The growing trend of phone interviews during COVID-19

by Palak Jain Content writer

Tring tring….. your recruiter this side!!!
Your resume is astral, your application was immaculate, you’ve caught a Potential Recruiter’s attention and now they want to get to know you better.

Gone is the time when the candidates had to wait for hours in the offices to clear the levels of interviews. In the current scenario of the gradually active digital world, many introductory and some final interviews are being held in an extensive array of mediums involving on the phone interviews. It has eased down the recruiting process for both the employer and the candidate as well.

Nothing can match up an interview for your dream job where you can dawdle around in your pajamas, possibly even surf the internet at the same time or even updating your status to “Slaying my interview in my favorite Scooby-Doo jammies!” Buh…..Wait! That doesn’t imply that you shouldn’t consider the Phone Interview as seriously as any other customary interview.

Just because it is not a physical interview with a prospective employer it nowhere denotes that you toss all our hard-learned knowledge about interview procedures out of the window. The tedious task of standing out to a prospective employer remains the same or even harder as all you can impress your prospective employer is with your confident voice and facial expressions. Body language is nullified here!

Why phone interviews are prevailing?
• In order to have a quick assessment of the candidate: This is especially common in bulk recruitments and among big firms. Phone interviews reduce the time and resources needed to bring the candidate in for a personal interview they will prefer to have a preview of whether the candidate fits in the desired designation on a general basis or not.

• Candidate can give an interview if he/she is not in town: Definitely, the candidate could not grab the job in their first point of real contact with the company but most certainly he/she should not lose it without an initial try!

• The interview should not delay at any cost: As the entire network provides a roaming facility, the interview can be conducted from any part of the world without any inconvenience.

• Lessens the burden of HR managers: Phone interviews make the screening of the candidate much easier narrowing the pool of candidates that should be selected for the next round.

But before we plunge into the tips lets go through what to expect from a phone interview before you pick up that call!

• Generally one round of interview with single interviewer only (unless you are undeniably impressive that the interview lines up another round of interview that same day!)Typical job interview questions
• No “next interview” assurances
• The motive of the interviewer is to screen the candidates so be prepared that the interviewer might “try to quash you.”
• You may encounter capricious “interviewer styles” as in casual or formal.
• General questions about your personal life
• Administration questions such as availability, travel preferences, etc.
• The interviewer expects focus – no interruptions!
• Prospective salary expectation confab
• Last but not least in spite of no positive sign from the other side, you must strive on.

Well! Now how do you concoct for this advancing new frontier of candidate screening? Fortunately, practically all of the generic rules from in-person interviews quite apply, so the essential prep work is fundamentally the same but here are some guidelines exclusively to take in consideration on phone interviews than can be highly assisting:

• Firstly, phone interviews are not a joke, take them as seriously as the conventional interview.
• Groom yourself before the interview.
• A smiling face is always a treat to talk to- keep your charm alive.
• Show the interviewer that you are the right choice for this position in a confident way.
• A “cheat sheet” is always helpful.
• No interruptions- focus as you may loose on some important info that may sound unprofessional.
• Keep your answers concise but make sure you are putting through the required information.
• Dig in important info about the company pre-hand.
• Stay calm and be a good listener and don’t try to control the dialogue.
• Be prepared with the generic phone interview questions pre-hand.
• Do not rush in time.
• Don’t be over-confident.
• Don’t forget to send across a thank you email.
• HANDOUT- if possible, direct them to your personal website.

After the interview is over make sure to jot down the questions that were asked and any other additional notes you need in the follow-up interviews.

Just adapt the above attributes for a win-win interview. We hope that you make it through!!!