Conduct an Effective Phone Interview

As a hiring manager you have the obligation to pre-screen potential candidates before the face-to-face interview. This can help you narrow the playing field and only bring in the best candidates to meet in the office. A phone interview is the best way to achieve this goal, but how do you ensure that the conversation is effective? In fact, a phone interview can also be a useful feedback tool for managers throughout the hiring process. Following these tips and continuing to modify your structure will yield great results.

Be Present

When you’re on the phone with a candidate it is easy to let your mind wander. You may even decide to multi-task and send e-mails or texts. This is exceptionally disrespectful to the candidate and if the roles were reversed you would never hire someone who acted this way on the phone. The best thing you can do to conduct an effective phone interview is simply be present for the entire call.

Ask Questions

In order to properly gauge the candidate’s interest and skill level, it is important that you ask them questions that can get to the heart of the matter. Create a short list of questions that you can ask each candidate and then compare and contrast their answers when deciding who to bring in for a face-to-face interview.

Don’t Oversell

Your role in a phone interview is not to sell the candidate on the job at hand. Rather, you need the candidate to sell themselves to you. You can give them some background of the company and the job, but don’t go overboard trying to sell your company to them. If you decide to bring the candidate in then you can give them a real demonstration of what your company culture is.

Assess the Candidate

The phone interview won’t have the same impact as the in-person interview but there are still some things you can judge while you’re talking to them. Are they being distracted while on the call? Are they not answering your questions directly? Do they sound like they have over-rehearsed their responses? Are their communications skills flawed?

CornerStone Staffing is one of the top staffing agencies in the DFW area. Contact our great team today to get started, and we will help with all of your employment needs.

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