phone interview: summary and results

[Henry Vandelinde <vandelinde -at- wordtek -dot- com>]

Hi all,

First, thanks to all of you who responded. It helped put things into
perspective and your advice was appreciated and effective. I made it past
the phone interview, although they've set up another one with a technical
rep so the saga continues.

Here is a summary of the suggestions I received:

- act as if you were there in person.... Just offer to send a sample if
possible... 
- imagine that this is a real interview and be prepared accordingly.  Have
all your information at hand. You don't want to be rumagging around trying
to find something while you try to stall on the phone. Be prepared with all
the buzzwords you think your interviewer might ask about. Keep your answers
succinct. It's easy to ramble on the phone because it's more informal than
a real interview but people lose interest real fast on the phone when
somebody they are listening to rambles on. 
-  if you have an office, shut the door. Treat it like a normal interview.
(Although, I don't think you'll need to wear atie!) . . . have a copy of
your resume, and someexamples handy. Relaxing might be a bit easier because
you'll be dealing with just a voice without a face. 
- they're just like "real" interviews except that you can't see the
interviewers' body language or
facial expressions. So pay attention to the nuances of their language
choices and vocal inflections. Second, treat a phone interview as you would
a "real" interview, because it is as real as a face-to-face. Have questions
ready to ask as well as answers ready for questions you can reasonably
expect in the interview. Prepare for it as you would prepare for a
face-to-face session. Have answers written out. You don't want to read
those answers, but just havingthe words written down can keep you from
stumbling around looking for words or a way to start an answer. If you've
got a hands-free phone, use it. Cradling a telephone receiver gets
old after awhile, particularly if you're shuffling through papers. Final
thought: Smile. I know that no one can see it, but somehow a smile comes
through in your voice when you're talking.
- One book that has good suggestions for technical interviews in general is
"Ace the Technical Interview," by Michael Rothstein . . . it provides an
overview of various technologies and questions that are likely to be asked
for each technology.
-Use proper etiquette and carefully listen for theends of
sentences/statements before speaking. 
-Don't try to fill lulls in the conversation. That's a big issue with the
phone because we're used to being
very informal.
-If you've sent the interviewer any documents, make sure you have copies
handy. Refer to them to back up
what you say.
-Don't shuffle papers or move around a lot. Loud noises cause the phone to
"cut out." For this reason,
you might want to repeat the questions so that you can be sure that nothing
was left out.
- Impress but don't try to overly impress over the phone.  2.  I assume
they have your resume and will be reading over it along withyou.  Go ahead
and highlight anything on your resume that you want to bring
up with them.  3.  If you have any questions, write them out before the
interview so that
you don't get forget them. 4.  Don't over talk but do more listening.
- don't eat, drink, or chew gum while you're on the phone.  Bad habits are
incredibly easy to fall into, especially if you are doing the phone
interview from home. 
- Dress up (at least a little) to remind yourself that this is a business
call, not a social one
- Have a list of the questions you want to ask right in front of you
- Have a pen and pad handy to jot down notes
- Turn off call-waiting if you have that feature.

Thanks again and the beat goes on.

Regards,

Henry
_______________________
Henry Vandelinde, Ph.D.
vandelinde -at- wordtek -dot- com
Web: http://www.wordtek.com
1-877-WORDTEK