Art of phone interviews

Q. I’ve heard that some employers conduct telephone interviews before deciding which job applicants they will meet in person.

Why do they do this? How can I prepare for a telephone interview?

I’ve applied for several jobs. I’m worried that an employer might call at an awkward time and I’ll stumble over my responses to whatever questions are asked.

A. Telephone interviews are an inexpensive method for reducing the size of an applicant pool. They save money and they save time.

Some telephone interviews are brief. By asking just a few questions an employer can determine whether an applicant has skills and experience worth pursuing.

Others are lengthy and thorough. This is most likely to occur if the applicant pool is small.

You don’t need to fear being caught off guard. Most interviewers will contact you in advance to arrange for an interview time that is mutually convenient. If an interviewer does call, expecting to interview you immediately, and it is a bad time for you, say so and suggest an alternate time.

Paul C. Green, author of “Get Hired! Winning Strategies to Ace The Interview” (SkilFast Inc., 2006), offers this advice for preparing for a telephone interview:

• Organize your household so you can control who answers your phone.

• Breathe deeply before you pick up the phone. Excitement or running to the phone can make you short-winded.

• Keep your résumé and copies of all correspondence near the telephone so you can refer quickly to information you sent the employer.

• Keep a crib sheet handy to help you remember all the wonderful answers you might forget in a regular interview. Don’t read them out loud. Just use them to jog your memory, then talk as though you were looking the interviewer in the eye.

Sometimes a telephone interview will include behavioral interview questions designed to assess how you would handle typical or hypothetical situations on a job.

The interviewer might ask, “What would you do if a customer became angry and demanded that you take an action you knew was against policy?”

The interviewer would be listening not only for what you would do in that type of situation, but also for your comfort level in handling it.

Responding to behavioral questions requires more preparation than answering questions about your work experience and education. Green developed a useful strategy he calls SHARE, in which you would describe the Situation, the Hindrances, the Action taken, the Results gained and an Evaluation of your performance.

If you are asked to describe how you handled an experience you’ve never had, inform the interviewer. If you can think of a similar situation you handled well, ask if you can describe it instead.

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