Tips for receiving phone calls from job seekers
To effectively communicate with candidates over the phone, you must have a lined sheet (notebook) to record information about callers and interview appointments.
An example of a record sheet design:

No. vacancy Full name age education work experience place of residence, registration, contact information source of information about the vacancy

When a call is received from a candidate, the following algorithm of work is performed:
1. Greeting and question: \"What vacancy are you interested in?\"
*If a candidate starts asking \"What vacancies do you have?\", this indicates that he most likely is not a specialist in a particular field or is not looking for a specific job.
2. Ask the candidate to introduce himself: \"What is your name?\" and say: \"Now I will ask you
a series of general questions to get to know you. Then I'll tell you about our
company, vacancy and working conditions, and will also answer your questions about the vacancy."
*If a candidate doesn't want to talk about himself before he knows something about the vacancy (for example, the salary), this is a bad signal. In this case, you can immediately go to step 8, and then return to step 2.
3. Ask the candidate: \"Where do you currently live geographically and where are you registered?\"
*If the candidate does not have a local residence permit or is temporarily registered in Moscow, then you should find out where he came from and how long his registration is for.
** If a candidate lives geographically more than 1 hour from the place of work, then you should immediately talk to him about this and decide whether it is advisable to consider him for the vacancy. At this point, the conversation with the candidate can be completed if he does not have a residence permit or lives very far away.
4. Ask the question: \"How old are you?\" or \"Tell your age\"
^Some candidates are wary of this question and do not want to give their age, which usually indicates that the candidate’s age is below or above the bar for the job requirements or that the candidate has a negative experience of age discrimination.
5. Next question: \"What is your education?\"
*You need to find out what the candidate’s last completed education is:
- type: higher/technical school/college/secondary school
- form: full-time/correspondence
- speciality.
** If the candidate has not yet completed his education, then you should find out who he is studying for, what year he is expected to complete his studies, what his mode of study is and when his sessions take place. It is important to understand how much his training may interfere with his job and how his future specialty is related to the vacancy.
6. Next you should ask: \"What work experience do you have similar to the vacancy?\"
\"Are you currently working or have you already quit?\", \"How long have you been out of work?
are you working after being fired?\", \"Why do you want to quit (resigned) from your last job?
places of work?\"
*You should compare the candidate’s existing work experience with the requirements of the vacancy and pay attention to how long he worked at previous jobs and why he left.
7. Ask the question: \"Where did you hear about this vacancy?\"
*This information is necessary to determine the effectiveness of job advertisements in different sources.
8. Next you should tell about the company and the vacancy: \"Now I will tell you what we
are we talking about this vacancy?\"
\"Our company is called... and is engaged... We have been working in this market for... years. Now, after..., we are recruiting new employees. The vacancy we are talking about is: see application for selection for this vacancy (functional responsibilities, salary, benefits package, work schedule).
9. After this, you must ask the candidate: \"What questions do you still have?\" and
answer them.
*It is worth paying special attention to what additional questions the candidate asked and what exactly interested him.
10. Based on the entire previous conversation, you should determine which category
include the candidate:
- unsuitable candidate (you should say goodbye to him for one reason or another -
\"Unfortunately, we will not be able to consider your candidacy, because...);
- a conditionally suitable candidate about whom there are some doubts (should or
invite him for an interview or keep him in reserve, asking him for his contact information
phone - \"We are currently selecting for this vacancy, we are considering candidates and perhaps
We will invite you for an interview\");
- a promising candidate who, at first glance, corresponds to the vacancy (he has
you should take a contact phone number and invite you for an interview).
11. A candidate who is invited to an interview should determine the date, time
meeting and tell you in detail how to get to the office. Should be offered to the candidate
Bring to the interview your passport, work book (if you have one) and documentary evidence
a 3x4 photograph for registration of the application form (if there is no photograph, then the candidate will
asked to take a photocopy of the passport photo).
Memo for inviting applicants for an interview
When inviting a candidate for an interview, the following algorithm is performed, in which the result of telephone conversations is recorded in the telephone call log:
1. Greeting and message: \"Hello, this is a company... You contacted us about a vacancy...
We are ready to invite you for an interview in.\"
day of week date time

Psychologists always advise, before going to an interview, to call the personnel officer or the employer himself to clarify the details of the future meeting. There are two types of telephone job interviews: when you call and when they call you.

Advantages and disadvantages of a telephone interview

The main advantage of a telephone interview is the lack of eye contact. You can ask the person on the other end of the line what your salary will be, find out about available bonuses, and not blush from embarrassment. But the most important thing is your appearance, which you don’t need to worry about, as it fades into the background. But if you have a charming smile, then you won’t be able to impress anyone with it over the phone, although you can really feel it when a person smiles. Facial expressions and gestures are considered one of the main tools for influencing a person. When you are confident in yourself, look directly at the interlocutor, your gestures show your strength, then telephone communication cannot be compared with such contact.

On the phone, the main burden is on the voice. The interlocutor will understand by intonation, tempo and your tone what kind of person you are. Therefore, one of the tips when preparing for an interview at a distance would be to practice your future speech, prepare questions, and pronounce them. Psychologists advise choosing a moderate pace, intonation without a shadow of hostility or discontent, and a moderately official tone. If you are tired, you need to reschedule communication to a more suitable time, if, of course, you are calling. If they call you and take you by surprise, then take a time out, saying that you can’t talk right now and call back during the day (be sure to say what time the call will be made).

How to pass a telephone interview

1. If you made the call, introduce yourself and state the purpose of the concern.

2. Write down your achievements in abstracts, the goals you want to achieve in a new place, put next to you the documents that you may be asked about (diploma, passport, certificate of completion of courses).

3. Prepare a detailed story about yourself with biographical information (place of study, work, age, marital status).

4. Ask who you are talking to, while writing down the name of the HR manager so that later you can officially call him by his first name and patronymic (this will show your social skills).

5. Be punctual, adhere to the framework that is unofficially established (the call should not exceed five minutes).

7. Do not pause, interrupt the interlocutor or call back for clarification, as all of the above are signs of disorganization and absent-mindedness.

8. Remove extraneous sounds from the handset (vacuum cleaner, TV, children's screams).

9. Think about what questions to ask during the interview. In general, the questions and answers will be no different from the traditional interview format. Ask the question about salary at the very end and don’t forget to thank them for the outcome of the interview.

How to conduct an initial interview by phone

Often a telephone interview is conducted to clarify primary information about the candidate. During this interview, you can clarify missing information in the resume, try to interest the candidate in the vacancy and tell a little about your company. The format of such an interview involves a short dialogue.

How to conduct a telephone interview with an employer

The second interview format is a full interview via telephone. This format differs only in that you do not see the candidate, which somewhat limits you in drawing up his psychological portrait. The entire interview process is similar to a traditional interview. Typically, the format is applicable when searching for employees in other regions, as well as mass selection of line personnel.

How to ask for a phone interview

Most often, it is customary to interact with the employer by sending him a resume, then it is customary to wait. But you can be proactive and, after sending your resume, call the HR employee to clarify the details of the vacancy, as well as whether your resume has been received and when to expect the result of reviewing your resume. Of course, you may receive the standard phrase “we will call you back” in response, but there is always a chance that this will prompt the employer to study your resume in more detail, and also increase the chance of receiving a long-awaited invitation. In addition, with the increasing role of social networks, interaction with recruiters is becoming more accessible.

How to schedule an interview by phone

If the vacancy states that you can sign up for an interview yourself, then you should definitely take advantage of this opportunity. Call the number provided, introduce yourself, tell us the name of the vacancy and the source from which you learned about the vacancy, check whether the vacancy is still relevant and specify what day you can sign up for, as well as what you need to bring for the interview. Be prepared to answer the recruiter’s clarifying questions and also send your resume.

With the development of technology, telephone interviews have long become a common way of interaction between a candidate and a recruiter. An alternative solution could be a Skype interview, video interview, or chat interview.

Your resume has been compiled, jobs have been selected, cover letters have been written, and you are looking forward to meeting your potential employer in person. However, while waiting for an invitation to an interview, you should not forget about one more possible test - a telephone interview. How to make a positive impression on a recruiter even before visiting the office?

To ensure that a short telephone conversation turns into a successful job placement, listen to the advice.

Pros and cons of a telephone interview
It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times, says popular wisdom. This is why a telephone interview when recruiting personnel is the exception rather than the rule: most recruiters prefer a detailed personal meeting to a short telephone conversation. It is no coincidence that an interview is often compared to a first date: where else, if not at an interview or on a date, can you evaluate a person from all sides? The way you dress, the way you carry yourself - all this is very valuable information for a professional hiring manager.

And yet, telephone interviews occupy a worthy place in recruiting practice. Most often, it does not replace, but only precedes a traditional meeting in the office: before inviting a candidate for an interview, the HR manager asks him a few questions over the phone and after that makes a decision about inviting him to a face-to-face meeting.

According to the Research Center of the recruiting portal website, the vast majority of recruiters (91%) use telephone interviews when recruiting personnel, with 50% - in certain cases, and 41% - always. “I tell the applicant about the working conditions and answer his questions - laying the foundation for a future meeting”; “A preliminary assessment is necessary before deciding whether to invite you for an interview”; “As a rule, this saves time for both parties if we are not suitable for each other”; “I work in regional recruitment, and it’s simply impossible to do without a telephone interview,” HR officers share their experience of conducting telephone interviews. Only 9% of HR managers do not practice telephone interviews at all.

Recruiters also use a communication tool such as Skype quite widely. In their opinion, this method is indispensable if the applicant lives in another city or, for a number of reasons (for example, has not yet quit his previous job) is not able to come to the office. In addition, Skype, like the telephone, is often used to conduct preliminary interviews.

There are many advantages to a telephone interview. Firstly, it saves time for the applicant and the recruiter. Why spend two hours traveling to the office if in the first five minutes of negotiations it turns out that the vacancy is not suitable for the candidate, and the candidate is not suitable for the company? Secondly, in conditions of territorial remoteness (for example, if a company is looking for a regional representative), they also save money on travel. Finally, a preliminary telephone interview is convenient from a psychological point of view: this form of communication imposes fewer obligations on both the HR manager and the candidate.

True, a telephone interview also has disadvantages: the quality of communication is not always good, the conversation is short, etc. Nevertheless, the applicant must be mentally prepared for the fact that, before personally looking the employer in the eyes, he will have to go through this stage.

"I'm busy at the moment..."
So, when you see an unfamiliar number on your mobile phone screen, get ready for the fact that you may have to talk with a recruiter, and not only arrange a meeting, but also answer some questions.

If you are riding on the subway or in an elevator, there are children or dogs around you; finally, if you are in the office of a company from which you have not yet quit, it is better to inform your interlocutor that it is impossible to continue the conversation. You shouldn’t try to be polite to a recruiter and, for example, drive a car at the same time. The interview, even though it is a telephone interview, requires concentration.

“Thank you for calling. Unfortunately, I'm busy at the moment and can't talk to you. When is the best time to call you back?” - such a maximally neutral text, without unnecessary details, will make it clear to the caller: this is a polite person familiar with business etiquette and the rules of telephone communication.

Pen, paper, money in the account...
So, all extraneous irritants have been eliminated and you are ready for a telephone conversation. Check if you have a pen and paper nearby to take notes. Disable the second communication line on your telephone. If you intend to talk on your mobile phone, check the availability of funds in your account so that your conversation is not interrupted at the most inopportune moment. You should prepare for a telephone interview in the same way as for a traditional one - you will have to present yourself, albeit in a slightly different form.

If you intend to talk on Skype, that is, using video communication, then you need to not only prepare yourself psychologically, but also get yourself in order. You don't have to wear a suit and tie, but a home jersey is also fine. A classic shirt or blouse in calm tones is quite suitable for this occasion.

Clear questions - specific answers
What questions might a recruiter ask during a preliminary telephone interview? As a rule, they specify the information contained in your resume about your professional experience, plans, skills and abilities. “Why did you decide to change company?”; “What offers are you interested in?”; “Isn’t the possibility of long working hours confusing?”; “Where do you live geographically?”; “Are you ready for business trips?”; “What salary are you expecting?” - most likely, the questions will require clear and precise answers that must be given without much reasoning and reflection.

When answering them, remember: usually the recruiter’s goal at this stage is not to create a detailed psychological portrait of you, but only to understand whether you are interested in the vacancy and whether it is worth inviting you to a personal meeting. So refrain from anything that takes the conversation away from your work experience and interest in the company.

In your answers, be as specific as possible, leave the details of your biography and a description of the thorny path to professional heights for a traditional interview. A telephone conversation implies a significantly greater information richness. Remember that brevity is the sister of talent, however, excessive laconicism, dryness and monosyllabic answers to questions are unacceptable.

Typically, the recruiter also considers it his duty to talk about the company and the vacancy. Do not hesitate to ask a few questions about future work and responsibilities - thereby you will once again demonstrate your interest and also receive useful information. Leave finding out the details for later; the main thing is to find out as much information as possible about the vacancy. After all, you can always get detailed information about the company from the Internet.

Do not miss the opportunity to call your interlocutor at least once by name or by name and patronymic (depending on how he introduced himself). Remember: psychologists believe that calling a person by name always attracts him to you. When you hear the name of the recruiter, immediately write down this information on paper to prevent annoying mistakes later.

When the conversation ends, the recruiter will most likely offer you a further interaction scheme: either he will invite you to the office for a personal meeting, or he will inform you that you do not fully correspond to the vacancy. Thank you for the call, for your interest and your time. And if you are invited to a traditional interview, clarify the details - where and when it will take place, how best to get to the meeting place.

Good luck with your interview – both telephone and in person!

Screening candidates using telephone interviews is often underestimated. But it is precisely this stage of screening (along with screening based on resumes) that saves a lot of time and effort for a recruiter or HR specialist. In addition, a telephone interview also saves the candidate’s time and effort, which is also important. A candidate’s negative emotions towards the recruiter, and at the same time the company itself, are usually much stronger as a result of a face-to-face interview that ended in “nothing” than as a result of such a telephone conversation.

Many recruiters and HR people, even those who quite successfully cope with the initial screening based on resumes, use the phone mainly to call a candidate and invite him for an interview. In this case, most often 1-2 formal questions are asked, the answers to which provide scanty information. As a result, the main impression that the recruiter gets from such communication can be described by one of two phrases: “he’s kind of lethargic” or “it seems okay, we can talk.”

For several years now I have been starting to work with internal recruiters hired into my department by teaching competent primary and secondary screening: 1). according to resume; 2). during a telephone interview. Moreover, we are not talking about employees with “zero” experience, but about people who have already worked for some time in selection. Today we’ll talk specifically about telephone interviews.

It has a big advantage: even if you need to ask a lot of questions, you will still spend less time on it than during a face-to-face interview. Face-to-face communication always requires a lot, especially if you care about the reputation of your company. This means that even if you literally understand right away (or after exchanging just a few phrases) that this is “not your candidate,” you will still be forced to waste time on a “decent” interview. Despite the fact that you know in advance what the result of your communication will be.

From here the conclusion suggests itself: it is better to ask questions over the phone longer, but to clarify all the fundamentally important points for you and do a normal screening, than to then waste much more time during an in-person interview.

So, you have already done the initial screening of your resume: you have carefully worked through your resume and made the necessary notes. Now in front of you are only candidates from the “short list”, and each resume contains “subtle” points that you definitely need to clarify during a telephone interview.

During the telephone screening interview, you can make notes on your resume, but there is usually not much space there. Therefore, it is more convenient to do this on a separate form - it is more convenient to fill out, and it will be more convenient for you to work with this information later. In addition, the form can (and even should) include in advance those questions that you will ask in any case to candidates for most positions. This way you will definitely not allow yourself to be confused during communication, and you will not miss anything. Then this form can be attached to the resume sent by the candidate, and now you have a whole small dossier on the candidate in your hands. As a result, the decision is easier to make? And more food for thought.

If you often work in the same positions, then you will quickly accumulate a “collection” of telephone interview forms for almost “all occasions.”

A telephone interview form might look something like this (after each question you should leave room for a very short answer that you record):

Screening telephone interview

Candidate's full name:

Phone date interview:

Job title/department name:

Interview Questions:

Let's clarify the key points.

1. The purpose of the first question is to assess how much experience the candidate has in the desired position (For example: How many years have you been a technical inventory worker?) Formally, this information should be clearly stated in the resume. But in reality, the structure and quality of the resume leaves much to be desired, so it’s better to clarify. At the same time, you can understand how quickly the candidate navigates the situation, because many do not remember important information about their own career)

   We detail the information. Usually you need not just experience in a certain position, but some specific experience. (For example: tell me, have you ever had to deal with inventory of 500 thousand or more units of products?)

   We continue to clarify important details. (For example: Tell us what inventory computer programs you use?)

   We clarify the details of education and experience important for this position (For example: Did you study inventory somewhere? Or did you master inventory yourself, under the supervision of management?)

   Many candidates do not write the desired amount of income on their resume, or easily change their wishes during a conversation. Since most often you have a certain salary range, let’s clarify this point (For example: Starting from what amount are you ready to consider options now?)

If you have received satisfactory answers to these questions, you can clarify a few more important details (see blocks II, III and IV). If, judging by the answers, the candidate is not suitable for you, you can immediately after this block of questions inform the applicant that you are looking for candidates whose experience is closest to what you want. But if suddenly there are no such people, then you will expand the range of requirements and, perhaps, contact you in the future. This concludes the telephone interview. Please note that in the case of a face-to-face interview, you would in any case have to “engage” the candidate with conversation for at least another 20-30 minutes!

We clarify important points about your previous place of work and professional experience

All those questions, the answers to which are clearly and clearly stated in the candidate’s resume, naturally need to be omitted. But the general list is something like this:

1. How big was your last organization (in terms of turnover and/or number of staff)? Not all candidates will be able or willing to name the company’s approximate turnover, but they all more or less have an idea of ​​the size of their organization.

   The company's main product/service on the market?

   If the candidate held a leadership position, how many people reported directly to him? What positions did they hold?

   If the candidate is not currently working, when and why did he leave his last job? What have you been doing since you quit?

We are trying to determine the degree of success of the candidate

1. Can you name some of your achievements at your last job? Personal professional achievements? Professional achievements from the company's point of view?

   Most serious failures? Errors?

   How do you think your colleagues, your boss, would describe your work?

   Why are you going to quit (if the candidate is still working)?

   What would need to change in your current workplace for you to change your mind and stay?

We clarify how the candidate can fit into your organizational culture

Describe the type of work environment you work best in.

Describe the management style you like/dislike

How should your workplace and work environment be organized so that you not only work productively and with desire, but also feel happy?

To this universal list of questions from four blocks, you can add some of your specific questions that are important for your company, for a specific position. In general, we work with the list creatively.

In the course of answering all these questions, in addition to the information itself, you also receive information about how a person speaks, how he thinks, and how he expresses these thoughts. Of course, this block of information is smaller here than during a face-to-face interview, but significantly less time is spent collecting information. At the same time, the total amount of information collected is quite exhaustive to decide how appropriate a face-to-face interview is.

Many interviewers prefer to ask these questions in person, but, in my opinion, an in-person interview is best used to work more deeply with the candidate and more accurately assess his personal and professional qualities.

It makes sense, when calling a candidate, to warn him in advance that communication may take from 10 to 30 minutes, and to receive the maximum of necessary information during these 10-30 minutes. Then, during the face-to-face interview (which often causes stress not only for the candidate, but also for the interviewers), you can focus on truly promising, pre-screened candidates.

Ultimately, this means effective recruitment, organized in the most cost-effective way.

A telephone interview is one of the stages of personnel selection. They are usually preceded by a personal conversation. If a recruiter is prepared and conducts a telephone interview correctly, this will allow him to weed out unsuitable candidates even before the audition in the office.

From the article you will learn:

A telephone interview, as a method of preliminary assessment of applicants, is convenient in cases where you need to clarify details, ask questions that arose while studying the applicant’s resume, and understand his general motivation.

And in a number of cases, where the key skills are a developed ability to communicate, a telephone conversation is indispensable as one of the stages of testing a candidate’s professional suitability.

In just 20 minutes of a telephone conversation, you can get an idea of ​​the applicant’s experience and capabilities, reasons for changing jobs, and career expectations. This type of interview will give an idea of ​​​​negotiation and presentation skills. The clarity and conciseness of the presentation of thoughts, the pace of speech, and the manner of speaking will tell about personal qualities.

How can a recruiter prepare for a telephone interview?

To get the best results, it is important for a recruiter to prepare for conducting a telephone interview. Try to organize several conversations in one day, this will make it easier to compare applicants with each other. It's better to call from a landline. Warn candidates in advance about the time of the conversation and its approximate duration.

In addition, you need to prepare an interview questionnaire. The questionnaire should include those questions, the answers to which will later be needed to make a decision on choosing an applicant. Using a questionnaire when there are a large number of conversations or when interviews are conducted by several employees, it will be possible to more objectively compare applicants according to selected criteria.

Telephone interview script

A telephone interview should be structured according to a pre-thought-out scenario:

At the beginning of the conversation, you need to introduce yourself and make sure you haven’t got the wrong number. After greetings from both sides, the recruiter takes the initiative and briefly talks about the vacancy.

After the introductory part, you can proceed to assessing the candidate’s compliance with formal requirements using a questionnaire prepared in advance.

Additional and clarifying questions about work experience and analysis of key competencies. Here you can use a list of questions that clarify the qualifications, motivation and psychological portrait of the interlocutor. The following criteria influence how in-depth a telephone interview will be:

• The candidate's region of residence. A telephone conversation with specialists from your area usually takes less time and is intended to clarify key points, often even just to invite you to a face-to-face meeting. Interviews with candidates from other cities are structured differently and require much more time.
• Specificity of the requirements for the vacancy. Clarification during telephone conversation Matching key positions with a vacancy will save time for both the applicant and the interviewer.
• Severity of requirements. Some critical skills, such as fluency in spoken English, can be assessed over the phone.

A block of questions from the candidate. Sometimes this small part of the interview makes a lot more difference than the previous one. What and how a person asks largely determines his knowledge, skills and gives a clear psychological portrait.

At the end of the conversation, the recruiter draws up a preliminary conclusion about the applicant’s suitability for the vacancy. If he is clearly not suitable, you should refuse as correctly as possible and thank him for his time. If you want to see this specialist for an individual interview, invite him to the meeting and agree on a time.

Marina Veselovskaya,
manager for succession planning and personnel development at Efes Rus in Russia

Is it possible to assess the level of an applicant over the phone? For which vacancies should you not use a telephone interview?

Absolutely - yes! This is a mandatory stage in the selection of candidates for Efes Rus. In our opinion, a telephone interview is convenient, as it allows you to clarify details, ask questions that arose while studying the candidate’s resume, and understand the general motivation of the applicant. A telephone interview makes it possible to check the candidate’s compliance with the formal requirements of the vacancy (special education, knowledge of a foreign language, specialized work experience), assess the level of communication skills, and clarify motivation. For ourselves, we have identified a number of advantages when conducting a telephone interview. Among them: the ability to conduct the initial selection of candidates without leaving the office; saving your own time and the applicant’s time; low cost of telephone interview; efficiency of personnel selection; expansion of search geography.

In our company, we use telephone interviews for all positions. In addition, Skype interviews and video interviews (VCV) are often used.

Many recruiters prefer to work using ready-made scripts (templates). Scripts for telephone interviews help to quickly call dozens of people; in the case of a large flow, such pipelining is necessary to save time. However, this method is justified only for recruiting low-level employees - couriers, promoters, waiters, loaders, handymen, etc.

Read also materials on the topic:

Questions for candidates during a telephone interview

When compiling a list of questions for a telephone interview, candidates should remember that the main goal of the conversation is to find out how much better a given applicant is than competitors, and whether he is even suitable for the position. An example of a question form for a telephone interview is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Form of questions for applicants for telephone interviews

	Interview Questions	Space to record the candidate's response
Key points in the work environment	The purpose of the question is to assess work experience in the desired position. (For example: “How many years have you worked in a similar position?”)
	Detail information. Specific experience is revealed. (For example: “Tell me, have you ever had to complete similar (specific) tasks in a short time?”)
	Important details are being clarified. (For example: “Tell me what computer programs you used to solve similar problems?”)
	We clarify the details of education and experience important for this position. (For example: “In addition to the specified education, have you improved your qualifications in this position or mastered it under the guidance of a master?”)
	We find out the salary range acceptable for the candidate. (For example: “Starting from what amount are you willing to consider options now?”)
Important points about past work and experience	“How big was your last organization (in terms of number of employees)?”
	“What was the main product/service your previous company provided in the market?”
	If the candidate held a leadership position, you should definitely ask how many people reported directly to him and what positions did they hold?
	If the applicant does not work, you need to ask why he left his last job? What has he been doing since he quit?
Candidate Success Rate	“What were your achievements at your last job? Have you grown professionally or personally?”
	“How were your achievements recognized by management?”
	“Have you had any failures? Name the most serious mistake"
	“What do you think your colleagues and your boss think about your work?”
	If the candidate is still working, you need to ask why he is going to quit? What needs to change at his current job for him to change his mind and stay?
Compliance of the candidate with the organizational culture of the enterprise	“Describe your best work environment.”
	“Describe the management style you would prefer to work with.”

When receiving answers, it is important to pay attention not only to the meaning of the phrases, but also to how the candidate constructs the sentences. The proactivity of his position will be indicated by the following phrases: “I did, I achieved, I met,” passive phrases – “they showed me, they took me, they introduced me” – indicate the reactivity of the position.

How can a candidate pass a telephone interview?

In order for a candidate to successfully pass a telephone interview and receive an invitation to an individual interview, you need to prepare for the conversation in advance. A telephone interview has its own specifics; you don’t see the recruiter, just like he doesn’t see you. Therefore, facial expressions, gestures, and posture will not help you convey or receive information.

How can a job seeker prepare for a telephone interview?

To prepare for a telephone interview, you need to remember in advance and write down as a reminder your most successful projects, main responsibilities in your previous job, experience and skills that you were able to master.

Remember all the non-standard situations from which you were able to emerge with honor and gain experience in solving difficult problems. Formulate in advance what you learned from this story. Perhaps these were not production tasks, but conflicts at work.

Think about how you can describe yourself in a few words. It should be an honest but interesting, inventive description. Humor about one's shortcomings is welcome. Make a list of your accomplishments and also prepare a list of questions you would like to ask the interviewer. This will show your confidence in your professionalism.

Go to the employer's website and once again familiarize yourself not only with the vacancy for which you are applying, but also with general information about the organization.

Prepare and place in front of you a blank sheet of paper with a pen, resume, cover letter, list you prepared and a description of past work. Include other documents you may need. Pour yourself a glass of water and ask everyone in your household to be quiet while you talk on the phone.

In conclusion, it should be noted that, underestimated by many managers, the telephone interview can, in experienced hands, be an effective recruiting tool. Organized in the most economical way, this option of a telephone interview during the initial selection of candidates is not much inferior to a regular conversation. And such advantages as expanding the geography of search and efficiency of personnel selection put it among the necessary tools for a recruiter.