Phone Interview Advice
To Beat Your Competition

In a phone interview your words are more important than anything. Your success or failure depends only on what you have to say and how you say it.

Here's our phone interview advice and 11 Top Tips to help you ace your phone interview and get that job of your dreams.

Phone Interview Advice -- 11 Top Tips

• Have Confidence

  Confidence is key when it comes to telephone job interviews. The more convinced you are of your abilities, the more convincing you will sound and the more convinced your interviewer will be. Say everything as if you know it for sure, even if you don't. Conviction goes a long way.

• Be A Good Listener

  Good listening skills are important in any job interview. Many people fail to listen to the full interview question and make themselves look bad by answering incorrectly.

  For example, we often ask candidates to list 2 strengths and give examples for each. Some only hear the first bit of the question and begin thinking. They list the 2 strengths and then stop. We have to repeat the request for examples and this is not good. If your interviewer thinks you have poor listening skills you may not stand out in their mind as the best candidate -- As you read our phone interview advice, be mindful of giving the right impression to your interviewers.

• Think Before You Speak

  Put thought into your words before answering phone interview questions. If you do not think thoroughly, you may end up answering incorrectly or sounding uneducated. If you need a few seconds to mull over an interview question you have been asked, don't be afraid to take that time. If you do, just let your interviewer know that you need a moment to think.

  And as you read our phone interview advice, think about sample interview questions you might be asked and how you should answer them.

• Don't Panic

  If you can't think of an answer to a phone interview question, ask to come back to it at the end. This is much better and shows more confidence than saying nothing, stammering or giving a poor answer. Just say "I need a little more time to think about that one. Can I come back to it later?"

• Check Understanding

  Similarly if you don't understand an interview question, ask your interviewers to clarify it. The person who interviews you won't mind rephrasing the question.

• Expand Your Vocabulary

  When you are in any job interview you want to sound intelligent. Don't use simple language. Use descriptive words or persuasive language to describe your various employment roles and achievements.

  Here's an example. You might be asked to describe what you have done in your current role. You could say this:

  "In my current role I did A and B. Then I did C".

  Or you could say this instead:

  "In my current role I was asked to project lead a team to implement A. Following our success I volunteered to take on B and delivered the project before the deadline and under budget".

  Can you see the difference? In the first answer you sound like you're just following orders. In the second you're using language which has impact and you sound active in your own successes.

If this phone interview advice is useful to you please click here for the rest of our phone interview advice, including the next 5 Phone Interview Tips.

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