So you have scheduled an interview – congratulations! Now what do you do? Believe it or not, the interview is really not just about communicating to the hiring manager about your skills, education, and work history. Here are some important recruiting tips to follow during that coveted interview to ensure a more successful outcome.

Your Resume

Always have a copy of your resume in front of you. Recruiting Tip: If you are working with a high quality recruiter, they likely tailored your resume and cover letter for the position so please be sure you have that version printed out and in front of you.

Why this matters? The Hiring Manager is going to ask you to walk through your work history. As you go through your resume you want to be sure you are on the same page (literally) as the Hiring Manager so always make sure the version of resume you have and the Hiring Manager has are the same.

Be in a Quiet Place

You should be in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed or distracted. The phone interview is your time to shine so don’t put yourself in the position to have to keep the dogs quiet, worry about the baby waking up from her nap, or trying to figure out where to turn at the intersection. Be fully dedicated and fully focused.

Be Formal

I would recommend you sit at a desk and if you don’t have a desk in your home sit at your dining table. The phone interview is not a time to sit on your comfy couch and have a relaxed conversation. You need to be 100% tuned in and you can’t do that if you are in a relaxed setting. Recruiting Tip: If you tend to get nervous for interviews, dress up in your professional attire; people always feel much more confident when they have their business outfit and dress shoes on!

Your Phone

You should be on a LAND line and on a reliable handset. Never use speaker phones. Steer clear of mobile phones. It would be silly to lose an employment opportunity because you lose connectivity while you are speaking to the Hiring Manager.

How…and What you Articulate

Speak concisely, slowly, sound confident and sound passionate about the company you are interviewing with. Two things I would point out:

If you have an accent, be sure you concentrate on speaking slowly. When you have any accent, speaking quickly can lead to misunderstandings and can cost you the job. Write out index cards with "SLOW DOWN" and post them everywhere you will be looking during the interview. You will be amazed at the result.

Be able to articulate how working for this particular company in this particular position will enable you to work towards obtaining your career goals. You have to show how the company’s mission aligns with your personal objectives.

Be familiar with Behavioral Interview Methods

This interview style trips up many intelligent Job Seekers! We will spend more time discussing behavioral interview questions and answers in a later part of this course.

Close the interview!

Believe me when I tell you that Hiring Managers want you to express your interest for the job. You will find many articles that tell you to ask for feedback and while this is true in theory, you have to be careful about how you ask for that feedback.

Simply asking how you did or if they believe you will be a good fit for the team is a very dangerous approach as you are inviting both positive and negative feedback. You should only ask for positive feedback! Make sure you ask for specific skills and qualities you possess that make you a perfect fit for the opportunity. Trust me, this approach is highly effective!

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts