“I have a telephone interview scheduled for later this week. What should I consider when preparing for it?”

More and more employers are conducting screening and even full interviews by phone or video.  Here are some thoughts specific to interviewing by phone to help guide you and prepare.

Be mindful that while you and the interviewer will be asking and responding to questions, you’ll both be interpreting, evaluating, assessing, and concluding, without benefit of the visual cues that clue you into a sense of how it’s going and how you’re doing.

With that in mind, create color and definition where there isn’t any, and with the only means you have: the energy you project through the words that you say.

Your goal is to project positive strength, enthusiasm, and optimism while sounding relaxed, friendly, and encouraging, as you listen, process, and articulate responses that are as smooth and succinct as they are informational. If you do all that you’ll have a successful telephone interview. That is, unless your dog knocks the phone out of your hand, your toddler bangs pans in your ear, and your teenager screams that she needs the phone because her boyfriend might be trying to call. In other words, telephone interviews can be a bear.

Prepare for the phone interview as you would a personal interview.

• Research the company’s mission, vision, products, locations, history, and culture.
• Be ready to discuss your qualifications as they match the job’s requirements (and clarify your understanding of those requirements).

Don’t forget your location – take care of the small stuff before it becomes the big stuff and you’ll be ready.

• Arrange a quiet, well-lit place to talk: make sure you have a comfortable chair and a table or other writing surface.
• Gather and arrange your needed materials and supplies: a copy of your resume, a calendar, paper, pencil, questions you want to ask, and points you want to make.
• Have any ad materials handy: If you’ve responded to a want ad, have the ad in plain view,  be familiar with the job’s requirements, as well as information you’ve taken from company’s web site.

Get validation and practice.

Rather than wonder how you sound, find out. Record yourself during a mock interview and rate your performance on your voice tone and expression as well as your responses. Next time you’re on the phone with friends, ask how you sound to them.  See if a friend will help you practice over the phone and give you some feedback on your responses. Here are some questions you can ask your friend to help you with:

• Do I speak in a monotone? Am I too quiet, too loud?
• Do I respond to your questions directly, do I take too long to get to my point?
• When I call you, am I clear about my intent, or do I beat around the bush?
• Do I talk too much, too little?
• Does my energy under-whelm or overwhelm you? Do I come across as positive and energetic, or negative and apathetic? “

Then take a deep breath. Exhale. And listen to the feedback. Ask for suggestions that will enable you to become a more effective communicator. Then practice what you’ve learned with friends, record yourself practicing, listen and practice some more.

How you sound communicates more about you than the words you use.

During the interview.

When the phone rings, confirm the name of the person calling, title, company he or she represents, and phone number. Be ready to get down to business without much small talk. Let the interviewer take the lead. She knows what she wants to accomplish and the time frame she has allocated for the conversation.

If you’re asked a question and you’re stumped, say something to let the interviewer know you’re still on the line (“that’s a good question and one I’ll want to think about before responding.”).

You’re not apt to be asked questions regarding compensation, and you shouldn’t broach the subject. If the interviewer does ask your salary requirements, indicate that you’d like to learn more about the position and the company; that you’d be interested in setting up a face-to-face appointment to see the facility and meet the individuals with whom you’d be working.

Speak in complete sentences so that the telephone screener has sufficient information to determine if you’re someone they want to interview. Yup, nope, hmmm, errr, uhhh, may fill gaps but aren’t inspiring word choices. And soda slurping, gum popping, food chomping, and cigarette puffing aren’t sounds an interviewer wants to hear.

As you conclude the conversation, keep the door open by indicating your continued interest in the job and desire to take the interview to the next level.

Post-interview.

After the interview, take a few moments to write down your reactions and thoughts.  Do this while the interview is fresh and your reactions spontaneous.  Make note of anything your should follow up on if you get to the next stage of the hiring process.  Make sure to list where you think your skills matched up with the interviewers questions and where you might have to make a stronger case for yourself.  Think if there are any “value adds” that you offer, for example, do you speak a second language or are you proficient with technology.

Take a moment to email a thank you note to your interviewer.  Don’t make it too long, but if you have a few points from the notes your made, use the opportunity to show that you understand the job and your ability to do it.