Asif, right on! Exactly 45 minutes! I was interviewed by about 4 people, though only 3 asked questions. They were all together in a conference room, they asked about 20 technical questions, two or three I had no clue about. Overall it went pretty well. I had alot of stuff ready infront of me but I didnt really get a chance to look at it though. After the interview, I sent them a thank you email.
^ good for u, all the best...
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Spock: *
Asif, right on! Exactly 45 minutes! I was interviewed by about 4 people, though only 3 asked questions. They were all together in a conference room, they asked about 20 technical questions, two or three I had no clue about. Overall it went pretty well. I had alot of stuff ready infront of me but I didnt really get a chance to look at it though. After the interview, I sent them a thank you email.
[/QUOTE]
I gave both of my phone interviews sitting in my car on the cell phone outside my work place in the parking lot.
^^ hehe... I've done that once... in a car... and then a cell phone interview while at the airport (effective use of waiting time don't you think). Airport interviews are so much fun... a friend of mine actually had one with a VP who was flying to city X and him and my friend were gonna cross over at airport Y for a connecting flight... so they had their interview there :)
I dont know how you guys can handle it in airports, cars! Maybe youre too experienced!
Anywayz, is it a good idea to follow up with a fax of my credentials, achievements, certificates, competitions etc?
^ I wouldn't send any extra stuff unless they ask for it...
I second that...
a thank you email is always good... but you shouldn't sound too eager...
Ok friends, thanks for your help... After the phone interview, they contacted me saying that htey are doing a background check on me and conctacting the personal references. Then they sent me a copy of my resume reformatted with their company letter head etc, and asked me to verify everything so that they could submit me for the position. Anyone know what they mean by that? I think they will call me for another interview there?
Sounds like you phone-interviewed with either a recruiting firm or a consulting firm. Recruiting firm after initial screening forward the resumes to their clients which are your potential employers. Some consulting firms do the same thing, they don’t hire unless they have a client/project lined-up. So they will screen you first and then forward your resume to their potential customer(s) and see if they can generate interest and they won’t hire you until they secure a contract with the customer. There could be other possibilities but these two are the most common ones at least in IT field.
In any case this means that you checked-off in the screening process and now they are taking the next step, it is a good sign. Wish you best of luck.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ChaChoo: *
Sounds like you phone-interviewed with either a recruiting firm or a consulting firm. Recruiting firm after initial screening forward the resumes to their clients which are your potential employers. Some consulting firms do the same thing, they don’t hire unless they have a client/project lined-up. So they will screen you first and then forward your resume to their potential customer(s) and see if they can generate interest and they won’t hire you until they secure a contract with the customer. There could be other possibilities but these two are the most common ones at least in IT field.
In any case this means that you checked-off in the screening process and now they are taking the next step, it is a good sign. Wish you best of luck.
[/QUOTE]
Hi chachoo,
Well, the person who interviewed me was from that firm where the job opening was from, I am pretty sure about it. He told me about the various projects that he had undertaken etc.
Hmm... there could be many explanations for it but there is no point in speculating.. you can lookup the company info and find out what the company does and what open positions they have etc.
It will be intresting to find out why the re did ur resume on their letterhead and asked you to re-work it before they can submit the it for the position if they are the ones hiring you....
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ChaChoo: *
Hmm... there could be many explanations for it but there is no point in speculating.. you can lookup the company info and find out what the company does and what open positions they have etc.
It will be intresting to find out why the re did ur resume on their letterhead and asked you to re-work it before they can submit the it for the position if they are the ones hiring you....
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, im even more confused now... But the same thing happened to my friend who applied for Pfizer.... Like I said, this is one of my first interviews, so Im really not sure... Lets see how it goes on from here, Ill keep you posted...