Many a time as a candidate you must have got calls from a recruitment agency offering you jobs. If you give consent for application, then, at first, they take telephonic interviews for first one or two rounds, before they schedule a face-to-face round of interview. This has become a standard recruitment and selection process in many companies.

Here are 5 important tips to help you crack a telephonic job interview easily.  We are sharing this blog, because, as a recruitment agency, we have often noticed, candidates don’t take telephonic interviews seriously.

Or at times, we have found many candidates are unaware of telephonic interview etiquettes. This results in rejection of many worthy candidates, otherwise whose profiles are worthy of perfect job fit for those vacancies.

In a world where jobs are no longer restricted by geographical boundaries, more and more candidates are opting to migrate to different countries or states for better jobs. For various reasons now, the telephonic job interviews are used for the preliminary round of screenings.

Part of the reason is now almost every company sources candidates across a vast geographic area or they operate overseas, or else the number of applicants is huge in many cases. Also, for niche profiles and for headhunting candidates globally, the telephonic job interview is the first point of contact.

So telephonic screening is here to stay. And if you are looking to grab a good vacancy you must excel the ropes of acing telephonic job interviews.

Here are 5 important tips to help you crack a telephonic job interview easily:

1. Take the Interview Seriously and keep your Commitment:

Many a time we have observed that candidates don’t keep their commitment. We understand as a candidate you get several calls a day, so at times it gets very irritating when you get interrupted in midst of your job. But you should not commit any false commitment and avoid the telephonic interview with any false pretext. It only damages your reputation and credibility at the end.

So, be upfront and tell the truth. If you do not wish to get disturbed, or you don’t want to apply for the job, or you are not comfortable with the salary or preconditions of the job – tell the recruiter openly.

If you have any doubt in the mind about the offer, take time and schedule a telephonic interview at your convenient time and clear all your doubts from the recruiter before you take a final decision about your application.

2. If the Environment is not Suitable, Schedule your Interview:

While taking the call, ensure you are in an area where you can speak without interruption. Use a handsfree for mobile if possible. If you get any call in a crowded or noisy place, look for a quiet spot without distractions or noises. If you’re at home, turn off the TV or music system, and the call-waiting facility on your mobile.

And if the place is not suitable for telephonic interviews, schedule your interview for a different time. But make sure you schedule the interview the same day or the most the next day early working hours, as every recruiter or hiring officer have a target and they don’t wait for long if they have too many applicants.

This is the most important of the 5 tips to help you crack a telephonic job interview easily, as many interviewees fail to communicate properly in telephonic interviews.

3. Practise Your Communication Skills and English Speech Daily:

Many candidates with their best of intent fail to impress the interviewer in telephonic interviews. The reason is poor communication skills. You need to keep in mind practicing the communication skills daily is an absolute necessity which will be highly required when giving phone interviews. More so if English is not your mother tongue.

You need to practice the phone etiquettes which is a must when attending such calls. This will help you to prepare well to handle the interview and will also show your readiness for the same.

Here are few quick tips help you crack a telephonic job interview:

• When you answer the phone call, don’t greet with just a ‘hello’ rather say your name so that the person from the recruiter’s side knows it’s you.
• Reciprocate to the opposite party using salutations like Mr. or Miss and using their last name. Never use their first name unless they specify the same.
• You should be able to talk clearly over the phone, do not to eat or chew anything like a gum while talking.
• Keep a glass of water handy, talking for a long time can make your throat run dry.
• A smile can be sensed even over the phone, so keep smiling while talking over the phone as it shows a warm approach.
• Listen clearly and wait for the moment to get your chance to speak.
• Don’t stretch the topic. Be crisp, clear and to the point

Practice daily, what you would be saying while in the beginning of telephonic interviews in terms of greetings, introduction and how can you keep the conversation apt. Also, improvise on questions that you would want to ask. Please never ignore these tips, they will surely help you to crack a telephonic job interview easily.

Refrain from discussing topics such as salary, start date etc. since in most cases they may be people from recruiting agency or from human resources dept. So, answering these will not be their cup of tea.

4. Keep Your CV Handy:

Keep your CV ready before you begin the telephonic interview. An interviewer may ask you a specific question related to your resume. Having the CV handy will make it easy to refer when required.

If you cannot keep a paper CV, you may keep a soft copy in your smartphone and refer to it while talking in handsfree. Also, keep taking notes in any type of notes app like Google Keep if you need to jot down any important thing or points in the discussion.

Keeping notes is important as it will help you keep the discussion crisp. It prevents you to ask the same question twice to the hiring officer and keeps you on track if anyhow you get distracted.

5. Be Positive, Patient and Assertive:

This is not your last interview. So, don’t panic and get nervous, if you have missed a couple of shots before. Talking on the phone isn’t as easy as it seems while giving an interview; so, speak slowly and enunciate clearly, with calmness and composure.

Telephonic interviews in many ways can be stressful. Keep in mind that you need to maintain certain calmness in your tone. Being calm and relaxed can help you understand the recruiter’s points more diligently and you will be better geared to answer them as well.

It is very important that the recruiter feels a sense of positivity in you. You should have the ‘can do spirit’ and also show that you are open to challenges as well.

Take your time, before you answer your question. If you are unable to understand anything, you should always ask them to repeat. A clear well thought answer shows you are positive, patient and assertive. This will surely help you crack a telephonic job interview easily.

It is easy to fall into the trap of not taking a phone interview as seriously as a face-to-face interview. But remember, this is a process of elimination as well. It will be unfortunate if you were eliminated at this stage because you did not take the interview seriously enough.

Take a telephonic interview as seriously as a face-to-face interaction. These are the 5 important tips to help you crack a telephonic job interview easily. If you have any valuable tips which can help candidates crack a telephonic job interview easily, please leave your comments below. We do appreciate your suggestions and comments.

Sayak

Sayak takes care of both recruitments and assessment projects of The HR Monks team. He loves helping people finding their dream job.

He started his journey in career leaving the shores of Waiting for Godot and found The HR Monks a better place, where he can change the lives of people by helping them achieve their dreams.

He has been to quite a fewer place across India and loves to travel. He loves two books, in particular, one Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and the other The Shift by Dr. Wayne Dyer.