I am huge on non-verbal communication. I need my face and hands to convey what my mouth has trouble spitting out. I need to see others’ eyes and facial expressions for affirmation and approval. Needless to say, I hate phone interviews. They make my hands sweat. Tell you about myself in words?? How do I see myself in 5 years??I’d much rather express these answers in interpretive dance (insert not-so-graceful leap followed by crawling across floor a la modern dance).Honest.
I’ve heard other colleagues talk about their phone interview preparation. I haven’t shared mine before, but I offer you, my virtual comrades, a sneak peek into my pre-phone interview ritual:
1) Print: job description, my resume, and the cover letter that won the phone interview. Next, I go thru and circle the key skills that I think are my strengths or duties that I have experience in. This typically boosts my esteem that I am qualified for the job, allows me to mentally rehearse the answer to “why are you interested in this position?”, and to provide key buzz words, or at least have some intelligent words in front of me in case I get tongue-tied or experience a mental freeze-up.
2) Agency Research. I look at the employer’s mission, any new strategic planning, and the department which I am applying to. If I am particularly psyched about this employer or find something I think I could comment on, I might take notes.
3) Interviewer Research. I take 5 minutes to do some cyber research on who is interviewing me. Searching thru LinkedIn, Facebook, and Googling usually suffices. If I don’t know their full name I will search thru the employer’s website to find it. (I’m not a cyber-stalker, I promise!) Even if I don’t find any mutual connections or other goodies, learning that my interviewer is about my age, enjoys PBR, or has a mini dachshund in a birthday hat as their Facebook profile pic makes them much less intimating.
4) Clothes. If I’m at home, I change from pajamas. But, don’t necessarily put on interview clothes… a good fitting pair of jeans so that I feel awake works (my last phone interview was at 8:30AM, ugh). Even more important than changing clothes is the next step, which I never skip.
5) Lipstick. Yes, I know they can’t see me. But it makes me feel more confident and in control…even if I have bed head and am still wearing the shirt that I slept in.
Once the phone rings (and I correspondingly jump in my seat), I try to answer by the second ring and smile myself through the phone. Given all one has in phone interview is voice and words, I figure you got to make sure your voice is as pleasant and warm as possible, without being fake. I worry about sounding too excited – I know my voice goes high when I’m excited or nervous…and I don’t want to sound like a kid. And I don’t want to sound too bubbly or cutesy. But I want to convey my excitement at the opportunity and give them a feeling of me as person, and not just be another set of skills that gets blurred with other candidates. So, lots of smiles. My thinking is…If I make them feel good, they will feel good about me. Let’s hope it works.
No comments:
Post a Comment