Phone Interviews: 3 Essential Tips for Strategy, Cheating, and Following Up

Phone interviews used to be a practice only appropriate for out-of-state candidates, but now everyone does them. A lot. So chances are, you've either had some experience with them, or you will soon. You can get through them successfully every time if you know why companies rely on them and learn a few tricks-of-the-trade. Why do hiring companies do phone interviews so often now? Companies used to do more face-to-face interviews, but in our time-crunched world, hiring managers just can't spend an hour with every candidate. They need to know that they're justified in spending that time. Phone interviews are shorter, require less commitment, and cost a lot less (no airfares or lost productivity time). So where a hiring manager might have met with 10 candidates 5 years ago, now he'll phone interview 10 candidates, but meet with only 5. He's just saved hours of interviewing time. As a bonus, now he can get off the phone quickly if he runs into a definite "no," where he would have gone ahead and finished an in-person interview. And he has the flexibility to spend more time speaking with an interesting candidate. Time is the most valuable thing that hiring managers have, so that's why they do phone interviews. It is important to get through the phone interview so you can get to the face to face interview, so don't take it lightly and prepare for it. How can you cheat in a phone interview? Simply put, they can't see you. So, you can have anything in front of you that you need to be successful. Take advantage of it. Have your resumé, some key thoughts and notes, and a list of questions that you want to ask. Have everything laid out in front of you for easy reference. How do you follow-up after a phone interview? Well, you better follow-up just like you would with a face-to-face interview. It needs to be pretty comprehensive, and it needs to be quick. Send a thank-you note (an email for speed, please), within 24 hours of that phone call. Hiring managers are looking to see about that follow-up, and they're using that as an additional gating factor in their interview process. Details count. Bonus tip: Send thank you notes to people besides the hiring manager. It's very, very impressive to also email your recruiter (if you're working with one), and let them know how great that interview went. If you're interviewing with someone on the other side of the team, email that person thank-you, but also email the hiring manager to say that you talked to 'Sally on the tech support team' and that it was a fantastic conversation and that you're super excited to speak with him about what you learned there. Your key take-aways: A hiring manager's whole focus is geared toward finding a reason to cut you from the list. Don't give him one. Be just as prepared for the phone interview as you would a face-to-face, use the advantages you have available by keeping your materials in front of you, and pay attention to your follow-up.