Benefits of Phone Interviews

No matter how much the economy improves you can assume that for every new position that opens there are 10 people willing to fill it. As the person who receives the applications how, do you go about choosing the right candidate without wasting a lot of time?

More and more companies are turning to the phone interview. This is a wonderful way to get a quick feel for a potential employee without having to block out an hour on your schedule.

• Weed out people who send their resumes to any and every one. If they know nothing about your company or what it does, chances are they aren’t looking for a certain job but just any job.
• A decent phone interview will be about 10-15 minutes long. This allows you to schedule 3-5 in the time that it would take you to typically do one full face-to-face interview.
• Save the applicants’ time and give them convenience. Some of your best applicants may already be employed so by allowing them to have a phone interview allows them the ability to take the interview. Scheduling a 15 minute interview on the phone versus a longer one face to face and accounting for travel time may eliminate some of the best prospects.
• Clarify expectations. Often interviews are set up through assistants or email so expectations aren’t always clear. Having a phone interview before hand gives both parties a chance to state expectations about a meeting. Does the applicant need to bring a hard copy of their resume? How much time should the applicant block out?

Remember don’t feel obligated to give them a second interview, even if you’re positive you’d like to meet them in person the best practice is to end the conversation with a “We’ll be in touch.”

Then contact them to schedule a formal interview. Also, if you are really put off by the phone interview, yet can’t help to get their resume off your mind, give them a second chance in person. Remember that they are a package deal and why they may not come over wonderful on the phone they may ‘wow’ you face to face.