Hung up on phone interview and worried

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by Hannah12345

Yes, I thought it was odd too. I think maybe with her asking that question it just set the phone interview off the wrong foot to start. Why wouldn't it be ok? We decided it was going to be at 1 pm on Tuesday.

I think I may look into doing some mock interviewing. I am also going to a job fair on Friday,,,but already I am stressed about it.

Just an FYI. The question she asked was indeed small talk to lead into the interview. If that panics you, you will have a long road ahead.

My advice? Accept failure and mistakes - they happen to everyone, all the time. By over prepping, over analyzing and over doing everything, you're just setting yourself up to crash and burn.

Next time, try absolutely zero prep and just try to be yourself, you'll be more comfortable.

[mtta]

Originally Posted by Hannah12345

Would any of you feel the way I do and not tell your family the truth also? My family means the world to me, and I hate even lying to them.

My preference is to not tell anyone about interviews. They don't always go well, even though I've done hundreds. I don't need to report back to people who I know that I failed, and I don't want to have to spin the whole thing into a positive. I feel much better knowing that if it doesn't go well, I won't see these people again, and it will be like it never happened.

Quite frequently the interviewer is an HR person who does interviews all day. They ask stock questions, and they usually type your answers. There winds up being no flow to it, because they don't respond to the answers, they just go to the next question. I can tell when they aren't paying attention or when they are bored. If they ask boring questions, it is hard to give really interesting answers. This makes me much more uncomfortable than an in-person interview, where you can see their face and read their reactions.

I think these phone interviews have a low probability of success. They are done with the intention of screening people out, rather than determine what you can do for their company. Of course, they're under no obligation to care about you - your job is to make them care, show them you can do the job, would love the job, and can connect with people.

Nervousness is normal, work with it to show them you're energetic and interested in the job. Mock interviews are a good idea and generally gaining experience with interviews will make you better. Interviews are very unpredictable, you need to stick to your message. Watch a politician at a press conference, or a sports coach, they are great at this.

[detshen]

Originally Posted by Hannah12345

Yeah, I know I am over thinking this. It will probably be on my mind for weeks. I try to put myself in the interviewers shoes. I wouldn't want that to happen to me...to have someone hang up on me, but I am hoping that she is kind of confused. Maybe she did believe we really got disconnected. Anyways, I don't like to lie and I get very mad at myself when I do things like that.

I have walked out on a couple of jobs in my life...(years ago)...I think that is WAY WORSE then me hanging up the phone on an interviewer. I really learned my lesson then. I didn't have another job lined up. I was really stressing then. I will NEVER EVER do that again.

It's unlikely she thinks you hung up on her on purpose, I'm certain she believed it was a phone issue, or some sort of personal issue you had to deal with, like I said I was in HR for a few years and have done hundreds of interviews, I promise you, this is not a big deal.

The fact that you had to reschedule is why she is unlikely to pursue you, if someone isn't super gung ho enough to call back right away, I would just file their application away as someone who isn't super into the job right now, companies want to feel that you really want the job badly, it's not a big deal if you don't, they just move on to more excited applicants.

Give yourself a break on this one, in the future just be honest and tell the interviewer what's on your mind, the interviewer is just a person looking for the right employee, they don't want to make you feel bad, they want you to feel comfortable so you can just be yourself. She was probably not testing you, just trying to get the interview rolling by talking about the company, and she has certain questions she has to ask. Interviewers aren't looking for "perfect" answers, they aren't judging your every word, and they understand that people are often really nervous, try not to over think it. You could have said, I've never done a phone interview before and I'm a little nervous so I feel like I'm flubbing my words, that would have been fine, and it would have given you a second to take a breath and start over.

[FOReverxpeace]

I'm going to be honest here, but I think you had your chance and blew it and being frustrated that you've been laid off shouldn't be an excuse. I would never in a million years hang up on an interviewer. I've had phone interviews which I had questions I didn't know ho to answer and I was honest and told them I didn't know or I danced around it. I think she was really nice to follow-up on you because most people would not care and leave it at that.

Misleading or not, I would've continued with the interview anyway because they took a real interest in you.

[detshen]

Also, people lie all the time for a million different reasons, if you simply said the interview didn't go well, that wasn't even a lie, your family doesn't need the gory details, it's okay to let yourself off the hook for a couple little lies, and just handle it differently next time.

I understand anxiety better than most, and I do understand what you are going through right now, but I've learned that people are always way too caught up in themselves to worry about anything I do. In some ways people with anxiety think of themselves too much, other people aren't thinking about, or analyzing what you do, they are far too busy thinking about themselves, when you keep this in mind life gets much easier. It's also probable that since you have been out of work you have too much time on your hands to think, this is not good for anxious people, try to stay busy.

Chalk this one up to experience and move on. Good luck with the job fair!

[EdwardA]

Lol never hung up on anyone but did get into an argument with hiring manager over the phone who questioned how I did my current job.

She was very obnoxious. Anyway the next day she invited me to her office since she felt the phone wasn't a good forum for us. I wasn't really interested but since it was after work I went. Turned out she was just frazzled by her current job and the position did seem more interesting after meeting her. However we both agreed I wasn't a good fit for what she was looking for.

Originally Posted by Hannah12345

Hello,

Was wondering if any of you hung up on a phone interview before? I feel awful but I did do that. Had a phone interview yesterday with a company that I really wasn't interested in working for but I really need a job- I have been laid off since November 2012.

The HR interviewer just got into the interview full force in the beginning. She called me and asked if this was still a good time to talk and I said yes. Then the next question that came out of her was "what do you know about our company?" I proceeded to tell her and started flubbing up my words and I hung up. She called back and I didn't answer and then she emailed me and said we got disconnected and to call her at her number.

I replied to her email about 20 mins. later and just came up with this...."I am so sorry about the disconnection. I am not sure what happened. I have been having problems with my cell phone. I am not near a land line right now, so I will have to reschedule the interview."

She hasn't replied and I really don't want to continue the interview. I just feel so bad that I did this and lied.

Have any of you done something like this or am I the only one in the world that has done this?

Thanks

[altlover85]

Originally Posted by Hannah12345

It was for a research office job and the company's website was confusing to me. I knew what they did, but had a hard time telling it back to her without stating the same words to her within the company website.

I'm not an interviewer, but if i was I would be happier to hear you recite something off the website than give me some nonsense that you made up in your head. At least you took the time to go to the website in the first place.

Try not to stress too much about this. Good luck on at the job fair!

[AV8n]

Companies want you to go to their website to find out about them, so parroting back what you saw there is okay - although bonus points if you put it in your own words.

Hanging up on the interviewer and then avoiding her by not rescheduling was foolish, but it happens. Put a period and move on. Your next interview may be for a job you really do want, and you will probably be caught off guard by a question or two. When that happens, just press on and do your best.

One thing I learned during my job search was not to let the whole fam-damily know about every interview. Especially phone interviews. They never seem to understand that if you aren't sharing good news afterward, it means there is no good news to be shared. Let it be a pleasant surprise when they find out you got hired by a company they didn't even know you had talked to.

[longnecker]

First CALLER ID why did you answer
Second Do not acknowledge that you ARE the person they are calling and politely hang up.
Or imagine this you could have been honest up front and said I have seen different postings. What are you requirements?