Many more employers are using phone screens, i.e. telephone interviews, prior to inviting you over for an office interview. Much of the preparation for a phone screen mirrors that of an in-person interview, but today I’d like to focus on when and where is the most appropriate for a phone screen to happen.

When:

• Morning is the best time for the phone screen since both parties will be in their high-energy portion of the day.
• Plan for a time when you and the interviewer are not under pressure to get something done (don’t accept a phone screen on a day when you’re expected to prepare for a major meeting later that day)
• If the initial schedule is unacceptable, don’t hesitate to ask for a different date (especially if you have a reason such as a business conflict). Both of you want to have the phone screen work out smoothly. If the interviewer doesn’t want to cooperate…this could be an area of concern!

Where:

• You as the job seeker want to be out of your current workplace (it’s not fair to use company time, space and equipment to search for another job – think of the message it sends to your potential employer!)
• You need to be in a quiet place with no distractions (noise, children, dogs, etc.). Home may be acceptable…for some of you inside your car or at the back of a shopping mall parking lot might work better.
• If you can use a good headset so that you will have your hands free to take notes and gesture and your neck won’t get stiff. You want to act as if the interviewer is in the room with you. If you can’t talk while standing, so much the better.
• Make sure you can easily take notes of what is being discussed, keywords, future tasks, expectations, names and contact info of the interviewer, etc.

Last, relax (a little), smile and enjoy the opportunity to meet someone new over the phone. The tone of your voice has five times the impact of the words you choose!

Well, my sister’s modified résumé (see 78% of Job Seekers Skip Staffing Firms) did get her successfully to the next step in the hiring process. Her recruiter called her and said they would like to interview her on the phone (which is what we call a “phone screen”). She sounded so thrilled on the phone when called to tell me. So I asked her if she had a chance to ask the recruiter any follow-up questions that might help her prepare for the phone screen, she said, “Eh, no, was I supposed to?” Frankly, I think the recruiter wasn’t providing her the best service possible, but anyway, here are a few things I suggested to my sister:

1) Call the recruiter and ask:

• Who is doing the phone screen (name, title, role in the hiring process)?
• What are the major concerns with phone screens for candidates in the past?
• The date, start time and scheduled end time of the call (my sister needs to set a time when she can get out of the office and go to a quiet place to take the call, take notes and focus).

2) My sister needs to prepare for the phone screen based on the recruiter’s feedback, just like an in-person job interview:

• Research the company and the interviewer by name on the Internet
• Review the list of key abilities/attributes/experiences and specific examples of how she matches those requirements
• Focus on potential concerns and develop the best answer. Practice giving it with conviction.
• Generate a list of questions for the interview that are job position or company related (current challenges, company culture, who she would report to, etc.)

3) Finally, she needs a closing statement written out and rehearsed that could set the stage positively for the next step altogether.

Though my sister didn’t get a whole lot of support from her recruiter, by having a recruiter, she’s given an intermediary whom she can get her pre-interview questions answered, which is a real advantage for her compared to candidates without the help of a recruiter.

CareerBuilder.com and the Inavero Institute for Service Research did a nationwide study of almost 19,000 job candidates. Only 22% indicated they would use a staffing or recruiting firm as one of those resources.

So if I have this right, 8 out of 10 people who are looking for their next career opportunity are not taking advantage of the help available gratis from the staffing industry. Whether they find the next position for you or not, access to their experience and advice on how to find the right position will maximize your chances of winning it! If you had access to expertise you didn’t have but really needed, and it didn’t cost you anything except time… why not take advantage of it?

So what should happen when a recruiter calls? Sure it’s flattering but the first thing to remember is that you are the recruiter’s client. The recruiter should have all the information you need to be successful.  

When the recruiter called my sister about the opportunity (see my previous blog post), she didn’t receive any information other than a brief description of the opportunity (job title, location, basic duties and responsibilities) and the recruiter’s request for a new résumé to be sent for the client. She called me to celebrate her good luck and asked me to review her résumé prior to sending it that evening. So I said “Okay, but what advice did the recruiter give you regarding the client’s needs so you could make sure your résumé is focused on key points and requirements?”  Her answer was “None… what should I do?”  I briefly gave her the following list of questions and asked her to call the recruiter back and get the answers before she would spend any time on updating her résumé:

• How long has the client/employer had the opening and where are they in the process?
• Has the recruiter worked and been successful with this client before? If so what job titles?
• When does the client have to have the position filled?
• What were the two-three critical requirements each in terms of experience, abilities and personality?
• What specifically disqualifies a candidate based on the client’s decisions so far?
• What is the next step in the process after they review the résumé?

Once my sister finds out how well the recruiter knows the client and the position requirement, she can then fashion her resume in better alignment with the client’s criteria. Asking about the “next step” gives her a view past the résumé delivery to the client and sets up a next call/contact between herself and the recruiter.

All the answers help her see whether the opportunity and the recruiter are real and her efforts will prove to be productive. I told her the real objective is to participate in the next step in the process!

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