The interview on the phone

Before being accepted or rejected for a vacant position, applicants often face the entire recruitment process. Small companies usually invite candidates for an interview before deciding on a candidate; in larger companies, several personal interviews are not exactly uncommon.

Nowadays, applicants are also increasingly interviewed over the phone or cell phone before you are invited to a personal interview. This preliminary telephone interview primarily serves as a way of getting to know each other. You get an initial feel for the candidate and for his or her professional and personal qualifications, and the applicant can in turn learn something about the company and the job.

In addition, such a telephone call is a good and simple way to clarify the most important "hard facts", such as salary, notice period and place of work. In this way, recruiters can make a pre-selection of good candidates whose profile also fits the position. This saves costs and time and makes the entire recruitment process more efficient. After all, if at the end of a 2-hour interview you realize that the general conditions, such as availability, salary expectations or professional qualifications do not fit, everyone involved has invested a lot of time.

Have you been invited to a telephone interview and don't quite know what to expect? So that you can master your upcoming phone call well, we have listed a few tips for you here on what to pay particular attention to as an applicant.

The preparation

Good preparation is the key to success and therefore you should invest enough time. Just as you prepare for the personal interview, you should also prepare for the telephone interview. This includes research on the homepage about the company, the products and an intensive study of the current job advertisement. Giving your interviewer the feeling that you know a lot about the company and the job increases your chances of making a good impression. It is also important to find out in advance who the contact person for the position is or with whom you will have the telephone conversation. Since recruiters like to learn about your resume, it never hurts to summarize your background and emphasize the highlights. Last but not least, it always goes down well if you show interest. Therefore, it is advisable to think of two to three questions before the interview.

The conversation

The greeting at the beginning of the conversation should be friendly and professional. It is important to state the name of his counterpart and to give him the feeling that he is ready for the interview. In the next step, it is important to let the interviewer guide you, to always remain open and friendly, and to answer questions to the best of your knowledge.

In addition to professional experience and the above-mentioned key points such as place of work, willingness to commute, home office, workload and salary, many recruiters ask about the current professional situation and the motivation to change. You should be able to present these briefly and plausibly.

Once you have mastered the majority of the interview, another important point follows: the farewell. Here you should once again thank your counterpart for the time spent and leave a good impression by wishing him a good day in a friendly manner.

Convince without gestures and facial expressions

Since gestures and facial expressions are completely absent in a telephone interview, applicants must convince with content and voice. In this type of interview, the voice is given a much higher rating than in a personal job interview. It is advisable to always smile here, because your counterpart can "hear" this.

Choice of location and time of the interview

A telephone interview should take place in a quiet and undisturbed place. The car in the nearest parking lot is not necessarily the ideal place. Make sure you are in a quiet environment, preferably at home or in a private room. Turn off any distracting noises that could irritate and distract you. Also make sure you have a stable phone line or a good network if you are using a cell phone. If you have poor cell phone reception at home, the landline is the first choice.

In addition, it is important to select the appropriate time for a telephone interview. Make sure that the interview can take place without deadline pressure. Days off or early evening are best suited here. As a rule, telephone interviews last 15 to 20 minutes, but you should plan for half an hour to be on the safe side.

The most important at hand

Anyone who has a telephone interview should always have the most important things, such as the prepared notes, blank paper and something to write on, close at hand. Also, don't forget a glass to drink, because if you talk a lot, you need to drink something in between.