Companies Use Phone Screening
<strong>New York — Jan. 30</strong><br />To handle the increased numbers of candidates who are looking for positions, companies are increasingly using phone interviews to decide who they will bring in for an in-house meeting said Robert Graber, founder of WallStJobs.com. “Phone screening makes it easier for firms to reduce the number of face-to-face interviews, thereby speeding their employment cycle. That is why it is more important than ever to fine tune your phone skills.”<br /><br />Graber offered some suggestions to successfully make this increasingly common first cut: “Listen to yourself on calls. Are you enunciating well? Do you say ‘like’ or ‘you know’ as filler in your conversation? Would you hire yourself based on your speech pattern?”<br /><br />In preparation for a phone interview, Graber advises the following:<br /><br /><ul><li>Don’t use a cell phone.</li><li>Pull up the company Web site on your computer in advance of the call.</li><li>Never put the caller on hold. Defeat call-waiting. Mute the ringer.</li><li>Keep your resume in reach.</li><li>Write down the names of those on the call as soon as you hear them (use a pad and pencil to avoid key-taps, which can be distracting and might be interpreted as a lack of attention).</li><li>Listen to questions; don’t interrupt. Avoid cliché expressions such as, “to make a long story short.”</li><li>If you think you are talking too much, you probably are.</li><li>When ending, ask what the next step is and what the time frame might be.</li><li>Thank everyone by name.</li></ul><br />“With text messaging becoming so popular, it is easy for anyone to get sloppy about their verbal conversation skills,” Graber said. “But with phone screening becoming so important, it pays to practice your telephone presentation and prepare adequately for this ‘faceless’ first interview.”<br />
