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Phone Interviewing 101

September 30, 2012 By Michele Woodward 1 Comment

Look at you. You figured out LinkedIn and spruced up your profile. You also spiffed up your resume. You superstar – you’re on a roll!

So let’s talk interviews.

How about the dreaded Phone Screening Interview first? Employers use the Phone Screening Interview as a cost-saver – and often outsource the screening, so the person you’re talking with might not be someone you’ll be working with or for, and that person may not even know too much about the job. What the screener is looking for though, is:

1. Do you follow the rules?

2. Are you well spoken?

3. Can you think on your feet?

4. Are you prepared for the job?

Following rules? Yep, a big potential red flag, so follow the rules for your interview. If you are to call the person at 1pm ET, call at 1pm ET. Not 1:07pm. Not Pacific Time. This simple test demonstrates that you can follow directions. I know, for some of you, that feels trivial and a stupid reason to be judged in an interview, but – hey – them’s the rules. Organizations have learned that screening this way delivers employees with integrity, and good work ethic. So be on time.

Well spoken? Do you use a lot of, well, uh, y’know, speaking tics? Do you swear? Do you sound bored, and slightly jaded? Kinda like you can’t be bothered? Unenthusiastic? Or are you someone who speaks well and could represent the organization well in one-on-one contacts with customers and clients?

Thinking on your feet – did you know there is a interviewing tactic which attempts to get at your behavior? So a line of questioning might be thrown at you to test your drive, your motivation, your innate preferences. If you are expecting questions about job skills, this approach can throw you. Be prepared to be agile, and listen carefully to the question that’s being asked. And answer it well. A great resource for this is the book Interview Like A Top MBA by Shel Leanne.

Finally, they want to know if you are prepared to do the work, so you will need to speak to the job description and clearly lay out where you align with the job. What you’re shooting for, of course, is to be such a great candidate that you get called in for an in-person interview.

But phone interviews can be tricky. Especially for those of us who are particularly good at reading people, and get a lot of information from body language and inflection. So what do you do to make a phone interview really work?

First, do the interview in a place other than your office desk. Why? Well, you sit there every day, don’t you? Doing mindless, boring tasks, and taking call after call after call. You may not realize it, but your desk energy is probably pretty bleah. And if you have the habit of talking on the phone while watching CNN livestream and playing Spider Solitaire (hey, I know how you roll), then you might do the phone interview with the same energy and distractions. So get up and move somewhere.

Second, I often suggest people do the phone interview standing (because it shifts your energy), and in front of a mirror if possible.

A mirror serves as a proxy for the interviewer – if you look at your face and you are scowling, then it’s likely that your phone voice and energy is transmitting that scowl. So smile, just like you would if you were face to face. Use your hands. Be animated.

Did you know that only 7% of why someone likes you is because of what you say? According to the research of Dr. Albert Mehrabian, we respond well to another person’s tone of voice (38%), but it’s facial expression and body language that persuades us most (55%).

In a phone interview, then, it’s vital for you to make sure your tone of voice and body language (which can only be felt, not seen) are firing on all cylinders. That’s why I suggest the mirror. See?

Have note cards in front of you with key points you want to make, and always thank the interviewer for his or her time. Ask what the going-forward process is like, and express your interest in the position. Always. [Unless the job’s a dud – in that case, be gracious because you never know what job that recruiter may be filling in the future.]

Finally, write your thank you note. Email is fine, and a handwritten note is terrific. Whichever you choose – or both – make sure they go out in the first 24 hours after your interview, and always offer to provide more information or answer further questions.

And now, my Interview Follow-Up Rule Of Three.

Write your note within 24 hours. That’s your first post-interview contact. Wait a week. If you have not heard anything from the interviewer, write another email or place a phone call inquiring about the process. This is your second post-interview contact. Wait another week. If you haven’t heard anything at all, send one more email. And then let it go.

HR departments around the world are inundated with potential employees. Hounding someone (or semi-stalking) does not engender happiness or warm fuzzy feelings. Contact the person three times, then let it go. It always seems that once you let it go, voila! – the phone rings, and you are in the mix for the next round of interviews.

Next week: How to Ace In-Person Interviews.

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Career Coaching, Getting Unstuck, Managing Change, Uncategorized Tagged With: career strategy, how to do phone interviews, interview, job interview, recruiter, resume, screener

Working? Looking? What You Need Right Now

September 16, 2012 By Michele Woodward 5 Comments

 

Last week a friend told me about a job she’s filling and asked if I had any candidates to recommend. It’s a senior job that will pay in the good six-figures, with budget and people authority. It’s with an organization with a mission, and it’s often in the news.

Immediately, I thought of a perfect candidate and told my friend that I’d send over the candidate’s LinkedIn profile so she could get a sense of the person and see if there appeared to be a match.

Now, wait a minute. I didn’t say I’d send over a resume, did I? No, I said I’d send a LinkedIn profile. Because contacting the candidate and getting her resume might take days. Maybe even a week if her resume isn’t current and updated. LinkedIn is quick, and quiet.

This is the new way of the world.

But here’s what happened when I went to LinkedIn and searched for the candidate I wanted to recommend:

  • She had two profiles listed under her name – one was clearly started and abandoned because it had zero information
  • The second profile had one job listed (the one she had the job before last) and no contact info

So, obviously, I couldn’t quietly send my friend anything that would allow her to determine whether to take my candidate to the next level.

Some of you are no doubt wondering about this.

Wondering what the big deal is with LinkedIn. Is it the same as Facebook? Or Twitter? Some of you feel overwhelmed just reading the words “Facebook” and “Twitter”, and adding “LinkedIn” to the conversation makes you a little sweaty and slightly nauseous.

OK. But here’s the deal. LinkedIn has emerged as the single most important thing you can do to support your career.

Back in 2008 more than the stock market and housing prices shifted – work also changed, dramatically. Today, anyone can be fired at any time. Organizations – businesses, non-profits, governments both state and local – cut back and shed employees. To be truly successful right now all of us need to be in permanent job search mode.

And LinkedIn gives you a place to effectively showcase your resume, skills, capabilities and network in a way that’s totally appreciated and understood by the community.

Because everyone else on LinkedIn is doing the same thing.

Now, some people tell me that they don’t want to have a LinkedIn profile because then everyone in the office will know they are “looking” and that would be … bad.

[Of course, if you work in such a punitive office then you really, really need a great LinkedIn presence. Just sayin’.]

But your boss can relax. Tons of opportunities come via LinkedIn – not just new jobs. With the specialized groups on the network, you might learn about conferences or workshops you might not otherwise have heard about. You might get asked to speak on a panel, or write an article which raises the profile of the organization. You might make alliances that generate business for your employer.

Lots of good stuff.

But none of it happens if you have an incomplete or rudimentary profile.

Here’s your task: Get on there, and paste in your bio or write one up. List your professional work history, and note any certifications you have. List your colleges. Get a few people to write recommendations for you. Write a few for other people. Have a good picture of yourself taken (remind me to tell you the story of the guy whose LinkedIn photo was of him with a bucket hat and a beer – he changed his picture to something more professional and spruced up his bio… and was hired within a week. Again, just sayin’.).

And connect with people.

Upload your contacts – LinkedIn doesn’t save the data, so it’s OK – and send requests to people you know and have worked with in the past. Accept requests from people you know and meet at professional networking events. Work toward having around 100 connections at the minimum, because when people search you they will often look to see who you know in common. It’s a good way to create rapport and connection. And to demonstrate your influence.

Someone is reading this right now and saying, “I don’t have any influence and the whole thing feels like an invasion of privacy. I don’t want anyone searching me!”

And I feel you, pal. You’re probably still mourning the loss of the buggy whip manufacturing industry, too.

Times have changed. The way of doing business has changed, too. A recruiter recently told me that if a candidate has no LinkedIn profile, then he or she simply does not exist. Because LinkedIn is a vital tool for people who are trying to fill jobs.

Tell you what – let’s make it easy for you. Just put up your profile and get those 100 connections. Then you can stop, and do nothing more.

Nothing, but watch the opportunity open up. Open up really wide.

[my LinkedIn profile: Michele Woodward]

 

Filed Under: Books, Career Coaching, Managing Change, Uncategorized Tagged With: career strategy, Finding a new job, job search, LinkedIn, recruiter

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