Telephone Interview Skills
Looking for a job ? Chances are that you will be interviewed on the telephone! Never given telephone interviews? Don’t panic, given below are some tips that are sure to help you.
There are many aspects you need to know about telephone interviews. Let us begin with the elementary ones first.
Clarity of speech.
Are you aware of your vocal patterns? Do people clearly understand what you say? First hone your speaking skills, enunciate your words so that you speak very clearly. Try this following exercise:
Put a pencil between your teeth and start talking out loud. Speak the answers that you would normally give during an interview. Difficult, isn't it? If you are doing this right, you will notice that you are forming your words carefully, speaking more slowly, and consciously enunciating every word.
Now remove the pencil and speak with that same level of awareness. It will be a pleasure to be able to speak without any obstacles in your way, however, keep speaking as though the pencil were still there. Perform this simple exercise before your next telephone interview and you will be speaking more clearly.
One of the best ways to improve your telephone skills is to conduct a mock interview over the phone. Ask a friend/relative to call you and ask you typical interview questions. Keep a tape recorder with a microphone in recording mode running during the duration of your interview.
After you finish the mock interview playback the tape and analyse your performance. Are there any "uhhs", "aahs" or "errs" in your speech? Sometimes we tend to use vernacular words such as "Accha" or "ha" or "nahi". Work towards eliminating these words from your vocabulary. "Words like "frankly", "actually", "honestly" which creep in our vocabulary should also be eliminated.
Improve your listening skills.
Listen carefully to understand what the interviewer is saying. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the accent and it is awkward to request the interviewer to repeat the question. Get fimiliar with foreign accents. Watch some foreign movies and pay special attention to the language and accent. Try and understand every word of what is being said. Special language learning tapes are also available, TOEFL tapes are a common example of these. Get these tapes, listen to them and practice answering questions which are asked at the end of the tape. All this should improve your listening skills. Remember, if you must, ask the interviewer to repeat the question, but asking too often would create a bad impression and also waste time.
There are many aspects you need to know about telephone interviews. Let us begin with the elementary ones first.
Clarity of speech.
Are you aware of your vocal patterns? Do people clearly understand what you say? First hone your speaking skills, enunciate your words so that you speak very clearly. Try this following exercise:
Put a pencil between your teeth and start talking out loud. Speak the answers that you would normally give during an interview. Difficult, isn't it? If you are doing this right, you will notice that you are forming your words carefully, speaking more slowly, and consciously enunciating every word.
Now remove the pencil and speak with that same level of awareness. It will be a pleasure to be able to speak without any obstacles in your way, however, keep speaking as though the pencil were still there. Perform this simple exercise before your next telephone interview and you will be speaking more clearly.
One of the best ways to improve your telephone skills is to conduct a mock interview over the phone. Ask a friend/relative to call you and ask you typical interview questions. Keep a tape recorder with a microphone in recording mode running during the duration of your interview.
After you finish the mock interview playback the tape and analyse your performance. Are there any "uhhs", "aahs" or "errs" in your speech? Sometimes we tend to use vernacular words such as "Accha" or "ha" or "nahi". Work towards eliminating these words from your vocabulary. "Words like "frankly", "actually", "honestly" which creep in our vocabulary should also be eliminated.
Improve your listening skills.
Listen carefully to understand what the interviewer is saying. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the accent and it is awkward to request the interviewer to repeat the question. Get fimiliar with foreign accents. Watch some foreign movies and pay special attention to the language and accent. Try and understand every word of what is being said. Special language learning tapes are also available, TOEFL tapes are a common example of these. Get these tapes, listen to them and practice answering questions which are asked at the end of the tape. All this should improve your listening skills. Remember, if you must, ask the interviewer to repeat the question, but asking too often would create a bad impression and also waste time.
Practice these two simple things and you will drastically improve your telephone interviewing performance. Not only will you be speaking more clearly and professionally but you will also find that your everyday speech will improve and be much more effective. Who knows, you might even get that job a little faster
Before the Call
Make sure your resume gives correct and up to date contact info and the best time and method to contact you.
· Use a quiet, private room with a telephone in good working condition.
· Make sure you are in a place where you can read notes, take notes, and concentrate.
· When job-hunting don't use a silly or overly long greeting on your voicemail.
· Ensure that your household understands the importance of phone messages during your job search.
· Keep track of the jobs you apply to. You may be applying to dozens and dozens of jobs but it will hurt your chances and be very embarrassing if you can't remember a thing about the company or job when an employer calls you.
· Have a friend call you to do a mock phone interview so you can practice being interviewed over the phone. Let them ask you typical interview questions and then answer them. Get feedback on your voice quality and speech, or better yet, record the entire session on tape so that you can listen to it afterwards.
· Have an outline in front of you to remind yourself of key points to cover with the interviewer. For example, think about typical questions an interviewer might ask and note examples you will want to use to answer them. You don't want your responses to sound scripted, but you don't want to hesitate, or handle questions clumsily either.
· Have your resume and a list of accomplishments for each of your positions in front of you so you can remember highlights of your experience.
· Research the company, their products, their industry, and other pertinent information.
· Prepare questions to ask the employer.
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