After working hard on your job application, you’ve been selected to move onto the next step: a phone interview. While an interview in person has the added stress of what to wear, what to bring and that first face-to-face impression, a phone interview is an opportunity to get your voice and opinions out from the ease of your home. This is also extremely convenient for college students who might be interviewing for positions at home or far away from campus since you won’t have to travel for the interview. While you won’t have to worry about what to wear, you still have all the worries of an interview. Here are my tips to rock your next phone interview:
- Have your research in front of you
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Before any interview, you should research the company and know talking points and examples from their website or social media. Having a phone interview allows you to keep these resources open on a laptop nearby so you can seamlessly refer to the company’s mission statement or media posts.
- Have your resume in front of you
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Along with having research about the company, have your resume or LinkedIn account pulled up so you don’t forget anything important about yourself. This is extremely helpful with the standard “tell us about yourself” question because all of your information will be written out right in front of you.
- Find a quiet place
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This is key to your phone interview. Make sure that you can find a place that will be quiet during the time of your interview. This might be in your dorm or apartment, or you’ll want to reserve a room in the library.
- Have water ready
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Remember, this is an interview and you will be talking a lot. Make sure you have water nearby that you can easily access and drink if needed. This means making sure a water bottle has the lid off or you have a glass of water so you don’t have to try and open anything during the interview.
- Take notes
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Similar to any interview, have paper and pen nearby to take any important notes down. While they won’t see you doing this like in a normal interview, this will ultimately benefit you with any further information you may need or for a second interview.
- Have questions ready
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Write out any questions you may have before the interview starts. Doing this will help you know exactly what you had in mind before the interview started. It would also be helpful to write down additional questions you may have throughout the interview to ask at the end.
I hope these tips were able to help you with your next phone interview. Good luck!