Telephone interviews....

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

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Got a telephone interview for a job with axa insurance tommorow, anyone offer any tips for this? Any info on what sort of things they will ask? Or is it likely to just be a chat to assess my telephone manner etc?
 
have some water near by
have paper and a pen ready
be somewhere that you really will not be disturbed

remember that you cannot be seen, so you have to do the 'verbal nods' etc.
 
It'll more than likely be competancy based, so expect lots of 'what yould you do in x situation' and 'how would you deal with y' type questions.

I had about 6 or 7 for various jobs a few months ago and they always sucked far more than the actual 'propper' interviews afterwards.
 
I had one for a bank ages ago. They asked me something about interest and how much someone would get, like Arithmetic. This may be totally worthless, but whatever.
 
I've had a few in the last couple of weeks with a potential employer, I can't speak for all companies of course but it was very relaxed and just questions about what I do now, how I do them, what systems I have experience with etc. I haven't yet been asked one of those tricky questions that really make you sweat.

The advantage of phone interviews is that you can write very brief notes and bullet points that you think may be useful on a couple sheets of paper in front of you, but don't touch them, they don't want to hear you flipping or rustling sheets of paper. If you do get a bit stuck for an answer if you've got something prepared then you'll be more relaxed and come back with well thought out answer rather than going "uh....uh...."

Do some research on the company you're applying to, better still the department or position and make a few bullet points about what they do etc.
Have small list of your strengths and weaknesses.
Have an example of a situation where you overcame a problem.
Have an example of a project you have seen through to completion.
Put down some career aspirations, where you'd like to be in 2, 5, 10 years.
Why you are looking to change jobs.
Why you want to join this company.
Why you would be good for this position.
....and lots more, google common interview questions or something.

Common sense things really and the things that commonly come up in interviews, but do keep the points very brief just as a trigger for your memory, you don't want sound like you're reading something.

Also try to answer questions without waffling on too much and ending up completely off topic - I'm guilty of this :D

Good luck :)
 
My first and only telephone interview was very uneasy to me. It was a bit more formal than just a casual chat, but same questions you would expect. The only thing I can think of is that it's annoying not being able to see the reaction of the interviewer when you answer their question; you can't tell whether they seem satisfied or not with the answer.
 
Col_M said:
I've had a few in the last couple of weeks with a potential employer, I can't speak for all companies of course but it was very relaxed and just questions about what I do now, how I do them, what systems I have experience with etc. I haven't yet been asked one of those tricky questions that really make you sweat.

The advantage of phone interviews is that you can write very brief notes and bullet points that you think may be useful on a couple sheets of paper in front of you, but don't touch them, they don't want to hear you flipping or rustling sheets of paper. If you do get a bit stuck for an answer if you've got something prepared then you'll be more relaxed and come back with well thought out answer rather than going "uh....uh...."

Do some research on the company you're applying to, better still the department or position and make a few bullet points about what they do etc.
Have small list of your strengths and weaknesses.
Have an example of a situation where you overcame a problem.
Have an example of a project you have seen through to completion.
Put down some career aspirations, where you'd like to be in 2, 5, 10 years.
Why you are looking to change jobs.
Why you want to join this company.
Why you would be good for this position.
....and lots more, google common interview questions or something.

Common sense things really and the things that commonly come up in interviews, but do keep the points very brief just as a trigger for your memory, you don't want sound like you're reading something.

Also try to answer questions without waffling on too much and ending up completely off topic - I'm guilty of this :D

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, this has been very helpful. Gonna make a few notes now.
 
I really messed up my first phone interview and still passed it, then on my 2nd telephone interview for another job i thought i did a lot better but failed :(
 
Had a telephone interview when I was younger, after pulling all nighters I was in bed half sleep when my dad brought me the phone...I was like, what who urgh!

Obviously didnt get the job in the end...
 
I got a job through what you could call a 'telephone interview'. I spoke to the employer and she said she was happy to offer me a job as i sounded nice and the perfect person for the job. I guess i just sounded friendly.
 
i had one on a saturday after a night of heavy drinking.... the best tip i can give is not to let them know you have just woke up :P
 
Last edited:
CDj-Rossi said:
Well its only a 20 minute one so hopefully I wont get too stuck!
Click to expand...

My 20 minute one lasted 40...:p

Remember to sound cheerful and (as) competent, and answer the phone something like "good morning, this is ... speaking" in a ''cheerful' manner.

Also questions to think about are

"Why do you think WE should give you this job?"
And "Why do you want this job?" etc.

Also have a look here for possible questions http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviewquestionsanswers/a/interviewquest.htm

I'm sure there is also a good article on telephone interviews as well.

Remember it's not necessarily the answers to the questions they are looking for but also how you come across (especially as I assume your job will be a lot about talking on the phone) on the phone.:)
 
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