The Phone Interview

[Prloko]

Ughh! I'm normally very articulate, and can communicate verbally with ease. Today I had a phone interview with a hiring panel for a Government Job. I felt so nervous, I don't really remember what I even said in the interview. They were taking notes as I was speaking and their silence was nerve racking. I'm like, hello? They responded they were writing.

I have 10 years experience leading teams, and when the leadership question came up, i brought up empowerment! What a cookie cutter answer.

Well, its one interview of hopefully many more.

[rebel100]

I treat every interview as a learning experience. Consider what you can do better and just put this one behind you. Tomorrow's another day full of new opportunities.

[ShotoJuku]

...What a cookie cutter answer...

I'm sure you used chocolate chips instead of cow chips!

[LaterBloomer]

Rebel's right. Think of it as a learning experience. There's an interview in my near future. Would I like the increase in pay with the promotion? Sure, but even if I don't get the job I think it will help make me less nervous with the next one. Also, we're frequently our own harshest critics. You may very well not have done as badly as you think that you did. Finally, if you don't get the job, maybe you can contact the hiring authority and ask for feedback.

Good luck!

[scorched]

Keep your chin up, we are all tougher on ourselves than others are.
Plus, the phone interviews are tough due to not seeing body language and facial expressions. That makes silence even more awkward.

Over the years I have become pretty good a them due to my current job required 8 phone interviews before I got a live one, the job before that required 10.
For me, they are just like doing a research paper, I have note cards or my tablet handy with a list of topics to hit and other pieces I was able to google.

Also a technique I use just after answering a question, is to ask "I know that sounded long winded but did I answer your question?" Or something like that. In your example, you could have countered your own statement of empowerment, by asking, "I know that was a very cookie cutter answer, but would you care for me to explain how I approach it differently?".
98% of the time the interviewer says the question was covered, 1% will clarify the question and allow you to re-answer or to expand it. While they answer, you just gained a moment to breathe and clear your fog, where your thinking you went off course. Just make sure to keep the second answer really brief. Then the last 1% will just move on, nothing you can do.

Recently I interviewed with Amazon on the AWS (cloud) side, and before the recruiter setup the first call, I had already created an AWS account, used and read through as many of their products as possible.
Then in the phone interview the person asked what I knew about AWS, I could have stood at podium for an hour telling what I learned. And my little 1-2 minute pitch had the guy asking how I knew so much. I answered truthfully, said I seriously wanted to work there, and I had better well know what AWS was all about before hand.
I am now into waiting on my 3rd call next week.

Hope you can take some pride in knowing you got the interview. In this day of digital resume analysis, it's tough to get noticed.
I have more tips on that if your interested, as I get 2x-3x in replies compared to my friends. They always wonder how.

Hint I have 10-12 versions of my resume.

[burbuja0512]

Sometimes when you think you didn't do a great job, it's true, but other times you are just second-guessing yourself. That being said, I totally agree with the other comments regarding every interview being a learning experience. It feels SO painful when you don't ace the interview and land the dream job, but there really are others out there. Maybe this dud is just the important prep for the best job that's coming up soon.

My trick on phone interviews is to write down a list of accomplishments that you'd like to bring up.. if you're at a loss for words, perhaps there is a way to work one of those into a story or in an answer to a question. I also love Scorched's suggestions about doing your homework about them and having multiple versions of your resume. Just make sure that you have the version that they do so you can reference it while you're on the call.

Remember.. over the phone is tough because you don't have the advantage of the face-to-face contact, but you DO have the advantage of them not being able to see you! Use this to your advantage and have tons of notes and cheats written down. Just make sure that what you say doesn't sound canned. Be natural and use the notes to make you more confident, not to replace your pre-call homework.

[Prloko]

Keep your chin up, we are all tougher on ourselves than others are.
Plus, the phone interviews are tough due to not seeing body language and facial expressions. That makes silence even more awkward.

Over the years I have become pretty good a them due to my current job required 8 phone interviews before I got a live one, the job before that required 10.
For me, they are just like doing a research paper, I have note cards or my tablet handy with a list of topics to hit and other pieces I was able to google.

Also a technique I use just after answering a question, is to ask "I know that sounded long winded but did I answer your question?" Or something like that. In your example, you could have countered your own statement of empowerment, by asking, "I know that was a very cookie cutter answer, but would you care for me to explain how I approach it differently?".
98% of the time the interviewer says the question was covered, 1% will clarify the question and allow you to re-answer or to expand it. While they answer, you just gained a moment to breathe and clear your fog, where your thinking you went off course. Just make sure to keep the second answer really brief. Then the last 1% will just move on, nothing you can do.

Recently I interviewed with Amazon on the AWS (cloud) side, and before the recruiter setup the first call, I had already created an AWS account, used and read through as many of their products as possible.
Then in the phone interview the person asked what I knew about AWS, I could have stood at podium for an hour telling what I learned. And my little 1-2 minute pitch had the guy asking how I knew so much. I answered truthfully, said I seriously wanted to work there, and I had better well know what AWS was all about before hand.
I am now into waiting on my 3rd call next week.

Hope you can take some pride in knowing you got the interview. In this day of digital resume analysis, it's tough to get noticed.
I have more tips on that if your interested, as I get 2x-3x in replies compared to my friends. They always wonder how.

Hint I have 10-12 versions of my resume.

This is really GREAT advice. I wouldn't mind reading more.

[Prloko]

What is ironic is that I prepared for ALL the curve-balls that you usually get at interviews, instead the panel asked me straight up job questions (thing I do everyday), and I felt like I was rambling. :willynilly: I think maybe I came in too overconfident and once the pressure increased, it threw me off. But you guys are right, I should be glad that I'm getting an interview at all, especially these days.

I have another phone interview with a different agency next week. I'm going to put all this great advice to work starting now!

Thanks again. eeya:

[ShotoJuku]

...I have 10 years experience leading teams, and when the leadership question came up, i brought up empowerment! What a cookie cutter answer...

If what you included was that you, as a leader (not a manager), empowered your employees to reach higher, go further, be more productive, that will lead to enhanced happiness (via that empowerment) then perhaps that's all they needed to hear!

[Prloko]

I did mention that my team swept every category of the quarterly awards and won half of the annual awards. I think that impressed them, but I couldn't tell as they were silent as mice and I couldn't see their facial expressions. I feed off of peoples reactions, and not being able to get feedback was rough.