One of the parts of my job that I love the most is conducting phone interviews with candidates. This past week I've conducted more than 50 of these interviews, with other members of the staff team conducting at least 70 more. Since this experience is so fresh in my mind, it's a great time to share phone-interviewing etiquette advice.
Phone interviews are terrifying to some job seekers and absolutely painless to others. Regardless of your feelings about phone interviews, you can develop techniques and skills that will maximize your phone interview's impact on the hiring staff. Here are some phone interviewing tips to get you going:
Pre-contact It's important to prepare for a successful phone contact even as you are applying for positions. I recommend that the last paragraph of every application letter include contact information in the event the recruiter needs to contact you with questions or offer an interview. When providing this information, it's important to list the number(s) at which you can be reached, indicating whether or not it is acceptable to be contacted at your current position. Also include your email address if you check it often. Even if your letter is on a letterhead that includes contact information, it never hurts to repeat the information in the last paragraph.
In certain circumstances it may be important to give additional contact information. For example, a college student going on spring break during the contact interval after submitting a letter and resume might choose to include a sentence such as "From March 17 to March 29, I will be out of the state/out of the country on spring break. During that time I can be reached at this number/I will be unreachable/I will be unreachable by phone but plan to check my email daily." An applicant who cannot be contacted during work hours might include information such as "Although I prefer to receive messages at my home number, I check messages frequently throughout the day and can usually return calls during breaks." Finally, if you will soon be moving, include "until" dates with your phone, email and mailing information.
Next, think about your answering machine message. A trend observed by many recruiters is voicemails/answering machines that treat incoming callers to a snippet of music from the resident's favourite band of the moment. When I was a 20-something myself, I felt that my three-minute Depeche Mode greeting was an expression of my individuality and coolness; as a recruiter, I am mildly annoyed if the concert goes on too long before I can leave a message. It's important to decide what's right for you while at the same time creating a professional impression.
It is helpful if recruiters can be sure they've called the right number. For privacy and security issues, many people do not list their first names, last names, or telephone numbers on their answering-machine/voicemail greetings. My recommendation is usually to leave one of these identifiers in the message: "You've reached Amy, Cathy, and Mark. Please leave a message" or "You've reached the Sizemores. Please leave a message" or "You've reached 617-973-5235 . Please leave a message." Again, each job seeker must determine what is comfortable. Don't change your message if you feel uncomfortable about having this information on your outgoing greeting.
If you have roommates, housemates, a spouse or children, it's important to work out a system of message-taking. Twice this week, I have called a candidate only to be greeted by a toddler who told me, "Daddy's in the shower" before she hung up. If you anticipate a "season" of job searching, it might be a good idea to invest in individual voicemail boxes for each member of your household. You can also instruct them not to answer the phone unless they can carefully write down the entire message and remember to give it to you (this strategy works equally well for both preschoolers and roommates!).
After you mail your applications and while you are waiting for the phone to ring is a good time to create a mini-job log to have near the phone. My advice to job-searchers without photographic memory is to make a list of the companies at which they've applied and the titles of the positions applied for. Some people even list qualifications requested for each position. Thus, if you are called by hiring staff, you will have some idea of which job they're calling about. This week of phone interviewing has really sensitized our staff to this issue. Ideally, the interviewer would like to think his or her company is the only employer to which you've applied. But this hope dies quickly when you say something to the effect of "now what job is this again; I've applied for so many….?" At best, it makes you look disorganised and at worst as if you are sending out hundreds of resumes desperately. When You Miss the Contact If the hiring staff leaves a message for you, return the call as soon as you can. As you are returning the call, remember that the recruiter may have called 10 other people that day about the same or a different position. When you return the call, give your full first name and last name and indicate that you are returning the recruiter's call regarding the xxx position. If the message was left for you at 1 pm , and you didn't get it until you returned home at 7:30 , call and leave a voicemail then . In this circumstance, voicemail is your friend. Again, give your full first name, last name, specific position and your contact information for the next business day. Caution! Be prepared in case the recruiter is still there at 7:30 and wants to do a phone interview right then.
