7 TIPS ON HOW TO ACE THAT PHONE INTERVIEW

I have a phone interview...what now?

First of all - great job! This is amazing news!

How can you make sure that everything goes as you want it to go? The short answer is: You can't. The long one? You can make sure that you limit all the things that can potentially go wrong and prepare everything you want to say, what you want to ask about and what kind of impression do you want to make. Then, you basically keep your fingers crossed and try your best to sound like a capable and amazing person that you are.

Now, the things that you can control during your phone interview are:

1. WHEN YOU TAKE THE CALL

This one is really important, so please try to remember about it. You don't want to talk to a recruiter right after you wake up (because sounding sleepy and a bit spaced out is just not good) and you don't want to do that when you are tired (because you will sound either bored or angry and you will definitely not focus on the call that well). When scheduling your phone interview to be mindful of the time of the day. Aim for when you are free, relaxed and generally in good shape. 

2. WHERE YOU TAKE THE CALL

Again, this one is important and really basic. You need to make sure that when you will take the call you will be in a quiet place, uninterrupted and not bothered by anyone. If you can do this at home – great. If you can't... You can risk taking this call at a meeting room at work, but I would strongly advise against it. It's just not good this way (and you definitely don't want to use your company's phone or be caught by your boss talking to a recruiter). Try and go to the park, maybe a quiet cafe if you know one. You can also try and take this call in your car if possible. In any case – relax and think for a while before you choose the right place.

3. IF YOU WILL HAVE TABLET/LAPTOP/YOUR CV/ JOB SPEC/ NOTES WITH YOU

Since the recruiter won't see you, you can have as many open documents or websites as you like. This is a great thing, but do not go crazy with it. It's a good thing to have your CV prepared (with notes about specific things that you may want to talk about), the job spec (because you will be able to link your experience with requirements that the company wants you to meet) and some notes (if you did your homework and researched the company, you should have some key points on a separate document or piece of paper).

4. WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO ATTEND THE FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW

You should prepare some dates and times for when you are free to attend the face to face interview. Why? Because if everything goes well (and I am keeping my fingers crossed for you) it really makes a good impression if the candidate knows his/her schedule. It's way better than hearing the candidate panic and frantically go through their calendar.

5. YOUR HOMEWORK - WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE COMPANY/POSITION YOU APPLIED FOR/MOST COMMON JOB INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

This one is simple – the better you prepare, the bigger chances you have to get the job. You should roughly know what do you want to say, how you will respond to questions about your skills and background, what the company does and what is the role they contacted you about. This research will help you relax and feel comfortable during the call. You are prepared - you got this!

6. QUESTIONS THAT YOU WANT TO ASK

The recruiter will always ask if you have any questions, so be sure to prepare a list of 2 – 3 things that you would like to know. Whether this is about a team that you will work with, type of contract or when the final list of candidates will be drafted. What are you curious about?

7. YOUR VOICE

Relax, stay calm, don't giggle, don't pause for more than 10 seconds or repeat random words. This may be a little bit stressful (as every interview can be), but to be honest – this is just a more formal phone conversation. You will be asked questions, give some answers and get to ask questions of your own – simple and easy.

Things that you can't control: there are many and you can't really do much about them, so – go prepare for your phone interview and stop worrying!

You can do this!

And remember to tell me how your interview went!

Have fun!

GOOD, BAD AND UGLY: 6 THINGS YOU HAVE TO GET RIGHT BEFORE SENDING OUT YOUR CV

When was the last time that you looked at your CV?

Do you update it regularly? Could you just start sending your resume out straight away if something happened to your current company?

For me, keeping my CV neat and up to date is all about reminding myself what I am good at, what I achieved and what should I do next. It's nice to have something that shows me how I got to where I am now. For some of my clients' CV is something that they dislike – it reminds them that they were laid off or that they are stuck in a job that sucks. But how else can you change something about your job if not starting with your CV?

Make your CV amazing and remember to:

1. EDIT YOUR PERSONAL/CONTACT DETAILS: 

You want to mention:

- your name in BIG, bold letters

- the city where you live  (because no one is interested in your full postal address at this point and it takes way too much space anyway) 

- your phone number (please include your city or country code if you are applying to an international company – I still remember one situation, where I recruited for the same post in 3 different cities and I had to guess which prefix should I use, because some candidates didn't include their location or full phone number) 

- your email address (if your email looks anything like this: xxx_lover@sweetness.com no recruiter will EVER get back to you – get a new email if necessary)

- consider including your LinkedIn profile link (I used to love clicking through them at work and a majority of people I hired were found on LinkedIn)

2. SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE/PROFILE:

Include a short statement about which job you are applying for and what makes you a good candidate. Remember, this is not a place for your complete life story, it just has to tell the recruiter the most important things of you as a candidate. The summary should have 3 - 4  lines and it should focus on your expertise and how will it help you in your new position.

3. WORK EXPERIENCE:

This section depends on how much work experience do you have. If you are just starting your career and have 1 or 2 things to put here, then try and focus on duties and responsibilities that you had in each job. List 5 – 6 things that you did and learn while being employed. 

If you have quite a few years of experience only include the posts that have anything to do with the role that you are applying for (because no one will ask you about an internship that you had 10 years ago) and try to list the most important responsibilities and achievements for every role. Don't worry if it takes you 2 or 3 pages to fit everything. It's not physically possible to squeeze 15 years of a successful career on one page. Also – remember that the most recent jobs should be at the top of this section.

4. EDUCATION/COURSES:

If you finished any university, training or professional qualification it should be listed here. You don't have to put specific dates – writing down a year when you graduated is more than enough. If only education/qualification you have is at a high school level you can skip this section entirely and it's perfectly fine.

5. SKILLS:

This is the most important part of your CV. Here you should have a solid list of all the great things that you learnt and all the character traits that you have. 

The best approach is to divide your skills into 2 or 3 categories: language skills, soft skills, IT skills, practical skills, accounting skills, programming skills, art/design skills... You can pick and choose, but make sure that you have a few key categories listed. When you decide on what categories you wish to include, sit down and go through your day-to-day work routine and think about one thing:

What kind of tasks do you have and what skills do they require? 

For example, while mailing back and forth customers and updating them about a project you show great communication skills, organisation and customer service skills. If you have to prepare paperwork for your boss every week, you are probably great at reporting

6. YOUR INTERESTS:

Because, surprisingly, they can be great. Do you love travelling? Maybe there is a position open that requires your skills and a lot of flying. Are you into languages? Maybe you would like to take care of international customers?

If you are planning to put music and reading here - skip them, everyone lists those anyways.

OK... How does your CV look like now? Do you feel like you are a super skilled and talented person? I do hope so

Have fun!