How do I prepare for a phone screen?

The dreaded phone screen. It’s the interview that decides whether or not you get a REAL interview. To make it even more interesting, you have no way of know what the person on the other end of the line is doing, or thinking. He may be taking notes furiously, or checking email, or maybe just lying in bed pretending to be in the office. What’s important here is that YOU are prepared and professional, regardless of what is happening on the interviewer’s side of the conversation.

ERE.net posted a great article about phone screening methods that is worth reading. In the article, they discussed what an interviewer should be looking for to find a top achiever. Let’s take a closer look at a few of their points and figure out how we can prove that WE are achievers. (We are, aren’t we?)

According to the article, phone screeners are looking for logical career changes that lead to a bigger career goal. As a job seeker, this means that I should be able to explain how each new position I have held not only represented a new achievement in my career, but also moved me in one step closer to my ultimate goal (whatever that may be). Truthfully, not all of our career changes may seem that logical (I am a good example of this), but if we can prepare a response ahead of time, we’ll certainly sound better than if we try to improvise.

Secondly, screeners should be looking for achievements. Like any job seeker, we probably listed our top achievement on our resume…take a moment here to double-check. This means we need to start coming up with an additional list. 3-4 solid accomplishments at each position we have held should suffice. These don’t have to be awards or formal recognition. These could be attendance and evaluations, raises, compliments from customers or colleagues, anything that shows that you go above and beyond what is typically expected in your role. This is your opportunity to show that you have a pattern of success that you plan to bring to your next position.

There are several other good points made in this article that are worth noting. It’s a quick read when you have a few minutes, so I would highly recommend it.

In case I haven’t said it enough, success is a habit. Work is a habit. Keep up the search, work hard at it, and the rewards will come.