Advice for phone interviews for jobs in medical sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, DNA products sales, molecular products sales, cellular products sales, medical supplies sales, biotechnology products sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, pharmaceutical sales, or any healthcare sales, marketing, or management position:
More and more first interviews are conducted by phone (they’re efficient), so make sure you know how to do them. According to The Phone Interview, you should have a quiet room, keep your resume in front of you so you don’t forget anything, and be as professional as if you were sitting in front of the interviewer. How to have a successful interview says, don’t get too comfortable just because they can’t see you…be mindful of how you sound. (No slang.) Another article says that you should have practice phone interviews with your friends and family to catch any problems with mumbling or speech that’s too fast.
One thing I want you to remember: if you have optimal conditions for a phone interview when you’re called, great. If you’re called at a bad time…take control and ask if you can call back. Nail down a better time, and be sure to call back then. It won’t hurt you. The most important thing is to ensure that you can have a quality interview.
About.com just updated their top 10 job board list. Considering 3 are agregators, this leaves 7 job boards to recruit or be recruited from:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/joblistings/tp/jobbanks.htm
If you really want to find a job you should be on all of them.
Here are few more phone interview tips I believe would be helpful.
Use a quality land telephone only
Many applicants never think about how important phone quality is during a phone interview screen. Cell phone can beep and die right on cue to interrupt an important answer to an interview question. Additionally a poor quality phone that goes snap, crackle, pop in the interviewers ear can be even worse.
Think about how awkward it would be for you and the interviewer constantly saying “I can’t hear you, could you repeat that? What did you say?” Oh, always be sure to turn off the call waiting before the interview! Leave yourself a note by the designated phone to remind yourself of this.
Job description, cover letter and resume
Keep these documents in plain view near the phone you will most likely use. Review the job description to be certain of what the employer is searching for. Keep paper and pen ready for note taking.
Always shape your responses to phone screening questions in a way that matches the needs of the job you are seeking. This will give the interviewer the impression that you are qualified for the job and the confidence to schedule you the all important face to face interview. Always take notes on what your are asked for 2 reasons:
(1) You will probably be asked these questions again in the face-to-face
(2) You can tailor your questions to ask the interviewer based on what you were asked.
Phone interviews like group or panel interviews appear to be on the rise.
What’s next teleconference phone panel interviews? Whew, now that’s a frightening thought!