8 Tips to Help You Prepare for a Phone Interview

Nervous about an upcoming interview and looking for tips on how to prepare for a phone interview? If so, you’ve come to the right place.

So, you’ve had your eyes on your dream job for a number of years now, and after months of preparation and going back and forth, you’ve finally landed a phone interview. Now comes the tricky part.

With more people working remotely since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the way businesses operate has evolved. Rather than face-to-face sit-down interviews, companies are instead conducting job interviews online, or via the phone. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can now work for a company located hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. Pretty neat, right? The only thing standing in your way is the interview.

Job interviews are daunting at the best of times, but for many people, phone interviews can be even more intimidating. This is why preparation is key and could be the difference maker when it comes to landing your dream job.

To help get you ready, here’s are several tips on how to prepare for a phone interview.

Practice With a Friend or Family Member

To some people, this may seem a little embarrassing or awkward, but take it from us, when the day of your interview comes around, you’ll be so glad you practiced ahead of time.

In the lead up to your phone interview, have a friend, partner, or family member call you on the phone and pretend to be from the company your interview is with. Ask them to take on the role of the interviewer to help you prepare.

Have them prepare a series of questions in advance, but don’t let them tell you which questions they’re going to be asking. When you have your job interview, the company interviewing you won’t tell you which questions they’re going to be asking you, or in what order.

As well as the usual questions such as ‘why do you feel you’d be the perfect candidate for this position’ and ‘what would you say are your best qualities’ ask them to ask you some slightly more obscure questions to try to catch you off guard.

When you answer, answer just as you would on the day of your interview.

Practice Your Pauses

Another very useful tip in terms of how to prepare for a phone interview is to work on your pauses.

When you speak to somebody in person, you get visual cues, so you get an idea of when they’re about to speak. The last thing you want to be doing is speaking over your interviewer yet unfortunately over the phone, it can be trickier.

Again, have somebody call you up and pretend to be the interviewer and this time, focus on your cadence when speaking, making sure not to talk over them. When they ask you a question, don’t immediately answer. Give it a second or two to ensure they’ve finished speaking, and then answer the question appropriately.

Try Not to Talk Too Quickly

When people are nervous, which you likely will be before and during your interview, they tend to speak rapidly. This can cause them to jumble their words and verbally stumble over themselves. From an interview standpoint, this is far from ideal.

If you’re replying to your interviewer’s questions and are jumbling your words and speaking so quickly that you’re difficult to understand, this shows that you may get flustered easily, which doesn’t reflect well on you. Businesses generally look for candidates that are cool under pressure and don’t get flustered easily.

Slowing down your speech is not only an effective way of giving off a calm demeaner, it’s also a great way of ensuring that you’re easy to understand. What you don’t want to do however, is speak too slowly as this can come across as awkward. It’s all about finding a happy medium. The good news is that there are a number of exercises you can do to help slow down your speech. These include:

• Practice long and complex sentences regularly

• Try to maintain the same pace when verbalizing

• Read sentences out loud at different speeds and record yourself

• Focus on clear enunciation

• Take a deep breath in before you speak

Maintain Good Posture

Just because your interview will be held over the phone, rather than in person or on camera, that does not mean that you should slouch and let your posture slip.

Poor posture isn’t just a great way of getting back troubles later on in life and keeping your chiropractor in business, it can also greatly affect your speech and your enunciation. Yes, you did read that right, poor posture can affect how you speak and sound to others.

Good posture helps you to breathe better and improves vocal resonance and clarity. It also helps to open up the vocal cords and airways, and boost oxygen flow. Considering our vocal cords work when air passes through them, causing them to vibrate, you can see why this is such a big deal.

In the lead up to your phone interview, make sure you work on your posture. This will not only help you speak clearer, it will also help you to stand up straight, and to avoid neck, back, and shoulder problems as well.

A few tried and tested tips for good posture before, and during your phone interview includes.

• Stand up straight during your interview. Don’t sit down and definitely don’t lay down

• Don’t slouch at your desk

• Keep your back straight, your head up, and pull your shoulders back

• Perform yoga and gentle stretching exercises

• Use a standing desk

Make Detailed Notes in Advance

While you likely won’t know exactly what you’re going to be asked during your interview, another great tip as far as how to prepare for a phone interview goes is to make plenty of notes.

Once the company you’re applying for a job with has told you you’ve landed a phone interview, they will then be able to share more info about the interview. Of course, they’ll tell you the date and time, but they’ll likely also share other important info as well.

Make note of as much info you receive as possible and keep it safe. As well as the date and time, write down the name of the company (trust us, calling a business by the wrong name is the professional equivalent of calling your partner your ex’s name), the position you’re applying for, the name of the interviewer, and anything else you can find out about the company. Seriously, do a bit of research. This shows initiative, which businesses tend to love.

Speak Clearly and Concisely

Another thing to remember in terms of how to prepare for a phone interview, is that speaking clearly and concisely is essential.

When you speak to your interviewer and answer their questions, the last thing you want is for them to struggle to understand you. If they’re constantly having to repeat themselves, or ask you to repeat yourself, this won’t reflect well on you or your chances of landing the job.

Clear and concise speech during a phone interview is vital, yet for some it’s much easier said than done. When speaking, you don’t want to be mumbling or slurring your words, nor do you want to be speaking too quickly, or too slowly. When speaking during a phone interview, take the Goldilocks approach and try to time your tempo just right.

Open Your Mouth Wider

One of the good things about having a job interview conducted over the phone, is the fact that the interviewer can’t see you. That makes this next exercise perfect for nailing a phone interview.

Like we just looked at, it’s important to enunciate properly and speak clearly and concisely during an interview. Opening your mouth wider when speaking will help you do just that.

Make a list of lengthy and complex sentences, as well as any answers to questions you’ll likely be asked and say them out loud. The catch? You need to open your mouth wider when you say them. Don’t worry about your mouth being too wide open. To begin with, it will barely look any different to other people, and secondly, when speaking over the phone nobody can see you anyways.

Practice the ‘Ghost Exercise’

Finally, to help ensure your voice is loud, clear, easy to understand, and powerful at the same time, you can try what is known as the ‘Ghost Exercise’.

This exercise helps you to relax your vocal cords and open them up. The more relaxed and open they are, the clearer and more prominent your voice will be.

To perform this exercise:

• Begin by taking your index finger and placing it roughly two inches from your lips

• Next, take a deep breath in.

• Now, mimic the spooky noises we associate with ghosts and make a long and drawn out ‘ooooooooh’ sound

• Keep going and focus on feeling your breath on your finger

• Repeat this exercise a further 5 – 10 times, making sure to really focus on breathing from your diaphragm

Conclusion

And with that, our look at how to prepare for a phone interview draws to a close.

Job interviews can be daunting, we know that, but if you follow the tips listed above, you’ll be as well prepared as you can be when the big day comes around.

Remember, clear, confident communication is what helps set candidates apart and is what will help give you the edge over your competitors. Follow the tips we looked at prior, and you’re already a step closer.

Want to sound more confident and see just how much your speaking voice and enunciation has improved? The Vocal Image app can help you develop strong, impactful speaking habits – and you can try it out with a 7-day free trial, available right in the app.