Interview Coach: Telephone Interview, Step 2

In the Get Interviews, Get Hired Now! interview success guide, being well prepared for the telephone interview is the second step in the process. If you’re prepared for the telephone interview, you’re on your way to a great on site interview with the employer. Depending on the employer, telephone interviewers might ask many of the questions you would be asked in an on site/in person interview.

Here are some telephone interview tips:

• Have your resume close by the phone. Use your resume as a point of reference.

• Highlight some of your greatest accomplishments and your strengths.

• If you are returning a call from a potential employer, be ready just in case s/he wants to do phone interview right away.

• Think about your answers to questions involving compensation and benefit expectations. Be aware that sometimes employers will use salary as a way to exclude candidates.

• Don’t fumble over your answers for leaving each position in which you worked. If this is a sticking point for you, practice beforehand.

Here are some other items you will want to address:

• Interviewers might want you to talk about relationships with your supervisors. The interviewer might ask you to describe what it was like to work with a particular supervisor or how you viewed your supervisor’s performance. Watch what you say as you don’t want to be looked upon as a complainer or someone ready to throw your boss under the bus!!

• Be ready to discuss under what circumstances you arrived and the challenges you inherited in each position.

• You might be asked about personal mistakes you made while in a position. Develop a strategy that emphasizes the positive.

• You will want to be able to address and answer questions your interviewer has about the job expectations, duties, challenges, and how you will be able to surpass expectations.

Of course there are many more tips and techniques (and I will include those in a series of several more posts) that you can use that will work to your benefit. You want to make sure that you are well prepared before your interview. Be sure to practice, practice, practice!

You might also be thinking about:

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