I’ve had two phone interviews. One was a phone-only interview for a scholarship internship while in college (which I got), and one was a Skype-clone interview for a receptionist position in a rather large law firm (which I didn’t get, but I did get a “real” interview for as well).
I never knew the reasons for having a phone interview myself, but that’s what they wanted, so I always supposed it was a test of how flexible and technologically adaptable a person was. I have no idea if that was the real reason. It was no skin off my back to agree to have them. I do recall that the one for the receptionist was at something like 7:45 in the morning, which makes me wonder if they don’t do that to try and weed people out also.
As for the follow up in-person interviews; for the internship, it consisted of me showing up and them shaking my hand and telling me that I had made it in, so I’m pretty sure that was a formality. For the receptionist, it was a traditional interview, and the person interviewing me was I think one of the firm’s lawyers, where the telephone interviewer had been someone from either HR or their office staff. That in-person interview was the most formal thing I’ve ever been part of in my life. I felt very young. The gentleman only referenced a few things from the phone interview, but did bring up a lot of the info on my resume.
As for the phone interviews themselves, I dressed to the nines for each, had a list of bulleted points about the place that I wanted to make sure I hit (those damnable “talking points” and “keywords” that you’re supposed to drop everywhere like a robot…)
I practiced on the phone with a friend for the phone one, and I had a relative who was good at Skype work through setting up the not-Skype program with me, and then practiced locations and settings to make it look the best.
I was MUCH more comfortable with the phone only interview. For the video one, I couldn’t get rid of the window which showed me, and it made me really nervous and self-conscious. I tried to get past it, but I think that’s a large part of what derailed that one. If I could have done the video one in a way that I only saw the interviewer lady, I think I would have been a lot more comfortable, and done a lot better.
I think it hit me worse because I had been so comfortable with the phone interview from before. I guess I didn’t do as badly as I felt, since I did get a second interview, but it FELT horrible - fakey and cliched and just bad. I felt like I was acting badly in a badly scripted direct-to-DVD release of How Not to Interview.
:rolleyes: