Hey guys welcome back today I want to talk about phone interviews in case
you're preparing for an interview then first of all congratulations because
this means that you've been selected out of the pool of candidates and now you're
off to the next round and you're one step closer to getting that job getting
an interview itself is a big deal when you're doing a face-to-face interview at
least you can look at the interviewer and you can see how the person reacts
but if you're doing a phone interview then all you can rely on is your voice
or their voice and unless you're a pretty good talker it can be quite
daunting so if you're someone like me who prefers face-to-face interaction
rather than talking on the phone then phone interview can make you quite
uneasy just in case you never had a phone interview before and this is your
first one then I want to tell you upfront that actually it's not that bad
and in this video I want to help you to give you tips about things that you can
do that can put you more at ease and make you feel more comfortable actually
last year I had two phone interviews that in the end led to a job offer which
I declined for reasons that I don't want to go into right now at the moment but
my takeaway was that phone interviews can be pretty good and they do have some
advantages compared to face-to-face interviews which I will go into later
now I want to share with you five things things that you can do that really make
a difference that help you nail the interview and increase the chances of
getting the job and in the end I also want to share with you one bonus tip
about a thing that you should not do that you should avoid at all costs and
that can make a really bad impression tip number one treat it like any other
interview don't take it lightly or more casual than a face-to-face interview and
that means paying attention to all the basic things such as being on time doing
your research about the company and being prepared for the common ask
interview questions and in fact I would tell you to prepare even more for a
phone interview than you would for a face-to-face interview
the reason is this in a face-to-face interview if the interviewer asks you a
question that you have to think about that you cannot immediately answer then
you can just take a beat and think about it and the interviewer will look at you
and see that you are just taking a moment to think about it like this for
example the interviewer asks you so if you are not accepted for this position
would you be open to consider position a B or C and you could just do this and
then answer and it wouldn't be awkward because the interviewer would look at
you and see that you are giving it a Sode and then answering the question but
what about if you're doing a phone interview and the interviewer asks you
the same question like if you didn't get this position would you be open to
position ABC pregnant pause and that's all that the interviewer can hear and
that could be quite awkward and make the interview not as smooth and that is why
when you're having a phone interview you should prepare your answers to the
common ask questions very well and have a rough idea about what you would answer
to each question tip number two get dressed for the phone interview and I
know this might sound strange but in fact what you wear will affect how you
carry yourself and how you speak if you are working anyway on the day when you
are having your phone interview then this is not so much of a problem because
it's likely that you will already be dressed up or wearing something proper
but how about if you do the interview at home and let's say the interview is in
the early morning and you're still in your pajamas then you might just be
tempted to just stay in your pajamas while doing the interview but I would
strongly advise against it because it is likely to affect the way you speak and
carry yourself you're likely to be much more slouchy and feeling lazy unless
you're a very good actor have you ever put on a business suit and instantly
felt more confident this is the same it doesn't have to be a suit and a tie just
put on something that makes you feel more confident more professional and
more put together tip number three make use of notes the advantage of having a
phone interview is that the interviewer cannot see you so
instead of having to look at the interviewer you can look at your notes
or at your laptop so this way you can make sure that you don't forget to
mention or ask important things just one note of caution though don't write out
lengthy answers to questions that you think might come up because what is
likely to happen then is that you will just read off your answer and it will
come across as very rehearsed and it does not make a good impression and
believe me the interviewer will notice this so just use your notes to make
bullet points to note down things and questions that you are afraid of perhaps
forgetting but that are really important a bullet point could for example be to
ask when do the health benefits kick in or what is the next step in the hiring
process before I continue I want to ask you have these tips been useful to you
so far please let me know in the comments I'll also be sharing more
videos in future related to how you can make progress and sort out important
things related to work and life so if you don't want to miss out in any of
these videos you might want to go and hit the subscribe button and also hit
the notification bell I would really appreciate that this next tip helped me
to feel more at ease tip number four is prepare the location if you are having
the phone interview at home and you're living all by yourself then it is not
much of a problem but how about if you live in a house together with other
people then it's a good idea to tell them in advance that you will be having
a phone interview at this and this time so they can help you out by keeping the
noise down and not interrupting you but how about if you have to do your phone
interview outside of your home then that can be a bit tricky if you've ever had
to take a phone call on a crowded bus then you know exactly what I need I
actually did my phone interview outside in a quiet Park on that day I was
actually inside of a quiet campus building and I was preparing for my
phone interview but then I looked outside and I saw that it was such nice
weather and it looked so sunny outside so I decided in the end to go outside
and sit on a bench in a park and do my interview there it was rather quiet and
not so many people were passing by so it was the perfect spot and it
put me at ease and put me in a good mood so when the interviewer asked me how I
was doing I could actually genuinely say that yeah I'm doing great I'm sitting
out here in the park enjoying the Sun I'm having a great day
tip five smile and walk around I know this sounds silly but smiling and
walking around will indeed turn you into a different person
when we talk to someone over the phone then sometimes it's quite difficult to
tell what their personality is because all that we can hear is their voice so
if you're sitting down and you're like glued to your phone and of course you're
feeling a bit anxious then you might come across to the interviewer as being
of the tense and not flexible when you're being interviewed the interviewer
is not just assessing your skill your capabilities and experience but to some
extent they also want to know what kind of personality you have so when you do
your phone interview while smiling and walking around then you will likely come
across as more open and more relaxed so let's look at this the interviewer asked
hi how are you doing hi I'm doing great and how are you you might try to be
friendly but it can come across differently hi how are you doing hi I'm
doing great and how are you see it makes a totally different impact try to listen
again to this recording without looking at the screen and then you'll know what
I mean let's go over to the bonus tip right now there is one thing that you
should avoid at all costs and that is giving yes or no answers there will be
time during the interview where the interviewer asks you a question that you
would normally just easily answer with yes and no but never just answer yes or
no because that means that you've wasted an opportunity every question that the
interviewer asks you is an opportunity to elaborate more about your skills and
your capabilities and why you are the best person to fill this position at
their company so let's say for example the interviewer asked you this question
are you proficient in Excel and granted this is sometimes a difficult question
to answer because you are not really sure what they mean by position and you
might not always be 100 and sure about your own skills so let's
say that it's saying that you might be proficient but maybe you're not quite at
that level yet regardless of whether you answer yes or no the important thing is
that you put it into context so for example you can say yes I am proficient
except for macros I am able to do basic macros but I am not as advanced in that
so that will put your answer which is yes in two contexts the same thing if
you answer no if you just say no then the interviewer will have no idea at
what level you are at Excel so if you say no you should definitely elaborate
further for example you say no but I am above-average
at my Excel skills compared to my peers or no I'm not proficient but I think
that I am at the 80% percentiles when it comes to my Excel skills so once again
never just answer yes or no because every question is an opportunity to win
over the interviewer so those were the five tips how you can nail a phone
interview and now before you sign off I want to ask you a question
do you prefer phone interviews or face-to-face interviews and do you think
there are any advantages to phone interviews or maybe any other tips that
I haven't mentioned yet I'm really curious to know so if you have any
thoughts please share them in the comments below if this video was useful
to you and at the moment you're working extremely hard on your career then why
not head over to my channel and check out my other videos I have a dedicated
playlist on how you can progress in your career and also how you can get ahead on
important things in your life also don't forget to subscribe and hit the
notification bell thank you so much for watching and I hope to see you again
next time