In
a recent first interview for a senior marketing job, Robyn Cobb was grilled by
a hiring manager for an hour and a half on topics ranging from her work history
and marketing philosophy to her knowledge of the company and its industry.
"I
thought it was never going to end," says the 45-year-old Ms. Cobb, who
lives in Alpharetta, Ga., and was laid off in December from a midsize
communications firm.
Until
recently, candidates could often breeze through most phone interviews in 10
minutes or less by answering a few softball questions. Little preparation was
necessary, and most people could expect to be invited for a "real"
interview before hanging up.
These
days, job hunters are finding that they need to reserve an hour or more for a
phone interview. They may be asked to discuss their full work history,
including the exact dates of their experience in various business areas. They
may also be expected to cite examples and exact stats that illustrate their
strengths and offer details on how they would handle the position.
During
a call earlier this year about a director-of-Internet-marketing job, Jaclyn Agy
of Wheat Ridge, Colo., says she was asked to describe about 10 different
marketing initiatives she's worked on, plus provide metrics resulting from
each. "I didn't have those stats off the top of my head," she recalls
of the hour-long conversation. "I expected to be asked that in a
face-to-face."
Ms.
Agy, 30, says she assumed she'd need only to describe two or three past
accomplishments in general terms. "I was taken aback by how specific [the
interviewer] was getting," she says. Ms. Agy was better prepared for a
follow-up phone interview. She was later invited to meet with eight members of
the hiring company in its Denver office, though she didn't land the position.
Employers
say they've raised the phone-interview stakes in part because they're
attracting more candidates who meet their basic qualifications. They're digging
deep to identify the best ones, and in some cases adding second-round rigor to
phone screens as one way to accomplish that.
"You
can be pickier," says Joyce A. Foster, vice president of human resources
at Hilex Poly Co. LLC in Hartsville, S.C. Salaried job openings at the
company's 10 U.S. locations have been attracting up to three times as many
qualified applicants -- including more candidates with experience in Hilex's
niche, plastic film and bag manufacturing and recycling -- than during more
robust economic times, she says.
"Before,
if a person had only recycling experience in paper, we might have said
OK," Ms. Foster says. "Today we can be more specific. I'm going to
find someone who's an even better fit."
Recruiters
are also seeking to weed out those who seem likely to change jobs as soon as
the economy turns around. "We're trying to determine whether what we're
offering truly meets their long-term objectives," says Paul Newman,
assistant vice president of human resources at Oppenheimer Funds. And when it
comes to candidates who were laid off, recruiters for the New York-based
asset-management firm want to know the circumstances behind what happened.
"Was this person a high-performance, talented individual who was let go
because of the economics of the business," he says, "or an average
employee let go in the first round" of layoffs?
For
many firms, evaluating candidates over the phone also serves as a way to save
on recruiting costs. "In this economy, you can't afford to fly every
person out for an interview," says Jeff Cousens, vice president of
organizational development at Patrick Energy Services Inc. in Lisle, Ill. After
joining the energy concern in January, he instructed recruiters to complete up
to four comprehensive phone interviews with candidates before inviting
finalists in. Previously, they made just one brief call, mainly to schedule
in-person interviews. "When a candidate comes in to meet the hiring
manager, recruiters have already gone through every detail to make sure they're
a fit," says Mr. Cousens.
Job
seekers should prepare for a phone interview as seriously as they do for an
in-person one. When asked about your qualifications, for example, you can craft
a better answer by asking what the company wants and why, says J.T. O'Donnell,
a career strategist in North Hampton, N.H.
If
you're asked how many years of experience you have with a program you have used
extensively, but not for years, you could reply by asking how much is required
and at what level, says Ms. O'Donnell. Maybe the company chose a number based
on how much experience the last person in the position had, and you might have
just as much, but in a condensed time frame. You can then provide a convincing
reason as to why you should be considered for the job even if your answer
doesn't match exactly what the recruiter is looking for.
You
should also prepare to answer more complex and detailed questions in phone
interviews by creating a list of key statistics and abbreviated answers to
commonly asked questions, says Bill McGowan, founder of communications-coaching
firm Clarity Media Group Inc. Some examples: What do you know about the
company? Why do you want the job? What are your greatest strengths? What are your
career goals? How do you see yourself fitting in?
"What
traps a lot of people is they think and talk at the same time. They make up
answers on the fly," says Mr. McGowan. "It's better if you know your
conversational path."
Don't
expect to defer answering questions to your first meeting with a hiring
manager, says Maureen Crawford Hentz, a talent-acquisition manager at Danvers,
Mass.-based lighting manufacturer Osram Sylvania Inc. That may have been the
case in the past, but not now. "People think if you're talking to someone
in HR, this isn't a real interview," she says. But these days, it might be
your only shot.
Be
sure to brush up on your phone etiquette, too. Ms. Crawford Hentz says
candidates have put her on hold while they answered another call or tended to
their children. Once she could tell a candidate was visiting a drive-through
restaurant during a call because she heard a loudspeaker requesting the
person's lunch order.
Finally,
be mindful of common faux pas, such as giving long-winded answers that go off
topic. "Sometimes the longer you talk, the more it sounds like you're
trying to explain your way through something," says Mr. McGowan. "The
most confident people don't need to drone on." Another common flub:
answering recruiters' questions before they've finished speaking. Not only does
that show disrespect, but it "makes it seem like you have stocked, canned
answers," he says.
Article
originally posted on the WSJ, authored by Sarah E. Needleman
Source:
The New Trouble on the Line
No comments:
Post a Comment