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lol, don't fret about such. FWIW, in the past 10 years, I've had ~dozen phone interviews. Many companies like to do that, first, before spending the time, effort, and expense in having a candidate travel to their facility [esp. if out of state]. From your post tho' I am taking that this firm is w/in your general area, same city maybe? But, still, guessing that its easier and quicker for them just to do the phone part first, and then a follow-up in person version [hopefully!] later. Best of luck
Phone interviews are a common precursor to face to face interviews. I'm a hiring manager and do phone interviews often as a way to weed people out. If the phone interview doesn't go well, why waste my time and the applicants by scheduling an in person interview?
Same way I use them in reverse. Since they are shopping, and being paid to do so, do not let them waste to much of your time.
I drill the phone interviews with 5 simple 5th grade level journalism questions -- Who, What, Where, When and How Much. Amazing how few are prepared with even that basic information.
1. Who is this -- if they are not good folks, dump them quick. You cannot do good business with bad people.
2. What they do and want me to do.
3. Where do they want it done
4. When -- what is the schedule.
5. How Much? What is their budget?
Cut them down to a concise few word or few sentence answer (at most) for each. The folks that will not give a concise answer are usually a waste of time. From that combination I have made a profile of Go and No-Go fits and situations.
Folks that are there ready to spend money on and hire you are forthcoiming with that information. Tire kickers (used cars sales jargon for "just shopping") get shut down with that very basic request for information.
I think phone interviews are a great way for us to weed out bad employers because I always interview the company. And phone interviews can help us to avoid having to take time off from work to attend a face-to-face interview that ends up a waste of everyone's time.
And, in turn, it helps employers weed out non-matching candidates as well.
I also think it's imperative that a salary range be stated by both sides...why leave that as a secret topic?
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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It is kind of funny in a way because I work for a major company and they NEVER saw me until the first day I reported for work! First I sent a resume and they called and told me to report to a testing centre and take test- which I passed. Then they called me and did a phone interview which lasted about 10 minutes. Then they told me where to go for my physical and once I passed that, when and where to report to work.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,769,842 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evey
I got a call today from the HR person at a company I had submitted a resume to. She called to make an appointment for a phone interview.
How common is this? Aren't interviews better face to face?
Not that I mind not having to get dressed & fight downtown traffic....
I don't care for face to face interviews. You never get to be interviewed by one person who makes the hiring decision. All the ones I have had have been either "gang up" interviews where you have 3 or 4 people interviewing you at once- usually over lunch- and because they take turns asking questions but you are always answering, they get to eat and you don't. The other kind of interview is the "hand off" interview where you go in at 9AM and you are interviewed by the personel manager who then passes you off to the department head who then passes you off to the supervisor of the department who then passes you off to a senior employee. But they time you get through all of them, you are exhausted! I was interviewed for a job at CNN once and I was there from 9AM to 6PM and seen by 7 different people!
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