Phone Interview as the strong Job Interviewing Tool

The phone interview can be a essential part of the recruitment process . The HR Recruiter has no chance to meet with all the job candidates, and he is not able to identify the details from the job resume. The phone interview is a solution.

What is the Phone Interview?

The phone interview is the first interaction of the HR Recruiter with the job candidate. The HR Recruiter preselects the job resumes and calls the job applicants with the prepared set of questions.

It is quite common that the HR Recruiter lets about 30% of the job applicants go to the phone interviewing process. The final candidates should be up to 10 – 12 final job candidates to be invited to the personal job interview.

This approach saves time. The personal job interview takes usually about an hour, but the phone interview is usually about 15 – 20 minutes. The personal job interview has to be strictly scheduled, but the phone interview schedule is more flexible. It has many advantages for the HR Recruiter.

Phone Interview Preparation

The phone interview has to be planned . The phone interview cannot be a surprise for the job applicant. The job applicant has to agree with the phone interview and has to be relaxed and ready to go through the process.

The phone interview is usually standardized for all the job applicants. The HR Recruiter has to prepare a specific questionnaire with the preselected set of questions. The answers are recorded for the final decision, which is usually done immediately after the phone interview.

The HR Recruiter should read all the job resumes and should record the extra questions for the applicants. These questions help to clarify the details from the job resume, and they can become a topic during the regular job interview.

The HR Recruiter prepares the schedule of the individual phone calls. The job applicants are informed about the phone call, and they have to prepare themselves. They should feel comfortable, and they have to allocate a time slot to it.

During the phone interview, the HR Recruiter usually strictly follows the questionnaire and does not ask many extra questions. The HR Recruiter evaluates the quality of provided answers and the ability of the job applicant to respond fast.

The HR Recruiter is usually quite accurate during the phone call. He or she should not be emotional, and no guidance should be offered to the job applicant. The recruitment specialist has to recognize the real personality of the applicant.

Post Phone Interview Activities

The job applicants should be immediately sorted into three main groups – Invite for the job interview , Declined and For consideration . The last group is about the job applicants, where the HR Recruiter is not sure about the result.

The HR Recruiter should always send a polite email with information about the next steps. The job applicants should not be rejected immediately after the phone interview. They should be rejected after all phone interviews are done. The email should include information about the next steps in the job interviewing process.

The phone interview is a powerful recruitment tool. It speeds up the whole job interviewing process and can help to select the promising job applicants fast.