Nervous for the Phone Interview?

Are you nervous for an upcoming phone interview? Please don’t be! It is just like talking to a friend on the phone with a little bragging about yourself. We constantly communicate with family and friends over the phone; so relax yourself by saying ‘this is just another phone conversation’.

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Companies conduct phone interviews to get a better idea about candidates before inviting them for on-site, face to face interviews. Phone interviews usually last 15 to 30 minutes and mainly focus on your resume. Most likely an HR person calls you up and asks you to explain your past experiences on your resume.

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Try to be concise when you’re explaining your experiences. Pay attention to answering two questions: “What did I complete/accomplish during this experience?” and “What did I learn/gain from this experience?”.

As with any kind of interview, preparation is the key. You can use “The Phone Interview” handout which is located at the CDC front office on the turning handout stile. This handout addresses all the questions you might have about phone interviews and has a list of commonly asked questions at the end of it.

Another way to search for common phone interview questions and tips is of course Google. I typed in the word phone interview questions and clicked on a couple websites to get a general idea. The two websites that I found useful were:

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviewquestionsanswers/a/phoneintervquest.htm

http://blog.simplyhired.com/2011/12/how-to-handle-the-five-killer-telephone-interview-questions.html

To make things easier for yourself, you can come up with answers to these questions and take short notes on each one. Then have printed copies of your resume, cover letter, job description and your answers to common phone interview questions in front of you during the call. This will save you from trouble if you need to come up with an answer on the spot, you can simply check your notes (cheat sheet)!

You can also practice with a friend. At first, it feels a little funny and it’s hard to keep a straight face, but you can give the list of questions to your friend and have them ask you the questions either face to face or on the phone. Practice and preparation will help you relax and be ready to ace that phone call! It’s not as nerve-racking as you think, just follow my suggestions.

Good luck with the job hunt! 😉

Evy